Ranking the Blue Jays' Best Offseason Moves One Year Later
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There is little question that the Toronto Blue Jays underwhelmed in 2026, going from a 94-win pennant winner and near-World Series champion to a 79-win postseason on-looker. But don't blame that regression on any of the new guys brought in.
In the aftermath of coming two outs shy of a World Series victory in 2025, the Blue Jays front office did not merely aim to maintain the status quo and instead got to work on improving their roster. While the efforts of GM Ross Atkins and company ultimately proved futile this past season, the team received strong contributions from some of their new faces.
With a season's worth of data, here is a reverse ranking of Toronto's moves from last winter:
Note: this list only covers transactions made by the club. Bo Bichette leaving for the New York Mets may have been addition by subtraction, while Shane Bieber opting in wasn't the coup that it seemed to be last winter. However, both player transactions were outside of the power of the front office. And Johan Simon for Chase Lee didn't seem significant enough to include here.
5. Blue Jays Sign Cody Ponce
Poor Cody Ponce. Following a four-year stint overseas, the reigning KBO MVP finally got another shot in the majors, only to tear his ACL just 2.1 innings into his first start of the season.
Indeed, the Ponce signing is less of a failure and more of an incomplete. And yet, even if the 32-year-old returns to full health to start year two of what is a three-year, $30 million contract, it's tough to know what to expect out of him. In a Blue Jays rotation currently poised to be plagued with uncertainty (Trey Yesavage, Jose Berrios, Bowden Francis, etc), Ponce offers another expensive question mark.
4. Blue Jays Trade Joey Loperfido for Jesus Sanchez
Right before Toronto was set to open Spring Training in Dunedin, the club capped off a busy offseason by sending Joey Loperfido back to the Houston Astros in exchange for Jesus Sanchez. Seeing a need for more power, the front office was willing to sacrifice Loperfido, a promising young outfielder that hadn't yet managed to lock in a regular role at the major league level.
Ultimately, this trade did little to help or hurt the Blue Jays. Sanchez slugged eight home runs, but also struck out 70 times and managed just a .318 on-base percentage. Furthermore, he proved to be a defensive liability at times during the season. He was ultimately placed on waivers late in the season and subsequently claimed by the Arizona Diamondbacks, bringing an abrupt end to his Toronto tenure.
Fortunately for the Blue Jays, the trade hasn't come back to haunt them - at least not yet. Loperfido struggled in brief stints with the Astros, slashing an underwhelming .214/.311/.330 line across 40 games at the big league level. While he remains under team control through 2031, he still has yet to establish himself as a full-time major leaguer.
3. Blue Jays Sign Tyler Rogers
If a relief pitcher flies under the radar, it typically means they are doing their job. That was the case for Tyler Rogers over his first season in Toronto. The 35-year-old was the prototypical eighth inning set-up guy, serving as a consistent, stable bridge to get to closer Louis Varland in the ninth inning.
Signed to a three-year, $37 million contract back in December, Rogers was a model of late game stability, sporting a 1.77 ERA while ranking third on the team in appearances (74). Although he sported a career-low 5.1 strikeouts per nine innings, he successfully generated weak contact and only allowed two home runs all year.
Rogers could be a candidate for some age-related regression over the final two years of his contract, but for now it looks to be money well spent.
2. Blue Jays Sign Kazuma Okamoto
For all of the struggles that the Blue Jays' offense endured this season, you can't pin the blame on rookie sensation Kazuma Okamoto.
Okamoto was, by far, the club's most reliable source of power over what was his first major league season, more than doubling the production of any other Toronto hitter with 33 home runs. Along the way, he set franchise rookie records for home runs and RBI (92). The 30-year-old also struck out a team-high 183 times, but considering the Blue Jays finished dead-last league-wide in home runs, that's likely a trade-off you're happy to make.
Ultimately, while there is room for growth as a more multi-dimensional offensive threat, year one in Toronto was a resounding success for Okamoto. Now, he stands as one of the sure things on a club potentially poised for significant change.
1. Blue Jays Sign Dylan Cease
You could make a strong argument that Dylan Cease was the best offseason addition in baseball this past season. In the first year of a seven-year, $210 million contract, the 30-year-old right-hander went 11-6 with a 2.40 ERA while striking out a career-high 239 batters (his 12.7 strikeouts per nine innings was the league's best).
As Toronto's ace, Cease served as the anchor to what was a highly unstable starting rotation. Amidst some regression from Kevin Gausman and a rash on injuries that left just three pitchers with 20 or more starts, Cease offered the team elite pitching every five days. When the AL Cy Young Award is handed out in mid-November, he is expected to be in a tight race with Cam Schlittler of the New York Yankees.
For all that went wrong in 2026 for the Blue Jays, Cease's emergence as a bona fide ace for the club offers a huge boost moving forward.
Looking strictly at the success rate of Toronto's moves last winter, you might expect that the team took another step forward this season. While that was certainly not the case, the work of Atkins and company helps provide a foundation for the front office to build upon and gives hope that another offseason of successful wheeling and dealing is now upon us.
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Ben Fisher is a long-time sportswriter and baseball lover, dating back to 2008, when he was a member of the media relations team for the Toronto Blue Jays. He has covered a wide range of sports for a seemingly endless array of publications, including The Canadian Press, Fansided and The Hockey Writers. When he isn't writing about sports, he can be found coaching his equally baseball-obsessed sons' Little League teams.