It’s been a slow burn this winter for the top free-agent hitters as we enter the new year with many of the biggest bats still available.

Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette, Alex Bregman and Cody Bellinger all remain on the open market with about six weeks until pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

According to ESPN’s Buster Olney, teams and agents are at the grind-it-out phase of the winter where each side tends to digs in their heels and wait for terms to break favourably in their direction.

But when the dust settles, Olney believes the Blue Jays will end up with one of Tucker or Bichette, two players who have been connected to the team all off-season.

“I think that where the Blue Jays are, they’re going to get one of these two guys at a price – either Bichette or Tucker – at a price that they’re comfortable with. One of the two,” Olney told TSN 1050 Toronto’s First Up Friday with Aaron Korolnek and Carlo Colaiacovo.

Olney likened the free-agent hitter situation to a game of musical chairs. As the off-season drags on, players and teams are going to want resolutions to the free agency of the top players, which he believes is a position the Blue Jays can operate from.

“I think that Aaron, your comparison to musical chairs is exactly right. Because the question is, at some point, if you’re the team, the player, you’re going to want to find a deal. And I think that the Blue Jays are in a great position to get one of the two. And because of the way this has played out, I think that they can just sit back and wait until they get the player at their price,” Olney said.

Olney indicated the Jays have been pushing hard for Tucker, a left-handed hitting outfielder who was the consensus top free agent available this winter.

“Based on the conversations I’ve had with teams and with agents, I think that the Blue Jays have the most money offered to Kyle Tucker. Or they’ve indicated that. Teams and the agents will play semantics and say, well, we never formally made an offer. Well, they’ve made an overture to where they said we’re thinking in this range and Tucker’s camp might be saying, well, we’re thinking in this range,” Olney explained.

He added he believes the Jays will be Tucker’s top bidder when it’s all said and done.

“I think the Blue Jays, by the end of the winter, whether or not Tucker signs there, will have made the highest volume offer for him. The most amount of money,” he said.

Olney also indicated that free agents might have a diminished market this winter due to the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement on Dec. 1, 2026 that has many bracing for labour uncertainty and a potential lockout in 2027.

“Based on my conversations, there are definitely teams that have been reluctant to spend because the owners are not sure about the start of 2027 with the impending labour situation. So they don’t want to extend themselves until they have more certainty,” Olney said.

“I think we’re at a stage where with Bichette, and with Bellinger and with Bregman, et cetera, what you have is a case where the agents are playing a higher value, without a doubt, than what some teams are comfortable with.”

Toronto has made the biggest free agent splash of the winter thus far, signing right hander Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million deal. The Jays also signed righty starter Cody Ponce out of the Korea Baseball Organization and had Shane Bieber opt into a one-year, $16 million player option.