MLB insider says Blue Jays fans should really get behind this offseason move

The Toronto Blue Jays are arguably better entering Spring Training this year than they were a year ago. In fact last year they were projected for 85.1 wins by PECOTA, while this year the same projections system has them at 88.5 wins and repeating as AL East champions.

Of course, they'll have to play the games to either reach or surpass these projections, something they managed to do last year, but one of the reason's they are being looked at as a contender this year right from the get-go is thanks to the signing of Dylan Cease. While the seven-year $210 million deal may not sit well with everyone, including some industry executives, MLB insider Robert Murray says that Cease is the guy Blue Jays fans should be getting behind in 2026.

MLB insider says Blue Jays fans should really get behind this offseason move

In his piece on "One player every MLB team needs to believe in entering 2026." he wrote that Cease is the guy the Blue Jays wanted from the very beginning and that despite his 2025 stats not jumping off the page, he is still a top-tier pitcher. Murray says, "Landing Cease will help bolster their rotation. After all, the Jays targeted Cease from the beginning of the winter, and added a high-end pitcher who has pitched in at least 32 games in each of the last five seasons. And he, along with other offseason additions, should have Toronto firmly in the mix to get back to the World Series in 2026."

Cease has finished top five in Cy Young Award voting twice in the past four seasons. In 2022 with the Chicago White Sox, he lead the league with a 6.4 bWAR pitching to a 2.20 ERA in 32 starts. That seasons he threw 184 innings, struck out 227 batters and had a WHIP of 1.109. The following year, his numbers jumped up in the categories you don't want them to (ERA, WHIP) while he struck out 214 batters in 177 innings, Hitters batted .250 with a .737 OPS against him that year compared to a .190 batting average against and a .584 OPS in 2022.

The next two years were much of the same as he was traded from Chicago to San Diego in March of 2024. During his time with the Padres he had one good season and one not-so-great season. The first year, Cease pitched to a new career high of 189.1 innings while batters hit .200/.269/.332 with a .601 OPS against him. He lowered his walk rate from 10.1 to 8.5 and raised his strikeout rate from 27.3 to 29.4. His WHIP was a stingy 1.067 while he racked up 224 strikeouts.

In 2025 he once again trended in the wrong direction with some numbers, but his overall body of work showcases a pitcher who took care of things on his end, while needing a bit more luck in the field. In his 32 starts he pitched 168 innings, his lowest since throwing 165.2 in 2021. Hitters only slashed .239/.318/.399 against him but his BABIP against was .323. Cease's groundball rate of 36.3 percent meant that the Padres infielders, who recieved a -11.1 SABR metric rating, weren't getting to some balls that perhaps the Blue Jays defence will get to.

Toronto's infielder's last year rated 7.3 on the SABR metric rating, while those numbers were actually pulled down by Bo Bichette's -10.8 rating. Having Andrés Giménez (4.8) and Ernie Clement (8.6) up the middle should help out Cease's numbers in 2026. Meantime, he's got the stuff to get himself out of tough situations as well. His K% ranked in 89th percentile in 2025 while he was also getting batters to whiff on his pitches in the 95th percentile.

Cease has struck out 214 batters or more in each of the last five seasons while starting at least 32 games over that same time frame. His ability to rack up strikeouts and his durability are just part of the reason that made him so attractive as a top-tier talent for the Blue Jays in the offseason and he's a player fans should get behind in 2026.