Did the Blue Jays just choose Dylan Cease over keeping Bo Bichette originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The Toronto Blue Jays finally made their offseason splash, landing Dylan Cease on a seven-year, $210 million contract and giving themselves a frontline trio with Cease, Kevin Gausman and Trey Yesavage. It’s an aggressive move for a team that expects to contend again in 2026.
But it also forces a far bigger question. What does this mean for Bo Bichette?
Bichette just hit free agency after playing out his three-year arbitration extension, and he remains one of the most intriguing position-player options on the market. Toronto has said publicly that they want him back, but there’s been no indication that a reunion is close.
With the Cease contract now on the books, Toronto’s long-term payroll picture gets more crowded — and the path to keeping Bichette becomes harder to map out.
It’s not just Cease. The Blue Jays already made their big commitment to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., locking him in as the face of the franchise for the next decade-plus. Gausman and Jose Berrios remain major guaranteed deals. And while the rest of the roster has some flexibility, the club is carrying more long-term pitching money than almost any team in the American League.
That’s where the Cease signing may change the conversation.
Some rival executives now believe Toronto could pivot into a different roster-building model. With elite pitching locked in, Guerrero anchoring the lineup, and the remaining offense getting younger and cheaper, re-signing Bichette at full-market price becomes more of a luxury than a necessity.
None of these rules out a return.
Bichette is still homegrown, still productive, and still a player Toronto values highly. But Cease’s arrival does shift the financial balance and makes the decision more complicated.
Toronto got the ace they wanted. Now they have to decide if they’re willing to pay for the star shortstop who helped bring them here.
