How can the Blue Jays improve their bullpen?

It was a roller coaster ride for the Blue Jays bullpen in 2021 and they certainly will be looking at adding some relievers this offseason.

The evolution of the Toronto Blue Jays bullpen in the 2021 season was an up and down adventure with plenty of peaks and valleys. According to FanGraphs, Toronto’s bullpen ranked 12th in MLB in strikeouts per 9.0 innings pitched with 9.41, 15th in ERA at 4.08, and 25th in WAR with 1.6.

The Blue Jays cannot be in a position in 2022 like they were during the 2021 season, where we saw the likes of Tyler Chatwood, Travis Bergen, and Brad Hand (just to name a few) cost this ball club wins. The bullpen simply shouldn’t be seen as such a big Achilles heel that you point to it at various parts of the season and determine that it was the big culprit for the team not being where it should be in the standings.

It is fair to expect another strong season from Jordan Romano at the back of the bullpen, but relievers like Adam Cimber and Trevor Richards could be regression candidates, which underscores the need for more options that can miss bats in a multitude of spots out of the pen.

The keys for the 2022 edition of the Toronto Blue Jays are quality and depth so let’s break down some free-agent relievers that could be good fits for what the Blue Jays might be looking for when they look to go shopping.

The Top Option on the Market

Raisel Iglesias

The soon to be 32-year-old Iglesias has three 30+ save campaigns under his belt and is coming off of a career year in 2021 with the LA Angels, which saw him rack up 34 saves while pitching to a 3.18 ERA with a personal best 13.24 strikeouts per 9.0 innings pitched.

As of this writing, Iglesias has yet to make a decision on whether he will accept or reject the Angels qualifying offer of $18.4 million. Assuming he does reject it, there appears to be a robust market for him.

This Blue Jays front office historically has not been that keen on ponying up for players who have been tendered a qualifying offer because of the resulting draft pick compensation and they generally have looked at shorter-term free-agent relief contracts.

In 2020, Toronto was linked to stud free agent reliever Liam Hendriks, but he was not given a qualifying offer by the Oakland A’s, before ultimately signing a complex three-year $54 million contract with the Chicago White Sox.

Iglesias checks off all of the boxes that the Blue Jays should be looking for this offseason in a reliever as he has proven 9th inning experience with 140 career saves and the ability to miss bats at an elite rate, while also limiting walks (2.69 walks per 9.0 innings pitched).

The qualifying offer conundrum is a bit of a fly in the ointment, but this front office has shown that it will spend on players that they believe make the Blue Jays better and there is no free-agent reliever on the market that can make the same level of impact as Raisel Iglesias.

A Dodger Stalwart

Kenley Jansen

Since becoming the full-time closer for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012, there hasn’t been a more dominant 9th inning option in baseball than Kenley Jansen. He has 341 saves since 2012, a career 13.05 strikeouts per 9.0 innings pitched, while also picking up 19 postseason saves, a 2.13 ERA as well as a World Series ring in 2020.

There were some concerns in 2018, 2019, and 2020 that Jansen might be on the decline as he posted the first three seasons with an ERA above 3.00, but in 2021, the 34-year-old Jansen sipped from the fountain of youth as he finished second in the league with 38 saves, while lowering his ERA back down to 2.22.

It was a roller coaster ride for the Blue Jays bullpen in 2021 and they certainly will be looking at adding some relievers this offseason.

There is certainly a degree of risk involved with signing a reliever like Jansen with his age and those three straight mediocre seasons from 2018-2020 still relatively fresh, but if he can build off of a strong 2021 campaign, he could make a lot of sense for the Blue Jays.

The major case for looking at Jansen over Raisel Iglesias is that Jansen was not eligible for a qualifying offer from the Dodgers and thus would only cost the Blue Jays money, instead of both money and draft pick compensation.

All that being said, it’s still hard to envision Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins going multiple years for an older reliever like Jansen who has had some red flags pop up in his profile over the past few years, including a career-high 4.7 walks per 9.0 innings pitched this past season for the Dodgers.

