Toronto Blue Jays expected to pursue dominant free agent closer

Adding to the bullpen would be a logical move, as the Blue Jays relief corps was middling this year.

The club's relievers had a collective 3.98 earned run average, which placed them 16th out of the 30 major league teams.

They added Seranthony Dominguez and Louis Varland at the deadline but Dominguez is now a free agent.

Closer Jeff Hoffman, posted a 4.37 ERA and could be open to moving to a setup role.

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic writes that the Blue Jays expected to pursue Pete Fairbanks, who just became a free agent when ESPN's Jeff Passan reported that the Rays declined his player option.

Pete Fairbanks would make sense on a lot of clubs but the Blue Jays make the most sense.

He spent the last three years as the closer in Tampa, saving at least 23 games in each of those seasons.

He also finished each season with an ERA below 3.58, including a 2.83 mark in 2025.

However, there are some yellow flags with Fairbanks. Injuries have been a big part of his career.

2025 was the first time he ever reached the 50-inning plateau in a season. Though he has continued to have good results in the ERA department, other numbers are less encouraging.

Over 2022 and 2023, he struck out 39.1% of batters faced, but he was down to 24% over the two most recent seasons.

His velocity also dropped two ticks, as he was around 99 miles per hour with his fastball in 2022-23 but has been closer to 97 mph since then.

Teams should still be interested in Fairbanks but the declines have presumably impacted his market.

The Rays had an $11MM club option with a $1MM buyout, a net $10MM decision. They presumably tried to trade Fairbanks before declining that and didn't find too much interest.

Teams are usually wary of committing money so early in the offseason but someone would have jumped if they felt that was a bargain.

He could get a one-year deal somewhere in the vicinity of that option price but a multi-year pact at a similar annual value is also possible.

The Blue Jays, as well as almost any other club, could easily afford that.