Blue Jays rumors: potential bullpen upgrade taken off the market

As the Toronto Blue Jays continue their search for elite relievers to add to their bullpen this offseason, an intriguing arm had previously come up in the rumor mill that they could have considered.

According to MLB insider Francys Romero, the Blue Jays were named strong suitors for former Atlanta Braves closed Raisel Iglesias. However, on Wednesday, Iglesias reportedly signed a one-year deal to remain with the Braves for the 2026 season.

It is quite surprising that despite strong numbers for much of his 11-year career in the majors, Iglesias has never been named to an All-Star team. In 600 career games, the 35-year-old reliever has accumulated 253 saves, with a 2.90 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 869 strikeouts in just 736 total innings.

That also included eight seasons with a sub-3.00 ERA and five seasons with a sub-1.00 WHIP, while averaging more than a strikeout per inning in all but one year in 2024. So just looking purely at his career numbers, Iglesias seemed like a can’t-miss bullpen upgrade candidate.

Did the Blue Jays just miss out on a prime opportunity to upgrade their bullpen?

But if we take a more closer look at his advanced statistical performance in recent years, we get a better picture of what the Blue Jays could have gotten. Taking a look at his pitching arsenal, his average fastball velocity has decreased a full 2 mph down to 94 mph since his prime years.

As a result, Iglesias has also seen his strikeout rate take a little hit during the past couple of seasons, going from consistently above 30% in his peak years down to around 27%. 

In addition, the average exit velocity that he has allowed to opposing hitters has increased to 89 mph in 2025, ranking Iglesias in just the 57th percentile in the league. With that, a gradual corresponding change in his ground ball/fly ball rate last year became evident.

For someone that was more primarily a ground ball pitcher for much of the past few seasons, Iglesias saw his ground ball rate fall from 42.9% in 2024 down to an alarming 32% in 2025, which ranked him in just the 7th percentile in the league. At the same time, his fly ball rate increased to 33.1% from his career average of 25.8%.

Those troubling statistics could potentially be problematic for Iglesias playing in the Toronto's home ballpark in Rogers Centre. Known to be a hitter’s ballpark, he can potentially encounter the same home run issues that Jeff Hoffman and Max Scherzer had in 2025 with Toronto. Not to mention with all of the offensive juggernauts in the AL East, they would likely feast on the 11-year veteran as a result.

So Iglesias certainly has the stuff to still be a solid relief option entering his age 36 season in 2026. But a more pitcher-friendly ballpark would maximize his effectiveness as his velocity should continue to decline gradually going forward. Therefore, returning to the Braves was likely a wise decision for Iglesias and a potential dodge of a bullet for the Blue Jays.

As strong as a relief option that he could have been, Iglesias did not appear to be the best fit for Toronto for both the short and long term. Henceforth, the Jays should stay course and focus their attention on the other enticing possibilities in the free agent market.