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Blue Jays: Former pitchers that are currently on the MLB Free Agent market

By Tyson Shushkewich

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 16: Pitcher J.A. Happ #33 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches during a interleague MLB baseball game against the New York Mets on May 16, 2018 at CitiField in the Queens borough of New York City. Toronto won 12-1. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** J.A. Happ
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 16: Pitcher J.A. Happ #33 of the Toronto Blue Jays pitches during a interleague MLB baseball game against the New York Mets on May 16, 2018 at CitiField in the Queens borough of New York City. Toronto won 12-1. (Photo by Paul Bereswill/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** J.A. Happ /
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TORONTO, ON – JULY 6: General manager Ross Atkins of the Toronto Blue Jays checks his phone during batting practice before the start of MLB game action against the Houston Astros at Rogers Centre on July 6, 2017 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

Since 2015, the Blue Jays have seen their fair share of ups and downs. From the playoff highs of 15′ and 16′ to a complete rebuild/teardown that saw veteran players and fan favourites departing The Six, the Jays organization and its fanbase have been through a rollercoaster of emotions over the past few seasons.

From posting a 67-95 record in 2019 to a playoff berth in 2020 that saw the Jays play all of their games South of the border, the franchise turned in a pretty solid 2021 season that was unfortunately just one win shy of a playoff tiebreaker that would have seen the club play meaningful October baseball.

Even though the CBA talks have put a damper on the 2022 campaign, once a new agreement is in place, you can bet that there will be an absolute frenzy across the league, with teams trading and attempting to sign free agents to bolster their squads in a quick turnaround to get Spring Training and the season underway. It’s no secret the Blue Jays have a few areas that could use some shoring up, such as adding a fifth member to the rotation, one or two more bullpen arms, and maybe adding a superstar third baseman via trade.

While those actions may or may not happen before Opening Day rolls around, one thing that did pique my interest was the amount of former Blue Jays that are currently free agents following the 2021 season. Some have signed on with new clubs like Marcus Stroman but some fan favourites and players from back in the mid-2010s are seeking new homes and weren’t able to secure a contract before the lockout. They may not fit with the Blue Jays’ current plans moving forward, but let’s take a look at some former pitchers who fans may remember from the ‘good old days’ and how they found themselves as free agents following the 2021 campaign.

For this article, I am going to focus more on pitchers that did not spend last season with the club as well as players who made at least ten appearances for the Jays (for example, Matt Boyd and his two games on the active roster will not be featured).

All pitchers featured on this list are found via the MLB Trade Rumours tracker website at the link found here.

A position player edition will be produced in the near future.

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