Blue Jays make odd $1.35 million contract decision on Eric Lauer

Matt Sullivan

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Blue Jays make odd $1.35 million contract decision on Eric Lauer image

This winter, no team has been more active than the Toronto Blue Jays. Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce, Tyler Rogers, and Kazuma Okamoto have all signed on with the Blue Jays.

Also, the Blue Jays aren't likely to be done, with Kyle Tucker and his expected $300 million-plus contract currently favored to be heading to Toronto this winter. And yet, despite all of that spending, the Blue Jays are making a strange decision.

With over $337 million already shelled out to free agents this winter, the Blue Jays, as Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic mentioned, have decided to go to arbitration with Eric Lauer over a measly $1.35 million. This is an odd decision from the Blue Jays.

Blue Jays make odd $1.35M Eric Lauer contract decision

The Blue Jays and Lauer are likely heading for arbitration after the two sides filed at very different figures. Laurer filed at $5.75 million, while the Blue Jays filed at $4.4 million.

That total is a pay cut from his 2025 salary, which, after what Lauer did for the Blue Jays this past season, makes little sense.

"Lauer's number was right at the estimate," Rosenthal and Sammon write. "But he seems an odd choice to attempt to break precedent with."

Despite the Blue Jays coming to terms with a few other arbitration-eligible players, namely Daulton Varsho, Ernie Clement, and Tyler Heineman, they are heading for a hearing over $1.35 million difference with Lauer.

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When Max Scherzer went down in 2025, Lauer stepped up and had a solid 3.05 ERA in 14 starts in the second half of the year.

To not only pass up on offering a raise for a pitcher who helped them make the World Series, but to offer a pay cut by nearly $700,000, the Blue Jays' arbitration decision with Lauer makes little sense.

This will be an arbitration case paying extra-close attention to, as the 30-year-old veteran left-hander is heading into the final year of his deal, and might not be pitching in Toronto for much longer with this awkward contract dispute.

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