Blue Jays insider offers insight on Toronto's interest in Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette

As they look to build on their 2025 success, the Toronto Blue Jays are expected to have an extremely busy offseason. Having already signed starting pitcher Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million contract, the Jays continue to be linked with free agents Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette.

On Thursday's episode of the "JD Bunkis Podcast", insider Ben Nicholson-Smith offered his opinion on where the Jays might stand with regards to the pair.

"What I'll give you right now is a bit of speculation, but it's informed speculation," Nicholson-Smith said. [1:26:15] "Given that the Blue Jays' number one need and number one priority was starting pitching, that was the one area that I felt they were most likely to extend themselves. They may have done that with Dylan Cease, they certainly spent a lot on Cease.

"Having done that, of course, they're still going to be interested in Kyle Tucker, of course they're still interested in Bo Bichette. Bo Bichette, presumably, is even more interested in coming back. So,they're going to continue those conversations. But I don't really expect the Blue Jays to spend $400 million on Kyle Tucker. I might be wrong, but I don't really expect that."

"Bo Bichette is probably still the No. 1 priority" - Insider assesses Blue Jays' chances of landing Bo Bichette and Kyle Tucker

In an article published on Wednesday, insider Mark Feinsand of MLB.com provided details on Toronto's mindset in the offseason.

"For the past couple weeks, we have heard about the Blue Jays’ interest in Kyle Tucker, with some suggesting that Toronto could sign both Tucker and Bichette," Feinsand wrote. "Now that the Jays have handed out a $210 million deal to Cease, it seems unlikely that there’s room for both Bichette and Tucker.

"Bichette is probably still the No. 1 priority for Toronto, and given that many in the industry expect Tucker to sign for considerably more than Bichette, it’s possible that Cease’s deal is a sign that Bichette is their preference among the hitters."

Bo Bichette played a starring role in Toronto's AL East triumph for the first time since 2015 and earned a spot on the All-MLB second team.

Edited by Raghav Mehta