SF Giants lose perfect budget rotation option as Blue Jays swoop in again

On Tuesday, the Toronto Blue Jays made another notable move to the starting rotation. Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that they have signed veteran pitcher Cody Ponce to a three-year, $30 million pact. Ponce had been an oft-connected target for the SF Giants.

Blue Jays land oft-connected SF Giants target in latest move

In 2025, the Blue Jays reached the World Series and nearly dethroned the Los Angeles Dodgers. However, the Dodgers won in seven games after the Blue Jays took a 3-2 lead in the series.

Nevertheless, the Blue Jays believe their window is now, and have put their foot on the gas to get back into the playoffs. The Ponce move comes just days after they agreed to a seven-year, $210 million pact with Dylan Cease. Toronto deserves a lot of credit for the way it has been operating this offseason.

Shane Bieber also exercised his one-year, $16 million player option earlier this offseason. That proved to be an opportunistic decision for Toronto, as he would have had a broad market in free agency.

You can never have enough pitching, and the Blue Jays are sticking to the motto. Ponce, Cease, and Bieber join Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, and Trey Yesavage in the rotation. That would give them six starting pitchers, so they have the flexibility to be more deliberate with Yesavage's workload.

Yesavage was a first-round pick in 2024 by the Blue Jays out of East Carolina University. He had never thrown more than 100 innings in a college season, but tallied 112 combined innings between the minors and majors in 2025. This signing fortifies their rotation and gives them a lot of depth.

Ponce tallied a 5.86 ERA in 20 outings with the Pittsburgh Pirates split across two seasons in 2020 and 2021. Over the past four years, he has pitched overseas. In 2025, he pitched for the Hanwha Eagles of the KBO, where he posted a 1.89 ERA in 180.2 innings. On May 17, 2025, he set a KBO record by notching 18 strikeouts in a game against the SSG Landers.

The Giants have been targeting more modestly-priced pitchers in free agency, and Ponce checks that box. According to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic, the Giants were interested in the 31-year-old pitcher, but felt the cost was too high.