Blue Jays only have six players signed for next season
After a dismal 2024, the Toronto Blue Jays probably wish they could start their next season tomorrow.
But unless they’re able to invent some new players out of thin air, they wouldn’t be allowed to under MLB rules.
Per their salary cap breakdown on Spotrac, the Jays have just six players signed for the 2025 season.
That group consists of one reliever (Chad Green), three starting pitchers (Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios), one outfielder (George Springer), and one infielder (Bo Bichette).
From highest to lowest, here’s how the team’s base salaries line up for next season:
- Springer: $24,166,666
- Gausman: $23,000,000
- Bassitt: $22,000,000
- Berrios: $18,000,000
- Bichette: $16,500,000
- Green: $10,500,000
Of course, this isn’t much cause for concern: many of their key pieces, including superstar slugger Vladimir Guerrero Jr., are either arbitration-eligible or in the pre-arbitration phase of their careers. In other words, just because the players aren’t signed today doesn’t mean they’re hitting free agency or the trade market.
And while the short-term future for most of the team’s contracts isn’t exactly certain, the long-term Springer, Gausman, and Berrios are the only players signed through 2026 or later.
With Toronto missing the playoffs and finishing last place in the American League East this year, it’s clear that some sort of change will be needed for the team to return to being competitive.
Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins met with the media last week to discuss his vision for the team’s roster, though, as expected, he kept his cards pretty close to his chest.
“There are some obvious areas—like adding run-scoring and adding to our bullpen—that are easy to point to as opportunities, but we want to be really comprehensive and creative to make sure that we’re doing it in a way that ensures we take a step, Atkins said at his end-of-season press conference last week. “As I’ve talked about, I need to be better. I have got to do a better job of building that team around a very good core that has been successful. And I’m committed to doing so.”
In any case, we can expect the Blue Jays to be pretty active throughout the offseason, even if that just means re-signing players we’ve seen play for the franchise before.
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