5 non-tendered players the Blue Jays should immediately be targeting

Heading into Friday evening, teams around the league had the option to determine whether they were going to extend contracts to their arbitration-eligible players for the 2025 season or not. The clubs could either choose to tender a contract to said players or non-tender them, which means they're cutting the player altogether.

On the Toronto Blue Jays end, they tendered contracts to Zach Pop, Erik Swanson, Ernie Clement, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Alek Manoah, Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho.

The only two players that were non-tendered were a pair of relievers: Jordan Romano and Dillon Tate.

In total, over 60 players around the league were non-tendered, making them unrestricted free agents. We all know the Blue Jays have a ton of different spots on their roster in need of an upgrade, so could this be a textbook case of one man's trash being another man's treasure?

Sometimes teams non-tender players simply because they can't afford the raises they were set to command through arbitration. It isn't always strictly performance-based. With this in mind, it's worth looking at the pool of new free agents and determining which ones the Blue Jays could use.

Let's dive in.

5 non-tendered players the Blue Jays should pursue

Austin Hays

Blue Jays fans are all-too-familiar with Hays and what he brings to the table, as he's been torturing Toronto pitching since he broke into the league back in 2017. The 29-year-old has put up above-average stat lines in every single full season of his career, but the Phillies didn't get the best version of him after this past season's trade deadline. With such a small margin for error on their contending roster, they chose to cut bait.

Hays is a consistent threat to hit between 15 and 20 home runs and has historically been a great hitter against both right- and left-handed pitching. While he's limited to a corner outfield spot at this stage in the game, he is always an offensive-minded player who the Blue Jays could use in their lineup.

Kyle Finnegan

Over the past five years, the Washington Nationals have gotten a ton of mileage out of Finnegan and his arm. The right-hander has made over 60 relief appearances four years in a row while saving 28 games or more in each of the last two.

Finnegan, 32, made the first All-Star Game of his career and finished the season with a 3.68 ERA and 110 ERA+ across 65 outings and 63.2 innings. The biggest concern, and likely the biggest reason he was non-tendered in the first place, was the fact that his wheels fell off a bit in the second half of the 2024 campaign.

In 24 second-half games, Finnegan posted a 5.79 ERA with 18 strikeouts and 11 walks in 23.1 innings. These are nowhere close to the 2.45 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 13 walks in 40.1 innings in the first half.

His next contract will be dependent on how concerned the signing team is with those splits. The Blue Jays are desperate in the worst way to find bullpen help, so adding Finnegan and hoping he replicates that first-half output in 2025 seems to be the way they'd go here.

Patrick Sandoval

Sandoval is not going to be available for the 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, but he's been a rock-solid pitcher for the vast majority of his career to this point. The left-hander has proven to be an above-average pitcher in any year he has health on his side, so the Blue Jays would have to sign him knowing they aren't going to see him until '26.

Sandoval, 28, has a career 4.01 ERA, 3.96 FIP and 108 ERA+ across 100 starts (and seven relief appearances) dating back to 2019. In each year from 2021-2023, he sported an ERA+ north of 100 and while his 5.08 ERA in 2024 doesn't instill much confidence, his 3.87 FIP provides much more hope.

Hunter Stratton

Stratton, 28, is another player that's currently on the long-term injured list, but he showed a ton of potential out of the Pittsburgh Pirates' bullpen this past season. The right-hander made it into 36 games for the Pirates, posting a 3.58 ERA, 3.25 FIP and 118 ERA+ through 37.2 innings.

Since he's got such a small amount of experience under his belt and he's injured, Stratton should come cheap for a team that needs bullpen help. Rumor has it the Pirates are working on a reunion with the reliever, but the Blue Jays should be waiting to strike if nothing gets done from Pittsburgh.

George Valera

A long-time top prospect of the Guardians, Valera was non-tendered by Cleveland before he ever made it up to the big leagues. The 24-year-old has turned himself into quite the power threat down in the minor leagues and could be a player the Blue Jays target in hopes of capitlalizing on some of that potential.

In each full season since 2021, Valera has hit 11 or more home runs, topping out at 24 with 82 RBI in 2022. He's an on-base machine who draws his fair share of walks and has a ton of thump in that bat. Even if the Jays do sign him, he feels like a piece that'd start in Triple-A and work his way up to the majors, but Valera screams "change of scenery" like no other.