Blue Jays eyeing super rotation with reported interest growing for free agent starter

The Toronto Blue Jays have spent most of the offseason already improving their pitching staff, but they might not be done just yet. According to a tweet from Jon Heyman of the New York Post on Tuesday evening (Feb. 3), the Blue Jays are trying to build a super rotation.

Heyman says the Blue Jays reportedly have interest in former Houston Astros starter Framber Valdez and if there is any truth to those reporters it would be another big name arm that would give Toronto arguably the best rotation in the league.

Blue Jays eyeing super rotation with reported interest growing for free agent starter

A few weeks ago, Blue Jays beat reporter Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reported that the Blue Jays had met with Valdez early on in the offseason, but following those meetings the Blue Jays pivoted, and landed another free agent starter, Dylan Cease. Toronto signed Cease to a seven-year $210 million deal.

But they didn't stop there. They also added Cody Ponce from the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO) and then also brought in a couple of arms to help the bullpen when they signed Tyler Rogers, and traded for Chase Lee. Don't forget, trade deadline acquisition Shane Bieber chose the player option in his contract to remain with the Blue Jays in 2026.

With these names added to the fold in the winter to a rotation that was already carrying holdovers Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, José Berrios and Eric Lauer, it doesn't feel like there is much room to add a guy like Valdez. In fact, throw in Bowden Francis (coming off an injury) and Rule 5 Draft pick Spencer Miles (a right handed pitcher) and the Blue Jays have the deepest set of arms going into a season than they may have ever had.

But there is always room for improvement and with the Boston Red Sox doing a nice job this offseason adding some arms, and the Baltimore Orioles also reportedly eyeing Valdez, this could be a chase for a free agent that accomplishes a few things for Toronto. One, it gives them another starter who was an ace for a team, has World Series winning experience, and is a proven commodity.

Valdez has made 28+ starts in each of the last four seasons, pitching at least 176 innings while averaging an 8.8 SO/9 rate, a 1.159 WHIP and 127 ERA+. He's the model of consistency and as a left handed thrower, he would give the Blue Jays the one thing their rotation lacks. While being a southpaw alone won't get the Blue Jays to give out a contract to Valdez, it's all those other numbers that will and the longer that he goes unsigned the more it seems like the Blue Jays should be weighing the option of bringing him in.

That's the second benefit, is if he's with the Blue Jays, he can't beat the Blue Jays by signing with one of their division rivals. The Blue Jays have gotten somewhat lucky this offseason that only one of their division rivals made a huge free agent signing, that being the Orioles bringing in slugging first baseman Pete Alonso. But the other teams have made moves to stay competitive, and according to FanGraphs, have better odds than the Blue Jays do to win the World Series and Valdez going to any of those teams would certainly increase the odds in their favour and not the Blue Jays'.

The third reason to sign him would be to acquire a player to shore up another need by dealing from their pitching depth. The Blue Jays wanted to upgrade their outfield and chased hard after Kyle Tucker. So hard in fact that Tucker wanted to play in Toronto, or so he says, but it was just really hard to turn down a deal that gave him a $60 million average annual value. So if the Blue Jays still want an upgrade in that area of their roster, maybe they get it done via trade.

Bringing in Valdez would make a trade easier to swallow should they need to deal someone currently in their starting rotation. A Valdez signing though doesn't come without it's caveat's. For one, he's got that "bad attitude" issue that seems to be popping up a ton. This is stemming from an incident in early September of last year when Valdez crossed up his catcher César Salazar, throwing a hard sinker when the call was for a curveball. The pitch hit Salazar in his chest protector and looked just as annoyed as Valdez did about the situation.

They cleared the air a few days later with both players saying it wasn't intentionally, but in a lot of reports tossed out this offseason, this incident comes up as a reason for why teams aren't jumping at the chance to sign him. The Blue Jays, who prided their clubhouse culture and good vibes in 2025, wouldn't want to disrupt that. The other hesitancy would be in Valdez's second half stats in which he pitched to a 5.20 ERA in 12 games. His strike out numbers were down slightly to 7.9 in 71 innings, and his WHIP was up to 1.451 from 1.124.

Batters also started to hit better against him with a BABIP of .311 in July, . 333 in August and .325 in September / Oct. With Valdez going into his age 32 season, these numbers aren't trending in the right direction. So while adding Valdez would certainly give the Blue Jays a remarkably good rotation, there are reasons to be cautious.