The Toronto Blue Jays signed starting pitcher Dylan Cease of Milton, Georgia on Thursday to a seven-year contract worth $210 million according to TSN on Wednesday. The signing is interesting because it comes at a time when the Blue Jays are attempting to sign shortstop Bo Bichette long term.
Toronto is the third MLB team that Cease has played for in his career. He was previously with the Chicago White Sox from 2019 to 2023. Cease then played the last two seasons with the San Diego Padres.
Cease had a record of eight wins and 12 losses with an earned run average of 4.55 in 2025 with the Padres. During 32 games and 168 innings pitched, he gave up 152 hits, 85 earned runs, 21 home runs and 71 walks, to go along with 215 strikeouts and a WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) of 1.33.
One statistic in Cease’s favour is his strikeout totals. He was sixth in the Major Leagues this past season in strikeouts, and led the Major Leagues with 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings. However, there could be serious concern with Cease’s walk totals. He led the American League in walks in 2020 with 34, led the Major Leagues with 78 walks in 2022, and was seventh in the Major Leagues with 71 walks this past season.
