Toronto Blue Jays head into Winter Meetings ready to make another big splash

The Winter Meetings, baseball's annual hot stove extravaganza, opens Sunday in Orlando. It will be four days of trades, free agent signings, and hot stove rumors.

The Winter Meetings are the four busiest days of the offseason and the winter's biggest moves typically happen that week.

MLB Network will be covering the Winter Meetings live starting tonight with the Hall of Fame's Contemporary Era Committee voting results at 7 PM ET.

The Hall of Fame's Contemporary Era Committee will reveal the voting results for eight candidates whose "primary contribution to the game came since 1980," and will be announced Sunday evening at 7:30 PM ET.

Those eight candidates: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Carlos Delgado, Jeff Kent, Don Mattingly, Dale Murphy, Gary Sheffield, and the late Fernando Valenzuela. A candidate needs 12 votes from the 16-person committee for induction.

Most teams will land at the MLB Winter Meetings still searching for their first big move of the offseason. The Blue Jays arrive with a press conference already scheduled.

Dylan Cease's introductory press conference is scheduled for Tuesday, where he'll have Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins on one side of him and agent Scott Boras on the other.

Sure, the timing lined up naturally after the Blue Jays jumped the market to sign Cease to a seven-year, $210 million deal, but it's also a fine opportunity to take center stage and remind the rest of baseball that they aren't going anywhere.

Tuesday will also have the 2026 MLB Draft lottery with coverage starting at 5:30 PM ET.

As part of the current collective bargaining agreement, MLB and the MLBPA agreed to a lottery to determine the top six picks of the amateur draft in an effort to curb tanking and noncompetitive behavior.

Teams that missed the postseason all have a chance at the No. 1 overall pick in next July's draft, though the worse teams have the best odds.

Wednesday will be Rule 5 Draft day. The Blue Jays are always open to finding a gem in the Rule 5 Draft, like they did a year ago when they selected Angel Bastardo from the Red Sox, who was still recovering from Tommy John surgery.

Their talent will be attractive to others, though. Atop that list is outfielder Yohendrick Pinango, who ended the season ranked No. 7 in the system.

Acquired a year ago from the Cubs for Nate Pearson, the 23-year-old put up a .791 OPS with 15 home runs between Double-A and Triple-A and has the mature approach that a rebuilding club could take a swing on.

High-leverage back end relievers: Whether the Blue Jays swing big for a new closer or just choose to give Jeff Hoffman some competition, the back end of their bullpen needs an upgrade.

Louis Varland is locked in as the setup man, and while the Blue Jays have done well to develop some middle relievers of their own, including Braydon Fisher, they need to be thinking about the postseason already, where teams shorten up their bullpens to three or four elite arms. The bullpen still needs some work.

Big top-middle of the order bats: The candidates here are obvious, with Bo Bichette and Kyle Tucker sitting atop the market.

With Bichette, the Blue Jays could bring back the longtime fan favorite who's been with the organization since being drafted out of high school in 2016, and they could do so for a price that could be significantly less than Tucker's.

That said, Tucker is the best player available for a reason, an all-around offensive force who fits the Blue Jays' identity perfectly and fills an outfield need long term.

This decision will hang over the Blue Jays' offseason and dominate fan attention, especially if this gets to the point where Bichette leaves Toronto and lands with another club.