Asking prices on two Blue Jays free agent targets just went through the roof

This offseason, the Toronto Blue Jays had plans to be an active player in the free agent market for starting pitching help. Rumors had it that the Jays were particularly interested in the big three of Max Fried, Corbin Burnes and Blake Snell.

However, as a fallout of the free agent signing of Snell by the reigning World Series champions Los Angeles Dodgers, the task for the Blue Jays to land an elite starter this winter just got that much more daunting. That is because the Dodgers gave Snell an eye-popping five-year, $182 million deal to join their three-headed monster of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow in their rotation ahead of the 2025 MLB season. In doing so, that has now likely caused the asking price of both Fried and Burnes to skyrocket through the roof. Why is that?

Asking prices on two Blue Jays free agent targets just went through the roof

Despite having already won two Cy Young Awards over his nine-year MLB career, Snell had only been exceptional for just those two seasons in reality. If taking a closer look at his other seven years in the league, he predominantly registered an ERA above three, including having an ERA above four on three separate occasions.

In addition, Snell may be elite at avoiding contact and having a high strikeout rate, but he has had his troubles with the free pass, walking over four batters per nine innings throughout his career. Even during his Cy Young-worthy 2023 season with the San Diego Padres, he led the entire league with a whopping 99 walks. On top of that, if we take away his stellar 21-5 record from 2018, he has actually posted only a passable 55-53 mark for the rest of his time as a starter.

In comparison, Burnes has been super-consistent with his elite numbers since becoming a full-time starter part way through the 2020 COVID-shortened campaign. During the past five seasons, he has posted an ERA below three for four of those years, including a league-leading 2.43 during his Cy Young year in 2021. In addition, he has maintained a WHIP constantly below 1.10, including an NL-leading 1.07 in 2023. If that wasn’t convincing enough, Burnes has been an All-Star in each of his past four seasons, as well as finishing in the top-10 in Cy Young voting for the past five years.

As for Fried, his overall resume isn’t too shabby either. With a career 73-36 win-loss record, his impressive .670 winning percentage is the best mark among the big three mentioned above. Moreover, Fried has kept his ERA consistently below 3.25 and WHIP below 1.16 since 2020. Not only that, but Fried can also contribute significantly in the field as well, capturing three Gold Glove Awards over just eight seasons in the league.

So with both Burnes and Fried being younger and potentially able to offer even more than what Snell could, think of what it would cost to obtain their services? If Snell is demanding an AAV of $36.4 million, the price of Burnes or Fried now might be beyond what the Jays can comfortably offer.

As a result, perhaps a feasible backup plan should be in the works for Toronto to salvage their offseason if they intend to still pursue starting pitching this winter. Otherwise, if the Jays need to spend that much to get anything significant accomplished, they might as well just focus all their efforts on reeling in Juan Soto then.