Author: Passion MLB

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Jose Berrios traded: the door is open

The Blue Jays have one of the best rotations in Major League Baseball. Kevin Gausman, Dylan Cease, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and Jose Berrios, in no particular order, are currently the club’s five starters.

Eric Lauer, Bowden Francis and a host of other prospects will also be fighting for a place in the sun at the next camp.

And now a topic has surfaced: could the Blue Jays use their depth to get rid of a starting pitcher, in order to save money, make room and look elsewhere for reinforcements?

The first four names aren’t going anywhere. If anything like that happens, Berrios would be the target.

And it would appear that the possibility exists. Without saying it’s likely (quite the contrary), journalist Mitch Bannon (The Athletic) has opened the door to the possibility.

In a piece on the subject, he mentioned Berrios as a candidate to be traded.

I don’t see how the Blue Jays would benefit from trading one of their most reliable pitchers of recent years following one of his worst career seasons, when his market value must be pretty low.

He has three years left on his contract, but has an opt-out in one year – which he’ll use only if he has a good 2026 season. Which team will go for him at the right price under the circumstances?

Berrios will earn $18 million in 2026. If he stays on his contract, he’ll earn $24 million a year in 2027 and 2028.

If the Blue Jays were to trade him, they would have to replace him. And I don’t know about you, but I prefer Berrios, who can only resurface in 2026, to Max Scherzer or any other pitcher currently on the market.

I get the impression that for Berrios (and even Anthony Santander, among hitters), people tend to take him out of the equation too much after just one ugly season and underestimate the depth needed in a pitching staff.

I’m not saying he’ll be a machine again in 2026… but the guy’s bought himself the benefit of the doubt. No?

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Gary Bettman’s comments: all the more reason to fear a work stoppage in 2027

You may have seen a recent article (CNBC) on the value of NHL franchises. The Montreal Canadiens is in third place, worth $3.4 billion.

Why talk about Passion MLB, you may ask?

Well, there are some connections to be made with the world of baseball. Because the value of NHL franchises, at an average of $2.2 billion, now surpasses that of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams.

According to Gary Bettman, this has everything to do with controlling salary cap costs. The commissioner points out that in 2004-2005, there was no hockey, but it’s paying off today, since it made it possible to impose the salary cap.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Despite much better conditions on paper for baseball (more games, more people in the stands, more clubs in the U.S., etc.) to generate revenue, hockey is on the rise.

And it’s not just that hockey is on the rise.

When you see the owner of the Yankees (not the A’s) refusing to confirm that his club is making money and wanting to reduce his payroll, you realize that the owners of all 30 teams are going to want a cap more than ever.

So Jeremy Filosa is right: we should expect to see the owners hold their ground in order to see the franchises, in a few years’ time, make a huge economic leap upwards.

What’s happening in hockey is crazy. I’m sure the baseball bosses want that, too.

I repeat: I don’t think we should get attached to a 162-game season in 2027 in MLB. I’m not saying no games will be played… but dreaming of a full campaign would be utopian.

To be continued.

PMLB
  • Minor signing in Toronto.

  • Rockies want to win fast.

  • Tarik Skubal wants Eminem at the Tigers’ opening game.

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MLB en bref : Cody Bellinger, la priorité | Les Pirates à surveiller

Cody Bellinger, la priorité

Kyle Tucker est-il plus un plan de rechange chez les Yankees?

Les cibles des Red Sox

Le club pourrait signer plus qu’un gros nom.

Les Pirates à surveiller

Plusieurs noms sont liés au club… mais je vais le croire quand je vais le voir.

Max Scherzer s’explique

Sa crise contre John Schneider fait encore jaser.

Profondeur à San Francisco

Sam Hentges s’en va en Californie.

Du K au pied carré

Depuis 2020, Dylan Cease et Kevin Gausman mènent la MLB pour les retraits sur des prises.

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RUMOR: Tyler Glasnow could be traded

The Los Angeles Dodgers have certain shortcomings. The bullpen is one, and so is the outfield. That’s quite a list of deficiencies.

