{"id":453465,"date":"2025-11-29T03:24:47","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T03:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/453465\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T03:24:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T03:24:47","slug":"signing-dylan-cease-is-a-2026-statement-of-intent-for-ambitious-blue-jays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/453465\/","title":{"rendered":"Signing Dylan Cease is a 2026 statement of intent for ambitious Blue Jays"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

San Diego Padres pitcher Dylan Cease has signed a seven-year, US$210-million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.Gregory Bull\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

In 1974, Catfish Hunter became Major League Baseball\u2019s first free agent. True free agency was still a couple of years away and, at that point, not certain, but Hunter broke the ground for all those to come. <\/p>\n

The incumbent Cy Young Award winner, Hunter was owed a bonus at season\u2019s end. The owner of his team, the Oakland A\u2019s, refused to pay it. As a result, an arbitrator voided Hunter\u2019s contract. He became the first player of his age, stage and calibre to enter a bidding war. <\/p>\n

At the time, the New York Yankees were stuck in their Bronx is Burning phase. George Steinbrenner had just bought the team for nothing \u2013 10-million bucks.<\/p>\n

According to Steinbrenner\u2019s biographer, Bill Madden, Steinbrenner told the Yankees general manager to get Hunter no matter what. Because he was serving the first of several bans, he wasn\u2019t present during negotiations. <\/p>\n

The GM went out and made Hunter the highest-paid player in baseball by a country mile \u2013 five years, US$3.25-million. <\/p>\n

After being told the number, Steinbrenner freaked out \u2013 \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter with you?\u201d He would need a loan to pay his new star. <\/p>\n

Hunter wasn\u2019t the star the Yankees hoped. He had one great year before injuries got hold of him, and then diabetes. But his arrival, and the money spent on him, created an expectation. The Yankees were once again the biggest swinging bat in baseball. Within a couple of seasons they were winning again and, save for a dip in the eighties, have never stopped. <\/p>\n

The Yankees don\u2019t win because they spend more money than everyone else. They win because everyone believes they are willing to do whatever it takes to stay at or near the top. That includes spending money. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The signing of Jim (Catfish) Hunter spurred the 1970s New York Yankees on to become the big-spending behemoth recognized globally today.The Associated Press<\/p>\n

This belief has spread from the Yankees, to the media, to their own fans, to other fans, until it becomes general knowledge. The Yankees are great. Why? Because they\u2019re the Yankees. <\/p>\n

This week, the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> accepted this challenge.<\/p>\n

Acquiring Dylan Cease <\/a>isn\u2019t going to push an already good team over the top. Cease is an old-school workhorse. Some pitchers get pencilled in for next week. You can write Cease in for September with permanent marker. <\/p>\n

He is youngish, reliable and a steady presence. Under current market conditions, that costs US$210-million over seven years. <\/p>\n

People thought Cease would go for less money over fewer years. His last season wasn\u2019t great. The market for starting pitchers doesn\u2019t typically get rolling until December or January. <\/p>\n

While other teams were standing around waiting for something to happen, the Jays did something instead. Their rotation \u2013 Kevin Gausman, Cease, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber, Jose Berrios \u2013 is now one of the best on paper in baseball. <\/p>\n

Cathal Kelly: Blue Jays sitting pretty as they prepare to swing big in off-season once again<\/a><\/p>\n

For several years, the Jays have been one of the waiters and watchers. There\u2019s no shame in it. Everyone on the edges operates this way. It\u2019s not so much looking for bargains \u2013 there are none in free agency \u2013 as it is not wanting to rip yourself off. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s good business, but it\u2019s bad baseball. <\/p>\n

Baseball is won more often than not by teams that rush to the front of the room waving a wad of bills over their head. <\/p>\n

The Dodgers are the new Yankees. If there\u2019s a guy out there that a friend of someone they know once saw hit four home runs in a game, the Dodgers want him. It\u2019s not just a willingness to pay. It\u2019s decisiveness. <\/p>\n

L.A.\u2019s highest-profile acquisitions \u2013 Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto \u2013 were wrapped up before the rest of the free-agency market had gotten rolling. The Dodgers are done early, and the rest of baseball is still debating what they can get at a 24-hour gas station on Christmas Eve. <\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, US$700-million contract two years ago and has won back-to-back World Series since then.Gregory Bull\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

How did the Dodgers beat the Jays in the World Series just past? If you take the three phases of the game \u2013 offence, defence and pitching \u2013 Toronto was better in all of them. <\/p>\n

It was that L.A. thought it would win in the end, while the Jays suspected they might lose. <\/p>\n

That battle was fought and won before the 2025 season began. It happened when Ohtani, Yamamoto, Snell et al. didn\u2019t even have to really think about it \u2013 they were going with the Dodgers. <\/p>\n

For their part, the Dodgers don\u2019t nickel and dime talent. They went so far over the top rope on all three offers that they were in danger of hitting a rafter. Splashing the pot works just as well in baseball as it does in poker at keeping your opponents off balance. <\/p>\n

Like any team, the Jays have roster needs, and like any very good team, none of them is that crucial. Another pitcher is great. Another big hitter would be great, too. <\/p>\n

But for truly dominant teams, the off-season is about drilling the idea into everyone else\u2019s mind that they are 10 games behind before the first pitch is thrown on opening day. <\/p>\n

Most baseball teams try to do that work themselves, during spring training, with elaborate compliments delivered to themselves. The Jays have always been a main offender. <\/p>\n

But it doesn\u2019t work that way. The people who decide if you are one of the best teams in baseball, or a really class organization, or a winner, are free agents. They inform the rest of baseball of their opinion by choosing you. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same as any leading business. The ones that are consistently chosen by top people are the best. If you can do that year after year, that general opinion becomes immutable and unchanging. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s how the Yankees became the Yankees, and the Lakers the Lakers, and Real Madrid Real Madrid. That\u2019s the highest long-term aspiration of any sports organization. To become mythic. <\/p>\n

In terms of the talent purchased, the Dylan Cease acquisition isn\u2019t anywhere near the most legendary in Jays history (yet).<\/p>\n

But if he\u2019s their Catfish Hunter, and they go on to became the late-seventies Yankees, he\u2019s the point at which things started to change. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: San Diego Padres pitcher Dylan Cease has signed a seven-year, US$210-million contract with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":453466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2378],"tags":[5,377,2554,4,34002,34001,282,70,2553],"class_list":{"0":"post-453465","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-blue-jays","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-blue-jays","10":"tag-bluejays","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-noastack","13":"tag-topstory","14":"tag-toronto","15":"tag-toronto-blue-jays","16":"tag-torontobluejays"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115630855013244998","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/453466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}