3 Blue Jays offseason mistakes that look more glaring everyday

At the end of the 2024 MLB season, the Toronto Blue Jays were 74-88 and knew that they needed to undergo some significant changes if they wanted to reach the postseason in 2025.

The three biggest problems that needed to be addressed were adding some power bats to the lineup, revamping a disappointing bullpen, and adding reliable depth in their rotation. While they addressed some of those needs in the offseason, there were some other problems that emerged over the first month of the season.

Three Blue Jays offseason mistakes that look more glaring everyday

1. They didn't add enough power

Althrough the team added added Anthony Santander on a five-year contract, they still entered the weekend 29th in MLB in home runs. They're projected to hit 141 homers this year after hitting 156 home runs, which is an inexcusable development. While Santander is a notoriously slow starter, they still need to find more power.

The Blue Jays pursued sluggers like Juan Soto and Pete Alonso in the offseason but failed to grab a second slugger to lengthen their lineup. Teoscar Hernandez (.928 OPS, 9 HR this year) or Paul Goldschmidt (.906 OPS, 3 HR) were both free agent options the Jays could have gotten at a relative discount.

There were also some rumors that the Blue Jays talked to the Guardians about slugger Josh Naylor ahead of Cleveland trading Naylor to Arizona.

While the Blue Jays ended up getting Andrés Giménez, Naylor would have helped them in the power category.

The Blue Jays are 3-4 in one-run games with a -30 run differential, so it seems like one more power bay would have made a difference.

2. Not adding a proven third baseman

While the Blue Jays have a lot of middle infield depth in the organization, they haven't had much MLB success at third base this year. They've mostly used Ernie Clement and Will Wagner at the hot corner this year, but they've been disappointing. Wagner was sent to Triple-A earlier in the week and Clement has a .536 OPS.

It seems like they had some interest in Alex Bregman before he signed with the Red Sox. Bregman leads baseball with a 1.009 OPS and a 2.0 bWAR, so it's not hard to imagine the kind of impact he could have made on the lineup. While he would have been expensive (he signed a three-year, $120 million deal with Boston), Bregman is the kind of player the Blue Jays need to be in the market for every year.

The Blue Jays also could have signed Ty France at a discount (he has a .281/.352/.421 with an OPS+ of 118 for the Twins) or made a splash by trading for Isaac Paredes, who has a .758 OPS with four home runs after being traded to the Astros in the offseason.

While France has played sparingly at third base over his seven-year MLB career and Parades was part of the Cubs' package to get Kyle Tucker, there's nothing wrong with thinking outside of the box to try to help your team. It likely wouldn't have taken a ton for the Blue Jays to get just Parades.

2. Not getting more pitching depth

The Blue Jays felt they had sufficient pitching depth to begin the 2025 season, but it's quickly become apparent that's not the case thanks to Max Scherzer's thumb injury.

The Blue Jays got a couple of surprise performances from Easton Lucas, but they've been scrambling to fill the fifth starter spot after he got rocked in back-to-back starts.

At this ppoint the Blue Jays are just trying to stem the tide with some roster shuffling. They called Eric Lauer up from Triple-A earlier this week and signed José Ureña and Spencer Turnbull to MLB contracts on Saturday morning. While neither player really moves the needle, these are two moves the Blue Jays could have made several months ago instead of now

Still, it's a case of better late than never, as the Blue Jays can never have too many players on the roster with big league experience. It also seems like the Blue Jays are planning on addressing their offense as well.

“The offense has to get better," general manager Ross Atkins told reporters. "We’ve worked tirelessly over the last year and a half to correct that. We do believe in the adjustments we’ve made and do believe that good things are coming, but we can’t rest on that,”

It seems like more moves are on the way. Stay tuned.