Just eight Blue Jays have contracts signed for next year

The Toronto Blue Jays head into free agency with plenty of flexibility — and a whole headache of arbitration cases to sort out.

After the Blue Jays exercised their two-year, $21 million option on reliever Chad Green today to keep him with the franchise through 2025, Toronto solidified at least one part of their bullpen for next year.

But there are still quite a few roster spots up for grabs, and only eight players who are actually signed under contract for next season as of right now.

Here are those eight, sorted by Spotrac in terms of total salary for next year:

• George Springer: $24,166,666
• Kevin Gausman: $24,000,000
• Chris Bassitt: $22,000,000
• Jose Berrios: $17,714,285
• Bo Bichette: $12,083,333
• Chad Green: $10,500,000
• Yusei Kikuchi: $10,000,000
• Yimi Garcia: $6,000,000

Meanwhile, 13 Jays are eligible for arbitration: Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Jordan Romano, Daulton Varsho, Danny Jansen, Cavan Biggio, Adam Cimber, Alejandro Kirk, Santiago Espinal, Tim Mayza, Erik Swanson, Trevor Richards, Genesis Cabrera, and Nate Pearson.

If these players don’t come to terms with the Jays on a new contract by January 12, they’ll be scheduled for a hearing in February where a third party will sort out their next deal with Toronto.

All eyes will be on Guerrero Jr.’s case to see exactly what Toronto decides to do with their struggling star, who has two years of arbitration eligibility left before possibly hitting free agency in 2026 if he doesn’t come to terms with Toronto on a long-term deal.

Among the team, 16 other Jays are in their pre-arbitration stage, the most notable of which are Alek Manoah and Davis Schneider, who are likely to be earning relatively low salaries in comparison to their star teammates.

Toronto’s 2024 payroll currently ranks 10th across the major leagues, coming in at $139.7 million as free agency officially kicks off today.

While you can expect most of Toronto’s arbitration-eligible players to return to the organization barring a trade, we’ll get a better picture of how the team will line up in 2024 over the coming months as arbitration rulings and free agency signings filter in.

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