Blue Jays: An ideal offseason from this point forward

Real bullpen reinforcements

Okay, so now that we’ve got Tanaka and Paxton on board, that actually helps the bullpen depth chart a great deal because it means that Tanner Roark and Ross Stripling would serve as long-men. In an ideal world you probably trade Roark if you sign two starters, but I’ll keep things simple in that regard for now.

If those two joined what the Blue Jays already have in place for 2021, Charlie Montoyo’s card might look something like this:

1- Jordan Romano
2- Rafael Dolis
3- Ryan Borucki
4- Stripling
5- Roark
6- Shun Yamaguchi
7- A.J. Cole
8- Sean Reid-Foley, etc

That’s not a bad place to start, but I think the Blue Jays could add two more relievers and make it a fairly dominant group. To begin with, I’d add another left-hander to group in Brad Hand, who mlbtraderumors has down for two years and 14 million. I have a feeling he’ll get a better deal than that, but that’s the figure they’ve set for now.

While I’d love to see Liam Hendriks back in a Blue Jays uniform as well, Hand might be a better fit. I say that because I think the Jays would love to see Romano become their dominant homegrown closer, and he wouldn’t get that opportunity with Hendriks on the roster. Not that you intentionally weaken the group to give one pitcher opportunity in a certain role, but Hendriks likely will require a 3-4 year deal too, where in this case we’re signing Hand for two years.

To put an affordable cherry on top, I’d bring back Anthony Bass on a one-year deal. The right-hander was far better than advertised after joining the Blue Jays ahead of the 2020 season, and he performed well in any role he was asked. He could pitch in middle relief, as a set-up man, or even handle closing duties if need be, and he earned Charlie Montoyo’s trust last season. He didn’t make the MLBTR top 50 free agent list, so I don’t have a salary figure for him to point to, but let’s match the lowest rated reliever on the list (Mark Melancon at #48) at one year and four million. With Bass on board as well, then the bullpen looks pretty darn good.

1- Romano
2- Hand
3- Dolis
4- Bass
5- Borucki
6- Yamaguchi
7- Roark
8- Stripling

That group would give you plenty of length, a pair of lefties, and enough late-inning experience to cover Romano if he can’t repeat his 2020 performance, or fails to stay healthy. Pairing all of this with the improved rotation that we’ve already talked about, and your pitching staff looks a lot more formidable. In this scenario, Hand/Bass would cost 11 million in 2021, and adding that to the 23 million for Tanaka/Paxton, we’re up to 34 million in total.