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Blue Jays targeting top three starting pitchers in free agency: report

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
|
Nov 21 2024, 4:52 pm
Blue Jays targeting top three starting pitchers in free agency: report
Tommy Gilligan/Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays front office doesn’t seem to be playing around this offseason.

After a disappointing 2024 season in which they managed a record of 74-88, general manager Ross Atkins is very much on the hot seat and desperately needs to get the Blue Jays back into the playoffs this coming season.

In his attempts to do so, he’s been rumoured to be in on many high-end free agents, including the biggest of the bunch in Juan Soto. According to a report from MLB insider Ken Rosenthal, Atkins is also targeting three of the best starting pitchers available on the free agent market: Corbin Burnes, Max Fried, and Blake Snell.

“The Blue Jays, another team linked to Soto, also are pursuing all three pitchers, according to sources briefed on their conversations,” Rosenthal wrote in a recent column for The Athletic.

All three pitchers would be excellent adds for the Blue Jays, though they certainly wouldn’t come cheap.

Burnes, who won the NL Cy Young in 2021, is arguably the best of the bunch and is coming off of a season in which he had a 2.92 ERA through 32 starts. The impressive year allowed him to pitch in his fourth career All Star Game.


Fried would be another fantastic addition to the Jays. His stuff isn’t as electric as Burnes, but it is efficient nonetheless, as proven by his career 3.07 ERA. The two-time All Star may not get as much money as Burnes, but figures to still get a boatload.

As for Snell, he is the riskiest bet of the three, though he may arguably have the highest upside, having won two Cy Youngs thus far in his career. The issue with Snell is that he walks a ton of batters and can be rather inconsistent, which is why he’s struggled to cash in the way many other starting pitchers do.

Though some will argue that the Blue Jays need another bat in their lineup more so than a starting pitcher, you won’t find a single fan upset if they can bring in any of these three.

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