REACTION: Blue Jays, Dylan Cease reportedly agree to 7-year deal 🚨

We have our biggest move of the off season. Dylan Cease to the Blue Jays. Seven years, 210 million. The Blue Jays go out and get their horse. Cease locks up the long-term deal. And now the hot stove is really buzzing as we countd down to the end of the month and the winter meetings just a few weeks away. The first major domino has fallen and the defending AL’s champs bolster their rotation. as we welcome you to MLB Network. I’m Greg Casera joined once again by our friend and insider Mark Feinand. So, this one just came out of nowhere and here we are. Dylan CE is a Blue Jay. Can we talk about how this all came together so quickly? Well, you know, it’s surprising that it came together so quickly for a couple of reasons. Number one, we don’t usually see deals of this magnitude uh pre-Thanksgiving, if not even pre-winter meetings. Secondly, we rarely ever see a Scott Boris client sign this early, so that’s also a surprise. Um, but I’m not surprised at all that the Blue Jays got aggressive and went out. They knew they wanted to get one of the big starting pitchers on the market. Clearly, they had tabbed CE as their number one choice of those big four or five pitchers. And when you look at the fact that they were losing Chris Basset and Max Scherer out of the rotation, uh Kevin Gosman only has one more year of control left on his contract and Shane Bieber only has one year of control after picking up that option. So, uh, you know, right now this rotation looks great. Obviously, Tra Savage came up and and was a huge factor in October, but a year from now, Goffman and Bieber are going to be free agents. So, securing CE on this long-term deal gives Toronto that big arm at the top of the rotation for the next seven seasons. Uh, so next year, there’s not going to be quite as big a need to go out and and refill three spots in that rotation. Mark, were any other teams in on cease to the point where talks had progressed like this? Not that I know of, but again, this came about so quickly. You know, we’re still in typically around the league right now, you’re still in that, you know, kicking tires phase uh of free agency where, you know, teams and agents start talking at the GM meetings a little bit and start talking a little bit more, but these big deals don’t tend to happen this fast. You know, two weeks from now in Orlando is when we figured some of these would really start coming down. So, I don’t know that anybody uh, you know, got to the point where they were talking serious terms with Dylan Cease. Uh but again, the Blue Jays identified him as their top pitching priority and they were aggressive and they went and got him. I mean, 30 million a year, that’s uh you know, that’s a serious deal. Blue Jays building a stable of horses. This graphic right here shows it. Pitchers with 30 or more starts each of the last five years. They now have three of them would cease hitting that list. Bios and Gosman as well, Patrick Corbin, the veteran part of that. But man, oh man, good for the Blue Jays. And what I love about this, Mark, is that it changes perceptions, right? Like people thought the Blue Jays would never go out and land a big fish. They lost out on Otani. Last year their big move was bringing in Anthony Santandere. Suddenly in one calendar year, you’ve given 500 million to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and now 210 to the right-hander. Well, you know, it’s interesting. I think the Vlad part of it can’t be understated because people have been looking at the Blue Jays for the last couple of years saying, are they going to trade Vlad? Are they going to resign him? Is he going to leave as a free agent? And there was sort of a little bit of uncertainty about whether the Blue Jays were going to be a legitimate contender in the coming years or whether they were looking at the end of this window with Vlad and Bashette. So giving Vlad that $500 million was a signal to the rest of the league that they’re not going anywhere. They’re planning on being a contender. They’ve got their franchise player and now they’re going to continue to build around him. To me, the most interesting part of this signing is what happens next. We know Bob Bashett is somebody they want to bring back. We’ve also heard Kyle Tucker’s name attached to the Blue Jays, you know, for the past few weeks. So, having given Dylan sees $210 million, can they go out and sign Bashette and Tucker? Is it one or the other? Which one do they prioritize at this point? So, uh, the Blue Jays off season is fascinating and it’s really just getting started even with this huge signing.

@MLBNetwork reacts to Blue Jays, RHP Dylan Cease reportedly agreeing to 7-year deal, per multiple reports including MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand.

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44 comments

  12. Overrated pitcher. Most of his career has been mediocre at best. One very good year. Not a big game guy. Not worth the huge investment.

  16. You misspoke a bit of the Blue Jays calling them the defending AL East champs. Technically, they are the defending American League champs. I’m a Yankee fan and they deserve to be labeled correctly

  20. Funny how the biggest negative comment here was the cost of Cease. In case folks dont know it's a non-hard salary cap league. If you can pick up a player and all it costs you is cash, how can you lose? Isn't this what the Dodgers did?

  27. 🌻Nice get on Cease Blue Jays, but he tends to be moody on the mound which may not a good thing. Just saying. Although other teams wanted him, the Dodger's did not. That says a lot.

  35. Am I the only one who thinks jays need closing pitcher more than anyone else? Hoffman can not be our closer next year if jays want to win.

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