5 more free agents the Blue Jays should pursue after Shane Bieber opts in

With the MLB offseason now upon us after the conclusion of the 2025 World Series, the Toronto Blue Jays will be looking to make some moves in free agency to give the team every chance to make it back to the big show the very next season. Despite having a fair chunk of their roster intact for 2026, there will still be some needs for the Blue Jays to fill, depending on the outcomes of their own free agents.

Toronto received their first good news of the offseason when their prized trade acquisition and potentially pending free agent Shane Bieber decided to exercise his player option and stay with the Blue Jays. With one of their key pieces now returning, which other attractive pieces from the free agent market could the Blue Jays also bring in to be potential difference makers for the club?

5 more free agents the Blue Jays should pursue after Shane Bieber opts in

Dylan Cease

Dylan Cease is among the top of the list in free agent pitchers this winter, despite having a less-than-stellar 2025 campaign. This past season, Cease actually struggled to an 8-12 record with a 4.55 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, giving up 85 earned runs and 71 walks in 168 innings pitched.

However, his strikeout ability was still at the top of his game, recording 215 in total to rank near the top of the league. More importantly, Cease has proven to be quite durable in recent years, having registered at least 32 starts in each of his last five seasons.

Rumors during the past trade deadline had the Blue Jays interested in acquiring Cease. Well now they have the opportunity to get him without worrying about giving up any prospect capital. As one of the best rotation arms available this offseason, Cease will likely have many suitors pursue his services.

Nevertheless, the Blue Jays always seem to be in on the best free agents every offseason, but this time hopefully they can make it happen with the young 29-year-old right-hander who would give the Blue Jays a deadly rotation.

Zac Gallen

The Blue Jays benefitted from having the services of former Arizona Diamondbacks Daulton Varsho to help lead the team both offensively and defensively this past season in their quest to the World Series. With such great success from a former Diamondbacks player, they could turn to another one this offseason.

Gallen may not be the household name among some of the top starters in the free agent market, but he has shown to be one of the more consistent and reliable pitchers in the league during the past few seasons for Arizona.

In 2025, the 30-year-old right-hander struggled a bit with an uncharacteristic 13-15 record with a 4.83 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, along with 175 strikeouts in 192 total innings in 33 starts. But for the majority of his seven-year MLB career, Gallen has managed to maintain an ERA consistently below 3.70 in five of those seven seasons.

More importantly, he has finished in the top 10 in NL Cy Young voting three times, including being a finalist in his 2023 campaign. As a result, Gallen would fit in nicely as a front or mid-end rotation piece for the Blue Jays going forward.