The Toronto Blue Jays have Lazaro Estrada back for the 2027 season.

The Blue Jays signed Estrada to a minor-league contract earlier this week, one of a half-dozen players that signed minor league deals. The contract doesn’t put him on Toronto’s 40-man roster, so he can play in 2027 even if there is a lockout at the Major League level.

Per Baseball America (subscription required), he was assigned to Triple-A Buffalo. Toronto signed five other minor league players — pitcher Josh Stephan, catcher Geovanny Planchart, second baseman Adrian Pinto, outfielder Alexis Hernandez and outfielder Hedbert Perez.

Lazaro Estrada Returns

Estrada has pitched in 10 Major League games for the Blue Jays and has a 1-1 record with a 6.64 ERA. He has 19 strikeouts and 11 walks in 13 innings.

Estrada started the season with Triple-A Buffalo, was called up to Toronto on March 31 and then went on the injured list on April 5 with a right shoulder impingement. He eventually went to the 60-day injured list and returned in mid-June.

From there, the Blue Jays kept him on a constant yo-yo between Buffalo and Toronto until mid-August, when he was designated for assignment. He cleared waivers and was eventually optioned back to Buffalo to end the season.

Re-signing him gives Toronto an arm with a little Major League experience at the minor league level as the Blue Jays wait to see whether MLB owners and the players’ association can come to an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement. If the two sides cannot agree on a new deal by Dec. 1, the owners are expected to lock out the players until an agreement is reached. At that time, the Blue Jays won’t be able to make any Major League moves until there is a deal.

Estrada was signed by the Blue Jays out of Cuba and made his professional debut in the minor leagues in 2018 and steadily made progress in the system until he made his MLB debut in 2025.

Toronto faces significant decisions in the month leading up to what is expected to be a protracted lockout. The last time the two sides negotiated a new CBA was in the 2021-22 offseason and it lasted into February, but it didn’t impact the loss of any regular season games. The two sides and analysts around the game are less optimistic this time around. The reason Estrada can play in 2027 is because the minor league CBA does not expire until after the 2027 season.

The league’s general managers are set to meet in Las Vegas next week for their annual meeting. Because of the expected lockout, there is a belief that teams will conduct more business than normal during those meetings. A lockout would cancel the game’s traditional annual meetings in December.