Toronto Blue Jays We are in a very important off-season this winter. Ross Atkins and the rest of the front office in Toronto have a ton of different moves to make.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and extending the contracts of Bo Bichette will be two of the team’s top priorities, but bringing in outside free agents will play a big role in improving the roster. Toronto is said to have serious interest in Juan Soto, which would be a move that would lead to a team change for the Jays.

But the Blue Jays currently have a ton of money wrapped up in players who aren’t contributing as they should. Instead of finding a way to cut ties with these players, general manager Ross Atkins will bring them back when they truly don’t deserve it.

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Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt attracted a lot of attention at the trade deadline last season. But Toronto had a very strict plan in place when it came to approaching the deadline. They would trade all of their expiring contracts and bring back players who were certain to be on the 2025 roster. This idea makes sense to some extent. But it doesn’t make much sense, especially with Bassitt.

Toronto is paying Bassitt more than $20 million a year to be a league-average pitcher. If the Blue Jays had traded him, they could have voided his entire contract and brought in a ton of potential capital at the same time. Instead, the Blue Jays held on to him, and after posting an ERA over 4.00 in 2024, he returned in 2025.

Bassitt is certainly not a bad pitcher. But the Blue Jays could and should have terminated his contract and used that money to bring in a better pitcher in free agency.

Instead of having Bassitt, the Blue Jays could have a package of two or three solid prospects along with money they could send to Soto, Guererro, Bichette or another free agent to improve their roster.

One of the most confusing players on the Blue Jays roster is pitcher Alek Manoah. Manoah looks like a Cy Young candidate at times. Other times it looks like he’s going to get crushed by a good college baseball team. It really doesn’t make much sense how this happened. But one thing’s for sure: The Blue Jays can’t rely on him in their rotation until he figures out how to find consistency.

However, Ross Atkins brought him back to the organization for another year. If Manoah has a good winter and a good Spring Training, he’ll likely get another shot at making the Opening Day roster, which will infuriate Blue Jays fans everywhere.

The Blue Jays would have been better off trading him when he had some value last year. Most teams now consider Manoah a lost cause, pushing the Blue Jays to keep him on the team and try to get his career back on track.

While there’s a possibility of Manoah it could be Once he turns his career around, the Blue Jays don’t have time to let him get off to great starts at the big league level.

The highest-paid player on the Blue Jays roster is center fielder George Springer. If the Blue Jays want to win games in the busy American League East, they will need to spend their money as optimally as possible. Spending $25 million a year on a struggling veteran outfielder like Springer doesn’t fit that description.

Toronto should shop around from Springer, potentially eating some of his contract or tying prospects to him to get money off the books. It would do wonders for the Blue Jays to add serious talent to their roster this offseason, but general manager Ross Atkins probably won’t do it.

In fact, Atkins will likely keep Springer on the roster for the duration of his contract rather than cut ties with him to save some money. This is one of the most costly decisions he could make because Springer is on the roster while making $25 million a season to put up nearly 1.0 WAR over the course of a year. You can find 1.0 WAR players for less than $2 million per year, but the Blue Jays are spending $25 million to get that mediocre production.