The Toronto Blue Jays are the team that never stops. They have had a busy offseason, with their primary focus being pitching. Shane Bieber opted in to another year with Toronto, while they added Cody Ponce and Dylan Cease to nail down the rotation. They traded for Chase Lee and signed Tyler Rogers, Jorge Alcala, and selected Spencer Miles through the Rule 5 draft. Finally, they signed Alieski Torres, Celwin Hurkmans, and Elian Guzman to minor league contracts.
While these deals don’t have much hype, there are certainly reasons to be optimistic. Specifically, Torres has the opportunity to be a sneaky, under-the-radar signing who could impress many people.
Toronto Blue Jays Sign Alieski Torres
On December 4th, the Blue Jays made a flurry of moves. According to their transaction page, they signed Cease in addition to bringing prospects Isay Veras, Guzman, and Torres aboard.
According to his MLB profile page, Torres stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 205 lbs.
MLB insider Francys Romero reported on the signing when it happened in an X post.
“Cuban RHP Alieski Torres (18) has officially signed with the Toronto Blue Jays,” Romero wrote in early December. “Bonus deal: $200,000. He left Cuba in 2024 and progressed at Chiqui Mejías’ academy in Bonao, Dominican Republic.”
“His fastball sits 90–94 mph, with a chance to develop his slider and changeup.”
It’s good news that his fastball is already in the 90-94 range. According to Plate Crate, the league average sits between 94 and 95 MPH, putting Torres not far off at 18 years old.
Alieski Torres, the Next Trey Yesavage?
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Torres is who he was compared to. One source told me that Torres “throws like Yesavage.”
When I asked them to clarify what they meant, they said they pitch from a similar arm angle.
According to Trey Yesavage‘s savant profile, he throws from a 64-degree angle. This angle is almost straight overhand, at least to the eye of the batter.
Yesavage isn’t alone in throwing like this. Other pitchers in the league with a similar arm angle are Jeremiah Estrada (66), Bradley Bralock (62), and Alex Vesia (65).
Yesavage’s MLB arsenal has consisted entirely of a fastball, slider, and splitter. He threw 239 total pitches, 108 of which were his fastball. His average velocity on his four-seamer was 94.7 MPH. It should be encouraging to Blue Jays fans that one of their newest prospects throws similarly to their top-ranked prospect.
The Latest Rumors & Rumblings
According to new information, the St. Louis Cardinals have surprised the baseball world. In a new report for The Athletic, Will Sammon and Katie Woo outline how recent trades have affected Brandan Donovan.
“The trade of Sonny Gray was predictable. The trade of Willson Contreras? Not so much,” Sammon and Woo wrote on December 29, 2025. “That Contreras — who, like Gray, was traded to the Boston Red Sox — was dealt before Brendan Donovan made the move all the more surprising.”
“Donovan has been one of the hottest trade candidates since the offseason began, with several industry sources expressing surprise that he has not yet been moved.”
But why has it taken so long? Sammon and Woo share a reasonable yet straightforward answer.
“The 28-year-old utility player represents the rebuilding Cardinals’ best chance to land a significant prospect package in a return.”
They then give an update as to where things stand between the Cardinals and Donovan.
“No deal with any team appears to be close, but with the Contreras trade completed, St. Louis will shift back to making Donovan a priority,” Sammon and Woo continued. “Expect trade talks to pick up over the next couple of weeks.”
Blue Jays 2026 Rotation Being Thrown a Curveball?
After their moves in free agency, the Blue Jays’ rotation was (seemingly) set. Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Yesavage, Bieber, Cease, and Ponce are all poised to be in the rotation.
However, Ricky Tiedemann cannot be left out of the conversation, especially after Ross Atkins recent comments.
“Hopefully he’s a factor for us in our rotation,” said GM Ross Atkins via MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson. “That’s the plan, but we would be open to him impacting the team in a bulk role or some creative way, depending on how things are going.”
By my count, that gives the Blue Jays seven options for a five-man rotation. That’s too many bodies for the rotation, but it’s not entirely a bad thing. On their depth chart, they have several pitchers penciled into the bullpen who could be sent to the minors. That would open the door for at least one of the potential starters to move to a relief role.
Blue Jays’ Interest in Alex Bregman Just Smoke?
One of the biggest questions facing the Blue Jays this winter is what they will do regarding a big bat. They have been linked to Bo Bichette, Kyle Tucker, and Alex Bregman, to name a few. However, a new report on Bregman offers some interesting insights into Toronto’s connection to the player.
Michael Cerami of Bleacher Nation offered these thoughts on the Bregman-Toronto link.
“They’re not quite the Dodgers or the Mets, but you really can’t put anything out of Toronto’s reach these days, especially not this offseason,” Cerami wrote on December 29th. “But not unlike Arizona, I find Toronto’s interest a little tougher to believe. If they want to spend big, they’ll spend it on Kyle Tucker, who has visited the Blue Jays and seems like a pretty good fit there.”
“If they want to add a right-handed infielder, surely they’d look to retain their homegrown, younger, more positionally versatile star bat, Bo Bichette.”
He further explains why he doesn’t fully believe the Blue Jays’ interest in the 31-year-old Bregman.
“Bichette is going to get more than Bregman, but I don’t think that’s how the Blue Jays are making their decisions this offseason,” Cerami wrote. “They are clearly very hungry to win right now. So, to me, the 27-year-old Bichette and 28-year-old Tucker seem like better fits.”
“Or to put it another way, their rumored interest in Alex Bregman seems like yet another leverage play.”
With Tatsuya Imai’s posting deadline set for Friday, January 2nd, and Kazumo Okamoto’s deadline two days later, things should pick up in this market very soon.
Between the interesting prospects the Blue Jays have added, and the potential to add one of Tucker or Bichette (or both) it’s shaping up to be an exciting offseason for the fans.
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