8 Blue Jays players who won't be back in 2025

Dillon Tate

Based off of full-season numbers alone, Erik Swanson got some consideration for this spot in the list, but his second-half surge likely buys him another year on the Blue Jays. A 2.55 ERA through 27 second-half outings is nothing to scoff at.

Instead, we're going with one of the newest members of the Jays, one that also only got four looks at the big league level before the season came to a close. Tate, 30, spent the first five-plus years of his big league career as a member of the division rival Orioles, so the Jays knew plenty about him when he first came over via waiver claim.

The right-hander appeared in 3.1 innings in the bigs for Toronto, surrendering two earned runs and three walks on four hits (5.40 ERA), striking out four in the process. John Schneider said early on that he liked what he saw from Tate, but ultimately he's another arb-eligible pitcher that the Jays feel likelier to move on from than to re-up on a new deal.

The Blue Jays are likely preparing for a major gutting of their bullpen. Any pitcher not named Little, Green and Romano is in danger of losing their respective roster spots.

With so many pitchers residing at the bottom of the 40-man roster, this spot on the list could've gone to a multitude of them. Nick Robertson, Brandon Eisert, Brett de Geus, Emmanuel Ramirez, Luis Frias and Easton Lucas all have minor league options and are not yet eligible for a raise, so they're going to stick around. Tate, on the other hand, is going to be cut instead of paid.

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