A Trio of Former Blue Jays

Daniel Hudson 

There are other less splashy relief options on the market than Iglesias and Jansen, including former Blue Jay Daniel Hudson.

Hudson was tremendous for Toronto back in 2019, pitching to a 3.00 ERA in 45 appearances before being dealt to the Washington Nationals, where he memorably recorded the final out of Game 7 of the World Series en route to Nats’ first championship.

After a strong 2019 season, it was a rough one in 2020 for Hudson as he saw his ERA skyrocket to 6.10 while posting a -0.4 fWAR in 20.2 innings pitched.

Hudson bounced back in a big way in 2021, pitching for both Washington and San Diego after a midseason trade to the Padres. He posted a career-best 13.06 strikeouts per 9.0 innings pitched, averaged 97 miles per hour on his fastball; the highest of his career, and had a 35.7% K%, which was 5% higher than his previous best.

Ryan Tepera 

Tepera spent five seasons with the Blue Jays before being designated for assignment in November 2019 and picked up by the Chicago Cubs.

Tepera had a breakout 2020 season, amassing a career-best 13.5 strikeouts per 9.0 innings pitched while winning National League Reliever of the Month in May 2020 along the way.

He was able to build on that strong 2020 season in 2021 as Tepera had a career year with the Cubs and White Sox, pitching to a 2.79 ERA in 61.1 innings while accruing a career-best 1.6 fWAR.

Aaron Loup

Many Blue Jays fans don’t have the fondest memories of Aaron Loup’s time with the franchise as the sidearm tossing lefty had his share of ups and downs across seven seasons in Toronto.

Loup has found his groove over the past two years as he finished with a 2.52 ERA in 25 innings for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2020 before posting a career season in 2021 for the New York Mets, which saw him finish the year with a 6-0 record, a sparkling 0.95 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP in 56.2 innings.

You might think that most of Loup’s success came against left-handed batters, but in 2021 Loup more than held his own against righties as well.

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table

With baseball’s move to the three batter minimum, Loup’s ability to get right-handed batters out at a solid clip makes him a much more desirable free-agent target.

The Best of the Rest

Corey Knebel

Corey Knebel had a tremendous bounce-back season in 2021 for the Los Angeles Dodgers after struggling in 2020 and missing all of the 2019 campaign with an injury.

Knebel was an All-Star in 2017, picking up 39 saves for Milwaukee while pitching to a 1.78 ERA for the Brewers.

The big right-hander only threw 25.2 innings in 2021 for the Dodgers but had a 2.45 ERA and 30 strikeouts, while only permitting a .448 OPS against in high leverage situations.

It’s likely that Knebel will command a multi-year deal while also looking to fill a team’s closer chair but at the very least the Blue Jays should be inquiring with his reps on the possibility of an agreement.

Kendall Graveman

Another former Blue Jay makes the list, although Graveman’s time in Toronto was just 5 games back in 2014.

In his first full season as a reliever in 2021, Graveman found the perfect balance between strikeouts (an even 9 per 9.0 innings pitched) and ground balls (54.9% ground ball %), leading to a career-best season for the Seattle Mariners and later the Houston Astros after a midseason trade.

Graveman has never profiled as a plus strikeout pitcher but if he can build off of 2021, which also saw his velocity at a career-best 96.6 miles per hour, while also mixing in an effective slider, he should be able to settle in as a reliever who can pitch in different spots at a high level.

Andrew Chafin

In addition to boasting one of the best moustaches in Major League Baseball, Andrew Chafin emerged in 2021 as a real weapon out of the bullpen for the Chicago Cubs and Oakland Athletics after a trade, putting up a career-best 1.83 ERA.

Heading into the offseason, the Blue Jays have just Tim Mayza firmly slotted as a left-hander to come out of the bullpen, and Chafin’s ability to get batters out from both sides of the plate, while boasting solid strikeout numbers (64 in 68.2 innings pitched) could make him a perfect addition to the Blue Jays stable of bullpen arms.