Among the biggest power bats still out here in free agency, Bo Bichette and Kyle Tucker clearly sit near the top of the list. And teams like the Yankees and Dodgers are circling both players. That said, if there’s one club being linked to the idea of landing both stars, it’s the Blue Jays!

MLB insider Jeff Passan recently fueled the excitement, saying there’s a real possibility Toronto could pull it off. “I think there is definitely a chance the Blue Jays could land Tucker and Bichette and would make them without doubt the favorites to win the AL.”

So, it’s fun to imagine the Jays sweeping up two elite talents at once. However, that dream comes with some hard realities. MLB insider Craig Borden, speaking via Jays Latest, pumped the brakes a bit by pointing out what it would actually take for Toronto to sign both Tucker and Bichette!

“If they truly do have approval to sign both Kyle Tucker and Bo Bichette, the two of them will push the Blue Jays up to the $300 million ballpark for this team, which is only second in Major League Baseball to the Los Angeles Dodgers,”

Well, Tucker is clearly the biggest name left on the free-agent market. And most projections have him landing something like $400 million over 10 or 11 years. Bichette, meanwhile, is a 27-year-old shortstop coming off a career season with 18 HRs. He’s expected to command around $210 million!

So, put those two numbers together, and you’re talking about a truly massive financial commitment if the Blue Jays want to turn that dream pairing into reality.

As Borden points out, the Jays’ payroll is already sitting near $275 million after recent signings. They’re expected to blow past the second luxury tax threshold of $284 million no matter what. If they’re already accepting those penalties, then adding both Tucker and Bichette becomes a little easier to justify from a pure cost perspective. Still, there’s no getting around the fact that the total payroll would absolutely skyrocket.

And if you’re thinking that waiting things out might drive down the price for either player, think again.

Big-market teams like the Yankees and Dodgers are lurking, and they’re very much in on these names. Hence, with no shortage of serious suitors, there’s no bargain to be found here. For the Blue Jays, signing both would almost certainly mean breaking the bank.

So the big question remains: does this still sound realistic at all?

The Blue Jays’ surging payroll is not limited to Tucker or Bichette

If you remember, the Blue Jays caught everyone off guard by handing Dylan Cease a record-setting $210 million deal. That immediately put some limits on how much money they could throw around afterward. Then they went out and added closer Tyler Rogers for $37 million.

And they still weren’t done. Toronto also signed right-hander Cody Ponce to a three-year, $30 million contract!

Taken together, it’s pretty clear the Jays aren’t just focused on upgrading the lineup. They are shoring up their pitching staff, too. And given how their bullpen performed in 2025, that approach makes sense. Notably, even after the addition of deadline acquisitions like Seranthony Dominguez and Louis Varland, the bullpen remained shaky and inconsistent for most of the season.

Hence, putting all the recent pitching investments together, it’s hard to see how Toronto would have enough financial flexibility left to pull off both signings. Still, if it somehow did happen, the Blue Jays would finally have a team capable of going toe-to-toe with the Dodgers, at least when it comes to spending power.