Blue Jays should be wary after AL East rival passed on Jeff Hoffman's shaky medicals

At long last, the Toronto Blue Jays finally found someone to take their money. This past week, reliever Jeff Hoffman signed a three-year, $33 million deal with the Jays. Hoffman earned his first trip to the All-Star Game with the Philadelphia Phillies in 2024; a season in which he struck out 89 batters over 66 ⅓ innings while posting a 2.17 ERA.

But Toronto was not the only team interested in signing Hoffman. Though the relief market has yet to take off this winter, Hoffman was said to be negotiations with another AL East club — the Baltimore Orioles. In fact, it's been reported that the O's offer was even larger than the Jays. So what happened?

According to FanSided's Robert Murray, the Orioles and Hoffman had the framework for a three-year, $40 million deal, but his physical raised concerns. According to Murray, sources revealed that an issue with Hoffman's right shoulder was flagged during his evaluation, and Baltimore then pivoted to sign Andrew Kittredge.

Per Braves insider Mark Bowman, the Braves felt similarly after a pre-signing evaluation. It gets more confounding by the day that Toronto felt so comfortable moving forward when two others balked.

Blue Jays should be wary after AL East rival passed on Jeff Hoffman's shaky medicals

This could be much ado about nothing. Baseball fans will remember a similar issue occurred a few years back when the San Francisco Giants were on the cusp of signing free agent Carlos Correa, only to allow a shaky medical report to torpedo that blockbuster deal. Correa eventually signed with the Minnesota Twins and put up fantastic numbers while appearing in 136 games the following the season.

Hoffman's track record has been stellar of late. The past two seasons, the right-hander has tossed a total of 118 ⅔ innings in 122 appearances with a 2.28 ERA, 158 punchouts, and a 184 ERA+. But pitchers and shoulder injuries are alway a concern.

Did the Blue Jays get bamboozled? Assuming that Toronto did their due diligence before agreeing to the contract, the answer is probably no. Different team doctors and medical professionals have different criteria that they look for when evaluating a player's physical fitness. While the Orioles training staff may have seen something they didn't like, the Jays' medical evaluators obviously felt differently.

If Hoffman goes out an performs as he has for the past two seasons in Philly, this story will be cast aside. However, if any inkling of a shoulder ailment befalls Hoffman in 2025 (or over the life of contract), Toronto's medical staff might have some questions to answer.

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