Dylan Cease impressed by Blue Jays' recruiting pitch as much as his own tosses

Toronto's recruiting pitch excited Dylan Cease as much as his own tosses.

"You could tell they built a really impressive culture," Cease said during a news conference Tuesday, a week after finalizing a $210 million US, seven-year contract. "As they were explaining sort of what they do to get the best out of players or how they prepare, and even the little things like travel and whatnot, you can just tell that it's a buttoned-up organization. They want to win, and it was obvious."

After coming within two outs of their first World Series title since 1993, the Blue Jays added the right-hander to a rotation projected to include Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and Jose Berrios.

"They've proven that they have championship-caliber players and obviously a good process. That was probably the number one thing," Cease said. "And then from there, it was also how would they help me maximize and develop and basically reach my potential more often? That was important to me. That was probably the second-biggest consideration."

Toronto won the AL East this year for the first time since 2015. Mark Shapiro left the Cleveland Indians to succeed Paul Beeston as team president after that season and brought along Ross Atkins as general manager.

"Over time as we went through some down years in the time that Mark and I were there, we poured into the resources that help players improve," Atkins said. "As that started to bubble up into wins, we then poured more money into resources around free agency and investing in players more long-term in a significant way."

Dylan Cease says decision to join AL champion Blue Jays was 'inevitable'

Toronto headed off free agency for slugging first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. when it agreed in April