The Blue Jays are keeping stretched out as a starter going into Spring Training, general manager Ro s Atkins told reporters ( ). (Hell) come in stretched out and compete for that fifth spot. Hell remain depth for us, and well make a decision about halfway or three-quarters of the way through Spring Training to try to put our pieces in the best positions to be succe sful , Atkins said. Toronto had looked to add a free agent starting pitcher throughout the offseason. After mi sing on long-term swings for and , the Jays went short term to add on a one-year, $15.5MM deal. The future Hall of Famer joins , and as Torontos top four. The fifth spot is theoretically up for grabs between Rodrguez and . Whomever doesnt get the rotation spot could strengthen a bullpen that was a major weakne s last season. Francis should have the leg up in the camp battle. The 28-year-old righty was quietly dominant down the stretch. Toronto plugged Francis into the rotation around the time they dealt at last summers trade deadline. Francis fired 65 innings with a 1.80 earned run average acro s 11 appearances (10 starts) through seasons end. He held opponents to a .140/.188/.294 slash over 235 plate appearances. While some of that is due to an unsustainably low BABIP (.142), Francis also struck out a quarter of batters faced while keeping his walks to a minuscule 3.4% clip. That was his first extended run as a major league starting pitcher. Francis posted a 1.73 ERA acro s 36 relief innings in 2023. He worked out of John Schneiders bullpen for the first half of last season. Opponents blitzed him for a near-6.00 ERA behind a robust .276/.341/.481 line through the All-Star Break. Francis mi sed six weeks with forearm tendinitis and was briefly optioned to Triple-A before his fantastic second half. Rodrguez, a Cuba native who previously pitched in NPB, signed a five-year contract with a $32MM guarantee Leipzig Jersey last offseason. The 27-year-old started all 21 appearances during his first big league season. He posted a 4.47 ERA over 86 2/3 frames. Rodrguez punched out 23.1% of batters faced but walked nearly 11% of opponents. He mi sed six weeks with back inflammation and was optioned on and off the active roster a few times. Rodrguez made eight appearances with Triple-A Buffalo, where he turned in a 1.33 ERA with a strikeout rate pushing 38%. The Jays reportedly Rodrguez to the minors without his approval anymore. A suming the top four starters are healthy and Francis wins the fifth starter role, theyd presumably try to get Rodrguez multi-inning relief stints. Thatd keep him reasonably stretched out in case they need to move him into the rotation in response to an in-season injury. , acquired from the Astros in the Kikuchi trade, is next on the depth chart. Toronto has added and on minor league deals. is rehabbing Tommy John surgery and hopes to be in August. Adding Scherzer pushed the Jays luxury tax payroll to roughly $273MM (as calculated by ). Thats a franchise record that puts them within $8MM of the third tax tier at which point their top pick in the 2026 draft would be dropped 10 slots. Atkins left open the po sibility for a late-offseason acquisition, though he implied that theyre winding down on free agent activity. Itd be hard to add to the rotation at this point unle s its just depth , Atkins told reporters (including ). On the position player group, if theres a way to increase our depth, well look to do that. I think at this point it would require a trade for us to add to the team. It doesnt have to, but it most likely would be the case. The Jays have been on the periphery of the market, though it seems the Astros, Tigers and Red Sox have been more heavily involved. Toronto was tied to before they signed Scherzer. There arent many other key players who remain unsigned, but the Jays could potentially bring in a veteran infielder on a minor league deal to factor into their third base competition. Soccer Jersey