Blue Jays sign 3B Kazuma Okamoto as 4th Top 50 ranked free-agent

Is Bo Bichette signing window now closed on Jays

Rogers is at it again. After the wild ride that was the Blue Jays post-season October, creating a newfound fanbase within team ownership, you might as well face it, they’re addicted to glove. If the Blue Jays don’t make it to the ’26 post-season after all this off-season free-agent spending, you can be sure it will reflect in your ’27 wireless bills.

On this, the first weekend of the New Year, the remaining-consistently-aggressive defending American League champions have made a fourth significant free-agent signing this off-season, reportedly agreeing to terms with 29-year-old Japanese all-star corner-infielder Kazuma Okamoto on a four, year, $60-million contract.

The deal is pending a physical. Okamoto will join RH Dylan Cease, RH Cody Ponce and RH Tyler Rogers as free-agent newcomers, as the other Rogers will have invested $337-million this off-season for 16 years of free-agent servitude. They may not be done.

The Okamoto contract does not mean that the signing of Bo Bichette is a dead issue. It’s day-to-day. The timing on this Japanese deal was always out of club control. The deadline for the mandated posting process with the righthanded hitter’s previous team, the Yomiuri Giants, was scheduled for the afternoon of January 4. The details of the Jays contract, terms of which were first reported by Jon Heyman of the New York Post, include a $5M signing bonus and a ’26 total of $7M.

There were clues. In most cases, Blue Jays’ GM Ross Atkins is loath to give away true feelings when interacting with media. But, back in early November, his first media session after the agonizing Game 7 defeat, Atkins was asked if his team’s impressive World Series performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers with the largest TV audience ever in Pacific Rim countries would help his team in recruiting from the region. His face lit up, momentarily, betraying some real inner anticipation. Then he realized what he had done in showing any emotion and recovered quickly, offering up a trite non-answer about it being momentary and perhaps insignificant.

But results have now proven to be there with the Jays’ second major-signing this winter from the Asian market. This is the rare time when a loss turns into a win (sort of). The Fall Classic was basically a 10-day infomercial for the Jays, featuring the positive emotional bonds in the clubhouse, a rocking stadium, vibrant city, the concept of playing for a country and family-like atmosphere promoted by the players and the organization.

Sure, they had previously struck out in earlier forays into the Far East region, in particular with Shohei Ohtani, Yosh Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki. But the image of playing north-of-the-border has been transformed.

This off-season alone, the Jays have dipped into Korean baseball for the KBO’s 2025 MVP, RH Cody Ponce and now have added a perfect Jays-like player — a very low strikeout rate, a decent glove at the hot corner and six seasons with 30-plus homers over the last eight years. Okamoto is now signed through 2029 with no opt-outs.

Wherefore Bo? Does he still want to finish his career with Vlad. We have said all along that the Jays have been patiently waiting for Bo to test the market and discover the reality of what he is really worth. The Jays know what they are willing to pay, so it now rests with the team’s imagination and Bo’s true intentions.

If Toronto is still serious about waiting for Bichette to get serious and make a decision that includes offering one last chance to the Jays for them to make their best offer, they will need to get creative in term and dollars to fit him into their payroll structure, perhaps with wonky deferrals and signing bonus and, maybe, an extra year of term to keep the AAV down. But what about playing time and position?

The key to the Jays being able to even consider signing Okamoto is the existing versatility in the position-player group. If Bo was to re-sign and be added, the top defensive lineup would become: C-Alejandro Kirk; 1B-Vlad Guerrero Jr; 2B-Bichette; 3B-Okamoto; SS-Andres Gimenez; LF Anthony Santander; CF-Daulton Varsho; RF-Addison Barger; DH-George Springer…Bench: Tyler Heineman; Ernie Clement; Nathan Lukes; Myles Straw/Davis Schneider.

The outrage in this scenario would be with Clement not being a starter. But, after his breakout season, he would still get his time at shortstop as a complement to light-hitting Gimenez, plus at third-base when Okamoto moves to first to give Vlad some DH time. And if there is an injury anywhere in the infield, Clement is the No. 1 option.

The versatile Barger can also fill in at third base, as a lefthanded option either to give Okamoto a day off or when he moves across the diamond. Lukes fits in as a very good fourth outfielder. Teams never repeat if they stand still with their roster.