The Toronto Blue Jays have reached an agreement with free-agent right-hander Dylan Cease on a seven-year pact worth $210 million, according to the New York Post. The Blue Jays have not yet announced the signing, but when they do it will become the largest free-agent contract ever handed out by the franchise, topping George Springer’s six-year agreement worth $150 million.
Cease, who turns 30 next month, is fresh off a disappointing season. He posted a 4.55 ERA (94 ERA+) and a 3.03 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 32 starts with the San Diego Padres. Cease’s arsenal continued to grade favorably, however, leading CBS Sports to rank him as the 11th-best free agent available. Here’s what we wrote:
Here’s one for the dip buyers. Cease notched his fifth campaign in a row with 32 or more starts but, despite underlying data that bore resemblance to his past efforts, posted the worst full-season ERA+ of his career. Teams may ask themselves: what was going on with his slider? Cease is a two-pitch pony (fastballs and sliders combined for a usage rate over 80%), yet he tinkered with his top breaker, throwing it harder with less depth and sweep. His results were worse, suggesting he should revert. True in one way, true in multiple ways.
Cease’s contract is tied for the seventh largest free-agent deal ever given to a starting pitcher. He will join a Blue Jays rotation that figures to also include Kevin Gausman, rookie sensation Trey Yesavage, José Berríos, and Shane Bieber, who opted in to his contract earlier this winter.
Toronto won the American League pennant and AL East in 2025, falling two outs short against the Dodgers of their first World Series title since 1993.
Here are three other things to know about this deal.
1. Fourth richest contract among active pitchers
Once pen is put to paper, Cease will become one of the highest paid pitchers in the sport, as judged by total value. Do not that the list below excludes Shohei Ohtani on the grounds that he’s a two-way player.
- Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto: $325M
- Yankees RHP Gerrit Cole: $324M
- Yankees LHP Max Fried: $218M
- Blue Jays RHP Dylan Cease: $210M
- Diamondbacks RHP Corbin Burnes: $210M
It’s worth pointing out that Cease’s contract doesn’t rank as highly when judged by average annual value. Then he falls to sixth behind Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, Blake Snell, Cole, and Burnes, so far a multi-year contracts go. (Seth Lugo also has him beat if one-year deals are taken into consideration.)
2. Why the Blue Jays chose Cease over Valdez, others
A fair question to ask in the wake of this signing is, well, why Cease? If the Blue Jays were deadset on adding a free-agent starter, why didn’t they opt instead for left-hander Framber Valdez, Ranger Suárez, or any of the other free-agent options available to them.
The Blue Jays will probably never provide the actual answer, but it seems reasonable to guess that it’s because Cease is the most dynamic pitcher of the bunch. Indeed, he’s struck out nearly 11 batters per nine innings for his career, as compared to Valdez’s 8.9 and Suárez’s 8.3 figures.
As an added bonus, Cease will add variety to a Blue Jays rotation that ranked 14th in the majors in strikeout rate. Rest assured, that won’t be the case with him in tow.
3. Good sign for other starters
Even with the above subheading taken into consideration, you can bet that Valdez and other starters are tickled to see Cease’s contract come in high.
That’s because the free-agent market is largely based on precedent. The agents for those pitchers can now argue that if Cease received this much, their client ought to receive at least the same.
Obviously that argument isn’t guaranteed to end in a similarly lucrative contract. But those players and their agents have a better leg to stand on when they’re making them now than they did coming into the week.
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