Of course, no one would be surprised to see the Dodgers’ owners spend money on the free agent market in order to fix the problems quickly. It’s been done before.

But it’s not necessarily the only option.

According to an anonymous Major League Baseball executive who spoke to Jesse Rogers, we shouldn’t be surprised to see Tyler Glasnow on the market this off-season.

Because Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani, Roki Sasaki and Emmet Sheehan exist, it’s a possibility that could be on the table for the Dodgers.

Obviously, that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. The Dodgers like Glasnow, and they have so many injuries that depth on the mound is always important there.

But the idea is out there, to turn a surplus into an asset to fill a gap elsewhere.

In fact, Jim Bowden(The Athletic) talked about it recently: he wouldn’t be totally surprised to see Glasnow, who has no no-trade clause, be part of a trade involving Tarik Skubal. It wouldn’t be to fill a gap in this case… but it shows that his name is out there.

I don’t think the Dodgers are desperate to trade Glasnow, who remains a good pitcher despite his precarious health. But I do think that if the opportunity is on the table, the Californian could well leave to get THE right piece in return for his services.

Because let’s face it: depth starters don’t necessarily have good market value, and the other four starters (Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki and Snell) aren’t going anywhere. If a starter has to leave, it’s likely to be Glasnow.

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Bo Bichette: still an option despite Dylan Cease’s contract

If I had told you a year ago that the Blue Jays were going to give away two contracts bigger than George Springer’s ($150M) in 2025… but none of them were going to be for Bo Bichette, what would you have said?

That the shortstop would be on his way out?

Yet we live in a world where the Blue Jays gave $500M to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and $210M to Dylan Cease, but the club won’t want to pass on Bichette regardless.

It’s a question many people are asking, and the answer is clear: yes, Bichette is (more than ever) a target for the Queen City club on the free agent market.

In reality, the Blue Jays have always intended to use the enormous financial resources of Rogers (a company with cash aplenty) to sign a pitcher and pick up a hitter.

And the fact that Cease received more money more quickly than expected (were the Blue Jays tired of passing on guys and decided to drop a motton of cash quickly?) doesn’t change the Bichette case.

In fact, it certainly can’t hurt the Bichette case. We don’t know exactly what he’s looking for, but he can’t think that returning to Toronto would hurt his chances of winning a ring one day. Quite the contrary, in fact.

We don’t know what his criteria are, but if money is on the table, it’s very possible that La Biche will return to a club built to maximize Vladimir Guerrero Jr’s golden years.

At this point, one wonders if the contract offered to Cease could hurt the Blue Jays’ chances of signing Kyle Tucker, who will be entitled to a bigger contract than Bo Bichette. It’s a legitimate question.

But for Bichette, Cease’s contract isn’t a negative.

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Dylan Cease has catastrophic stats against the Red Sox and Yankees

As recently as late yesterday (Wednesday), the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a whopping $210 million for pitcher Dylan Cease, a gunner with an earned-run average of 4.18 in his last three seasons, worse than any starting pitcher in the middle of the rotation.

For the right-hander to initial this pact on November 26, it’s safe to assume that no Major League Baseball team wanted to go anywhere near those numbers.

Certainly, Cease is durable, having made 32 or 33 starts five years in a row, while throwing 97 MPH. What’s more, he’s a top-level pitcher when it comes to swinging for the fences (95th percentile for strikeout rate).

So yes, Cease has a good arm. But he’ll have to improve on something now that he’s in the Eastern Section of the American League.

What are we talking about? His atrocious stats against the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, when Cease posted earned-run averages of 5.34 and 6.04 respectively against his new division rivals.

Another area for improvement will certainly be his control, including initiating his opponents’ presences with a catch. Cease doesn’t forward the strike zone enough and wastes a very large number of non-competitive throws.

Last season, the 29-year-old led the league in strikeout rate while posting a 4.55 earned run average. One wonders how this is possible. It was the second-worst earned run average in history for a qualified pitcher, with an average of 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings. We salute Matthew Boyd.

