The Toronto Blue Jays made a massive free agent splash Wednesday evening, agreeing to a deal with pitcher Dylan Cease on a seven-year, $210 million contract, according to multiple reports.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports the deal is pending a physical. According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the deal includes deferrals.

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. The defending American League champions get one of the best arms on the free agent market.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 26, 2025

Cease, 29, was 8-12 with a 4.55 ERA last season for the San Diego Padres, striking out 215 batters over 168.0 innings pitched.

While Cease’s ERA was on the high side, his 3.56 FIP (fielding independent pitching) was a full run below his ERA, indicating Cease’s performance was better than his ERA showed. His .323 batting average in balls on play against (.323) was also well above league average (2.91) and his home runs per nine innings (1.1) were also right at his career average.

The season before, Cease had a 3.47 ERA with 224 strikeouts in 189.1 innings pitched and finished fourth in National League Cy Young voting.

As things stand right now, Cease will slide into a Blue Jays starting rotation featuring Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage and Jose Berrios. Left-hander Eric Lauer, who started 15 games last season and had a 3.18 ERA, is also back for 2026.

According to MLB Network, Cease is one of just four pitcher across baseball to make 30 or more starts in each of the previous five seasons. The others are Gausman, Berrios, and Texas Rangers southpaw Patrick Corbin.

However, Cease has also led the majors in walks (361) over that same period.

Despite all the Jays’ success in 2025, Toronto had the 20th-best starters’ ERA in baseball last season (4.34) and they allowed the third-most home runs (140), behind only the Colorado Rockies (156) and Athletics (143).

A native of Milton, Ga., Cease began his career with the Chicago White Sox and spent five seasons on the South Side before arriving with the Padres in a multi-player deal in March of 2024.

Cease’s best year came in 2022 when he finished runner-up in American League Cy Young voting after posting a 2.20 ERA.

In 188 regular season outings across seven big-league seasons, Cease owns a career record of 65-58 with a 3.88 ERA.