What can the Toronto Blue Jays do to upgrade their bullpen this offseason?
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The Toronto Blue Jays will most certainly add to their starting rotation via free agency or trade this winter, but what about the bullpen?
In the bullpen, there are dozens of potential players they Blue Jays could target, including free agents and trade candidates.
They could even go after closers, as Atkins was noncommittal about Jeff Hoffman staying in that role next year, per Keegan Matheson of MLB.com.
«The great thing about Jeff is he's not married to that,» Atkins said. «I think he would be open to anything that makes us better.»
The Blue Jays signed Hoffman to a three-year, $33MM deal last offseason. He saved 33 games for the Jays this year, plus two more in the playoffs, but in uneven fashion.
His strikeout rate was good but he allowed 4.37 earned runs per nine, thanks to allowing 15 home runs on the year, more than in his previous three years combined.
As Blue Jays fans well know, or maybe have blocked out, he allowed a game-tying home run to Dodgers number 9 hitter Miguel Rojas in the top of the ninth of Game Seven of the World Series.
Home run spikes like that can be fluky. A measure like SIERA, which controls for such things, gave Hoffman a 3.21 mark this year.
Still, it's understandable that the Jays would at least consider adding an established closer and bumping Hoffman into a setup role.
Now that setup man Seranthony Dominguez is a free agent and probably wont be coming back, it's not out of the question that the Blue Jays may upgrade the closers role and slot Hoffman into Dominguez's old spot.
Lots of free agent options for the closers role
The free agent market features guys with closing experience like Edwin Diaz, Robert Suarez, Pete Fairbanks and Devin Williams.
Depending on the final payroll, the Jays will have to weigh those pursuits against their other targets.
RHP Edwin Diaz has opted out of the final two years and $38M of his contract with the Mets and will become a free agent.
Edwin Diaz is an interesting option. A ruptured patellar tendon suffered during the 2023 World Baseball Classic wiped out Diaz's entire '23 season, but he's right back to peak form.
Diaz's 2024 season produced a 3.52 ERA that stands as the second-highest of his brilliant career, but his K-BB profile remained outstanding and his 2025 season was one of his best.
Diaz tossed 66 1/3 innings, saved 28 games and fanned a whopping 38% of his opponents - against a lower-than-average 8.1% walk rate.
He's no longer averaging 99 mph on his four-seamer, but he still sat 97.2 mph in 2025 and recorded an outrageous 18% swinging-strike rate.
That was fourth-best among the 287 big league pitchers who tossed at least 60 innings, trailing only Mason Miller, Aroldis Chapman and Griffin Jax.
His 62% opponents' contact rate was the fourth-lowest in MLB as well.
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5 HOURS AGO | 273 ANSWERS What can the Toronto Blue Jays do to upgrade their bullpen this offseason? Should the blue Jays look for an elite closer to replace Jeff Hoffman in the closers role? | ||
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