It now remains to be seen whether Cease can turn the tide in these areas.

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Kyle Tucker: “Teams love him, but they don’t adore him”

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be seeing more and more action in the MLB. The winter meetings are coming up, and that’s usually when things get going on the free-agent market.

That’s when the big names start signing.

And this year, the big name on the market is Kyle Tucker. We’re talking about a top-quality outfielder who’s one of the best hitters in the sport. And unsurprisingly, big-budget teams are on his case.

But according to Bob Nightengale, who spoke to Foul Territory on Wednesday, even if there is interest in Tucker, we’re not talking about a player who has every team salivating.

Teams like Tucker, but they don’t love him, basically.

We know that Tucker, while he’s proven himself to be one of the sport’s good hitters in recent years, doesn’t necessarily have the prestige of a big name. He doesn’t really have any individual honours on his record (he has two Silver Batons and a Gold Glove, but has never finished higher than fifth in the MVP race), and he’s been injured a lot over the past two years.

These are all elements that can turn some clubs off… and, more importantly, diminish the leverage he holds in contract negotiations with teams.

It’s not exactly a surprise to see Tucker sign the biggest contract of the winter. But in reality, we have to be cautious before thinking he’ll get a monstrous contract that will reset the market.

And perhaps he won’t be the player with the highest annual salary among those who sign this winter, especially if other big names (Kyle Schwarber, for example) decide to sign short-term deals. Let’s see what his deal looks like.

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  • Good listening.

  • The Cardinals obviously want to keep their manager.

  • A family spirit in Toronto.

  • The Blue Jays had Dylan Cease in their sights for years.

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Passion MLB – The Podcast, Episode 91

On the heels of today’s podcast, Sébastien Berrouard and Charles-Alexis Brisebois discussed Dylan Cease, who signed a huge contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

Other personnel moves of the past week were also analyzed.

We remind you that people who want to listen to us live can do so every Wednesday at 8 p.m. on Facebook, on X and on YouTube. We record live to answer everyone’s questions.

However, those who want to listen to us in a more traditional podcast format can also do so by visiting all the good podcast platforms at any time.

SpotifyYouTubeApple PodcastAmazon Music

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Dylan Cease: no starter pulls guys off catches like him

The Blue Jays have given Dylan Cease $210 million to pitch important games in Toronto. This is excellent news for the club… even if he is a little overpaid.

This team’s 2026 rotation will be excellent, in fact.

Cease, who spent the last two years in San Diego after years in Chicago, is back in the American. And now, after years of trade rumors, he’s gone to find a bit of stability.

Good for him.

The Blue Jays too, by the way, are getting some stability. The guy has thrown at least 32 starts in his last five years (plus 12 in 2020’s 60-game season) and he’s still healthy.

Yes, he gives up too many bases on balls, which affects his average… but I’m sure that playing with a good defense was part of his criteria when it came time for the Georgia native to choose his next team.

I say this even though, in reality, he doesn’t always need his defense.

Why not? Because among qualified pitchers, no one else did better than his 11.52 strikeouts per nine innings in 2025. Garrett Crochet and Tarik Skubal are right behind him.

His swinging strike rate (15.6%) is also the second best in the Majors in 2025, behind Skubal.

Since 2021, no other pitcher has more Ks than he does. So he’s a machine at this level and one of the best in his profession when he’s at the top of his game.

Cease has collected 215, 224, 214, 227 and 226 strikeouts in his last five seasons. Let’s just say it’s hard to ask for more than that from a top-tier pitcher.

It remains to be seen whether the $210 million given to the pitcher will have the effect of taking the Blue Jays out of the race for Kyle Tucker. But in any case, I can’t see Bo Bichette not being a target for Toronto, despite this contract.

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Blue Jays: Dylan Cease signs huge contract

And it’s on.

According to Jon Heyman and Bob Nightengale, the Toronto Blue Jays have reached agreement on the terms of a seven-year contract valued at $30 million per season. That’s a total of $210 million.

Details to come…

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