With the 2025 MLB season beginning in the latter-half of March, many teams already know what their ball club will look like come Opening Day.

The Jays haven’t done much in this offseason, they’ve (re)signed relief pitcher Yimi Garcia, signed Jeff Hoffman (who failed his physical with BAL), and they traded for second baseman Andres Gimenez from the Guardians.

Going into the offseason, Jays fans all thought that the front office was going to spend big dollars on key free agents. Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Teoscar Hernandez are a few names that Jays fans thought would don the Blue and White come Opening Day.

Since the front office was unable to lock down any of those players, we must look forward to how the club is shaping up for the upcoming season.

Team Expectations

If I’m being brutally honest, the expectations are very small. This team was barely upgraded from their lackluster season in 2024. The Blue Jays went 74-88, good for last in the AL East. Many factors went into their disappointing season, like the Bo Bichette injury, worse than expected starting pitching, and overall disappointing campaigns from their team, top to bottom.

To at least compete in the ever evolving AL East division, the Jays need bounce back seasons from pretty much everyone. Daulton Varsho, Davis Schneider, and George Springer in the outfield should have been much better than they were in 2024, so here’s hoping that 2025 shows their true colours. The Jays also need a good offensive season out of their newest acquisition, Andres Gimenez. Known for his defensive prowess, Gimenez isn’t the best offensive player. In 2022, Gimenez was a selected all-star, having hit for a .297/.371/.466 slashline, adding 17HR and 69RBI in 146GP. If he can reach that number again this season, the Jays should be very happy with the production.

Things to Improve from 2024

The bullpen. That should be the glaring choice here for Toronto to try and improve. They haven’t addressed their bullpen needs very much, and with the two signings of Yimi Garcia and Jeff Hoffman, the Jays are in an even worse position than they were last year, without him. The Jays have been rumored to be interested in many relief pitchers, so it is only a matter of time until they can actually lock down a free agent.

This next one isn’t much of something that can be improved straight away, but the Jays need bounceback seasons from more than half of their roster. Numerous Blue Jays have had disappointing seasons, and if the Jays want to stay competitive while not adding much to their roster, then they need their players to be the true and most powerful versions of themselves.

What Does the Future Look Like?

If the Jays aren’t going to upgrade the roster much further than this, the future does not look bright for baseball in Toronto. With Vladimir Guerrero and Bo Bichette being in their final year with the Blue Jays before they are unrestricted free agents, Toronto needs to either lock them down now, or build a strong team around them that will entice them to sign long-term. Toronto seemingly misses out on almost every strong free agent (Burnes, Soto, Hernandez, Ohtani), and while there are many factors that could go into that, the fact of the matter is that there aren’t many players who want to play for the Toronto Blue Jays.

You shouldn’t expect the Blue Jays to be a playoff team, and you shouldn’t expect a fun, hard-hitting season like 2021, either. There is little to be excited about when it comes to the current landscape of Toronto baseball. Management can easily turn that around however, as there are still some very good free agents available, and there is always talent available via trade. Here’s hoping that the Blue Jays can field a team this March that gets fans excited, and can fill seats in the Rogers Centre.