After a disastrous 74-88 campaign, the Toronto blue jays There is still a lot of work to do to try to get back into post-season hunting. Barring a major improvement, Ross Atkins’ job could be on the line.
With that in mind, the Blue Jays are on the big game hunt and are in the thick of the battle to sign the best free agent available, Juan Soto. Soto sign is probably not likelybut money talks – and the Jays have a lot of it, as we saw last offseason in the race to sign Shohei Ohtani.
Signing Soto would immediately fix what has been a disappointing offensive team outside of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. It would give the Jays perhaps the game’s most intimidating dynamic duo, and given their respective ages, there’s a chance they could be the AL East would dominate the following decade.
The problem is that we know Soto’s main concern is competing, and other than money, the Jays don’t have much to offer. Their 2024 record speaks for itself, and even if Soto were to team up with Guerrero, the first baseman won’t be under club control until 2025 and is far from guaranteed to be in Toronto long-term.
To get Soto to sign on the dotted line, Atkins will have to raise tons of money while convincing Soto he can win in Toronto. Part of how Atkins can do that is by improving what could easily have been the case weakest link on the team last season: the bullpen.
But Atkins’ first big decision this season didn’t exactly fix the bullpen. In fact, a case can easily be made that the bullpen is in an even worse position now than it was heading into the winter.
The Toronto Blue Jays have tendered undrafted closer Jordan Romano, sources tell ESPN. The two-time All-Star, who is 31, will be a free agent.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 22, 2024
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Last season was not only a disaster for the Jays, but for Romano as well. The right-hander posted a 6.59 ERA and was limited to just 15 appearances all season, missing most of the year due to elbow issues.
Now the elbow injury likely played a role in this decision. Romano would earn approximately $8 million in his final year of arbitration. While that’s undoubtedly a lot of money for a reliever coming off a rough season and dealing with an elbow injury, did the Jays really have any other choice here?
The loss of Romano means that an already terrible Blue Jays bullpen has gotten significantly worse on paper. Yes, last season was a disaster by any measure, but Toronto’s 4.82 bullpen ERA ranked 29th in the Majors, and its -2.5 bullpen fWAR ranked last by a significant margin. Those issues existed even when Yimi Garcia was pitching half the season.
With Romano in free agency, the Blue Jays bullpen now consists of Chad Green and a whole bunch of question marks. Eric Swanson’s recovery would go a long way, but his season was so bad that he spent time in the Minor Leagues. The rest of this group, meanwhile, leaves a lot to be desired.
Again, there’s no argument that Romano’s 2024 season was bad, but he pitched to a 2.29 ERA in 199 appearances the four years prior, and his 97 saves over those four years ranked third in the AL. He was one of the best relievers in the sport, and the Jays let him go after one bad season.
The bullpen needed a complete overhaul of Romano, and now it became a lot harder to achieve that. The Jays can re-sign him, and it would be ideal to bring him back at a lower number, but given that all 30 teams can sign him in free agency, he will certainly receive significant interest as a buy-low prospect.
The Jays would have a hard time selling Soto on Toronto, even with a large contract offer, due to the current state of their team and the lack of exciting prospects in their pipeline. Compounding their biggest weakness, they can’t convince Soto to come on board.
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