TORONTO — Amid the dozens of packing boxes scattered all around the Toronto Blue Jays clubhouse, some marked for donation, others bound for a specific destination, one sat in the centre of the room with a unique inscription. It read: “57 … Leave here for good luck.”

No. 57, of course, belongs to Shane Bieber, who finished the season on the injured list with a teres major strain but was working toward a return for a potential playoff run. The Blue Jays, of course, did not qualify and now free agency, under the shadow of a coming lockout, looms for the 31-year-old, who is hoping that his seven-shutout innings in a 5-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Aug. 20 wasn’t his final outing for the club.

“It's hard every time you think about it,” he said. “I mean, this off-season is just going to be an interesting one in and of itself, right, so I don't know what it's going to hold. I don't know if teams are going to want to get things done early, or if they're going to wait and see, or if it's going to be 50-50 and some teams want to be aggressive and some teams want to wait. I have no idea. I just know that I have a lot of good left in front of me. And I hope it’s here.”

While Sunday’s season finale rightly focused on celebrating the expected departures of George Springer and Max Scherzer, the pending free-agent list for the Blue Jays also includes Bieber, Paul Sewald, a veteran reliever who wants to keep pitching; Jameson Taillon, a veteran starter determined to recover from an elbow injury and return to the mound; Yimi Garcia, who is recovering from thoracic outlet syndrome surgery; and Patrick Corbin and Luis Urias, who both finished the season on the injured list, too. 

Myles Straw may join them on the open market, as well, as the Blue Jays hold an $8 million option on him for 2027 that can be bought out for $1.75 million. As part of the deal that brought him north, the Cleveland Guardians will send over the buyout amount whether the option is exercised or not, so it’s a $6.25-million call, one the outfielder hopes keeps him in........

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