TORONTO, ONTARIO – OCTOBER 20: Manager John Schneider #14 of the Toronto Blue Jays looks on from the dugout before game seven of the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners at the Rogers Centre on October 20, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
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The Toronto Blue Jays made a significant roster move well before the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings started and they might have more coming soon.
The team agreed to its largest ever free agent contract to sign frontline starter Dylan Cease to a $210 million contract. It also added starter Cody Ponce before the meetings began. And the team provided a significant update on superstar outfielder Kyle Tucker, when general manager Ross Atkins confirmed that the player visited the Blue Jays’ player development complex (PDC) in Dunedin, Florida.
Following that update, Blue Jays broadcaster Hazel Mae asked the team’s manager John Schneider to discuss that visit. And Schneider sent a thinly veiled message about the Los Angeles Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani in response
“So this is so much easier to talk about. The last PDC visit, I won’t mention names, a couple of years ago, I wasn’t allowed to talk about,” Schneider said. “(Tucker) did not have a dog. But I will sweat way less talking about this one because I’m not lying through my teeth.”
Schneider was referring to Ohtani’s visit to the PDC in December 2023, when he was a free agent still seeking a long-term deal. The Blue Jays kept that visit under wraps until Ohtani spurned them for the Dodgers. And as the Blue Jays and Dodgers squared off in the most recent World Series, Schneider also noted that Ohtani brought his dog, Decoy, on the visit.
“The Blue Jays hat that (Ohtani) took from us in our meeting, I hope he brought it back finally — and the jacket for Decoy,” Schneider said in October, according to MLB.com’s Sonja Chen. “It’s like, give us our stuff back already.”
With Schneider permitted to disclose some details about Tucker’s visit, though, he praised the free agent outfielder.
“The things he talked about, which were impressive to us, he talked about his defense, he talked about his baserunning, he talked about his baseball IQ,” Schneider told Mae. “He is a deliberate player. It almost looks like the game comes really easy to him sometimes. So we wanted to break down that barrier a little bit… So it was very productive and, again, great, great player. And it’s not a surprise, his skillset fits exactly what we’re doing.”
Though the Blue Jays came up short in recruiting Ohtani thanks to a record-setting offer from the Dodgers, the team seems hopeful in turning things around by successfully landing Tucker. A visit to the PDC that went very differently than Ohtani’s seems to be a good start toward that end.
