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The Toronto Blue Jays pulled off the first coup of the off-season by acquiring pitcher Dylan Cease, who signed a seven-year, $210 million deal.
At first glance, the Blue Jays appear to have overpaid for the 29-year-old's services. Toronto thus banked on what Cease could bring to the table in the future, not on what he has done in the past.
He's now one of the highest-paid pitchers in history. https://t.co/E8XSit97OE
– Passion MLB (@passion_mlb) November 28, 2025
Because otherwise, as long as you're spending all that money, why not invest it on Framber Valdez?
Although he's three years older than Cease, Valdez boasts an impressive resume. Over the past 25 years, he is one of only three pitchers, along with Max Fried and Felix Hernandez, to have at least four seasons with a strikeout rate of at least 23%, a ground ball rate of 50% and a FIP of 3.50 or less over at least 130 innings pitched.
Since 2020, no one has pitched more innings in the playoffs (85) than Valdez, who boasts an earned run average of 4.34 at the fall dance. By comparison, Cease has an 8.74 earned-run average in October.
“It's not as much about what you've done as compared to what we believe you'll do with us…”@JeffPassan breaks down what Dylan Cease will bring to the #BlueJays starting rotation with @SNJeffBlair & Kevin Barker. pic.twitter.com/zB1z7IbUwf
– Sportsnet 590 The FAN (@FAN590) November 27, 2025
Among the 78 pitchers who have thrown at least 500 innings over the last five campaigns, the 32-year-old ranks first in ground ball rate and third in long ball rate.
In his eight years with the Houston Astros, Valdez posted an earned run average of 3.36 (3.88 for Cease's career) and was invited to the All-Star Game in 2022 and 2023. In 2025, Valdez posted an earned run average of 3.66 (4.55 last year for Cease) and remained one of the most feared pitchers in all of MLB.
So the reason the Jays didn't give Valdez the money they gave Cease has to be the former Astros' questionable attitude, when among other things he intentionally hit his catcher this season. And that's understandable.
This content was created with the help of AI.
