The Opener: Cease Signs, Rox Set With Schaeffer, Rendon Retirement

Happy Thanksgiving to MLBTR’s readers in the United States, and for our non-American readers….uh, happy Thursday?  Here are three things we’re keeping an eye on besides the turkey in the oven….

1. Blue Jays land Dylan Cease:

The reigning AL champs made the priciest free agent signing in team history yesterday, as reports indicated that Toronto inked Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210MM contract.  The contract will be finalized once Cease passes a physical, and while it’s just a matter of time before we get the official announcement, it’s possible things could be delayed a few days simply due to the Thanksgiving weekend.  As it stands, the Jays seem to have already finished up their rotation shopping pretty early in the offseason, between the Cease signing and Shane Bieber’s surprising decision to exercise his player option to remain in Toronto through the 2026 campaign.  With the starting pitching mix potentially settled already, the Blue Jays can now turn their attention to re-signing Bo Bichette or adding another big bat to their lineup.  For the rest of the league, Cease’s decision removes a top-tier arm from the board, so pitching-needy teams will have to turn their attention to other starters in free agency or on the trade market.

2. Rockies re-introduce Warren Schaeffer:

After operating as Colorado’s interim manager for most of the 2025 season, Warren Schaeffer was named the club’s new full-time skipper.  There hadn’t been much news about the Rockies’ managerial search because, in essence, one didn’t happen, as president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta explained at a press conference yesterday.  DePodesta told the Denver Post’s Patrick Saunders and other reporters that he informally looked into some other candidates but “ultimately, I didn’t feel the need to interview anybody else,” as “I would say, even a week in….it became pretty clear to me that [Schaeffer] was a good direction to go.”  This won’t exactly calm the fears of Rockies worried that the team is still going to be operating in an insular fashion, even though DePodestra is an entirely fresh face as the new head of the front office.  Still, Schaeffer received praise for how he handled stepping into a rough situation last season, and his 36-86 record is obviously far more a reflection on Colorado’s dismal roster than on Schaeffer’s work in his first season as a big league manager.

3. The Anthony Rendon era nears an end in Anaheim:

Anthony Rendon’s MLB career may be officially over after 12 seasons, as the oft-injured third baseman is reportedly discussing a buyout plan with the Angels heading into the final year of his contract.  Presumably the $38MM owed to Rendon in 2026 would instead be paid out in deferred fashion over several years, giving the Angels some more short-term spending ability.  Rendon’s seven-year, $245MM deal signed in December 2019 will go down as a complete bust, as Rendon ended up playing in only 257 games over the lift of the contract due to a wide variety of injuries, including a hip surgery that cost him the entire 2025 season.