There have been reports out there all offseason to this point insinuating that the Toronto Blue Jays have been interested in adding an ace-level pitcher, and they finally accomplished the goal on Wednesday night.
Toronto reportedly is signing 29-year-old starter Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million deal, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
“Right-hander Dylan Cease and the Toronto Blue Jays are in agreement on a seven-year, $210 million contract, pending a physical, sources tell ESPN,” Passan wrote. “The defending American League champions get one of the best arms on the free agent market.”
Cease is a star. He’s 29 years old with a career 3.88 ERA in 188 total games in the big leagues with the Chicago White Sox and San Diego Padres. He didn’t have a great 2025 season as he logged a 4.55 ERA, but his 3.56 FIP shows that the righty had some bad luck. FIP is a metric that attempts to show how effective a pitcher is by taking defense out of the picture.
Clearly, the Blue Jays like what they see because the $210 million reported deal will become the team’s biggest deal given in free agency and top overall to a pitcher. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. has the largest overall contract in team history, but that was an extension and not signed in free agency.
Before the Cease deal, Toronto’s six-year, $150 million deal with George Springer was the largest deal given by Toronto in free agency.
Toronto wanted pitching and now the first big-name starter is off the board.
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