The Toronto Blue Jays need to make roster upgrades as much as any team in the league. Toronto plays in one of the toughest divisions in baseball with teams like the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees, and Boston Red Sox competing against it.
The Blue Jays have also fallen short on a lot of different free agent targets. They were reportedly in on Juan Soto, Teoscar Hernández, Max Fried, and Corbin Burnes among others, but fell short of each free agent.
Jon Morosi of MLB Network recently reported the Blue Jays were having productive conversations with a free agent pitcher who could upgrade their bullpen quite a bit.
“Free agent Jeff Hoffman and the Blue Jays have had productive dialogue in recent days on a potential multiyear deal, sources say,” Morosi wrote in a post to Twitter/X on Friday afternoon.
Hoffman is going to be a huge addition to whichever bullpen he heads to. While he fell apart in the postseason, his regular season was good enough to cast no doubt on his abilities as a late inning, high leverage reliever. He’s projected to sign a three-year, $36 million deal, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
Toronto certainly has the money to build one of the best bullpens in the game. Adding Hoffman on a two or three-year deal would be a good start. Still, the Blue Jays would need to go find a true closer to pitch the ninth inning. There are quite a few options left, so I wouldn’t expect Hoffman to be the only reliever in Toronto’s sights.
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