Six Blue Jays hit free agency as MLB offseason officially kicks off
The Toronto Blue Jays will have a few holes to fill over the course of the offseason.
After a disappointing season that saw the team qualify for the playoffs but squeak out after a two-game loss to the Minnesota Twins, the roster will look a little different when the team returns next spring.
At least six Blue Jays players are looking for new deals — and likely, new places to live — this winter. While none of the names on the following list come as a real surprise, as they’d all been reported previously, six Blue Jays have officially elected free agency to date:
- Hyun Jin Ryu, SP
- Jordan Hicks, RP
- Kevin Kiermaier, OF
- Brandon Belt, INF
- Matt Chapman, 3B
- Whit Merrifield, Utility
At last month’s end-of-season press conference, Toronto General Manager Ross Atkins suggested that it was likely Belt, Kiermaier, and Chapman would be heading elsewhere.
“The bulk of our team [is] essentially returning,” Atkins said at the press conference. “We’ll miss Matt Chapman and Brandon Belt and Kevin Kiermaier. We’ll see opportunities to work to fill those holes from within and externally. The bulk of our pitching [is] returning, minus Hyun-Jin Ryu. Maybe a couple of others [will pitch for us], Alek Manoah [is] coming back into the fold, though Hyun-Jin Ryu could also be an alternative for us.”
Free agency officially kicks off on Monday November 6, though the deals probably won’t be coming all at once like they would in the NBA or NHL due to the MLB’s lack of a hard or soft salary cap. In any case, it’ll be interesting to follow these six to see where they end up, or if any of them ultimately return to the Blue Jays for another year.
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