Blue Jays have history of making big moves around the holidays

While most baseball memories typically fall from April until early November, Toronto Blue Jays fans have had a few big shocks come in late December in recent years.

With baseball’s offseason being much less regimented than other pro sports due to the lack of a true salary cap, moves can really happen at any time of the winter. And Toronto fans have come to know more than most that transactions can come out of nowhere, even during days typically associated with the holiday season.

Back in 2019, star free agent pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu arrived in Toronto on Christmas Day after signing a four-year, $80 million contract with the team.

Though his overall time with the team didn’t go exactly as he’d hoped — suffering a major injury in 2022 that forced him to undergo Tommy John surgery and miss out on nearly half his contract — Ryu earned a Cy Young nomination in Toronto in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

And just a year ago, the Blue Jays were quite active around this time of year.

On December 14, they signed outfielder Kevin Kiermaier, then, two days later on December 16, they inked starting pitcher Chris Bassitt on a three-year contract. While these moves were rather close to Christmastime, they were nothing quite like what was to come.

Of course, on December 23, the Jays made the biggest move of their offseason — trading away Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Daulton Varsho.

It’s a move that defined Toronto’s entire year, particularly after the Diamondbacks went on a run to the World Series, largely influenced by the strong play of the two former Jays.

Though the Jays haven’t made any major moves yet this offseason, fans are eager to see exactly what they’ll do this year.

It’s 101 days until the Jays kick off their season on March 28 with a matchup against the Tampa Bay Rays.

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