3 former Blue Jays we’ll be glad are gone in 2024 and 2 we’ll wish stayed

During the offseason, the Toronto Blue Jays had lost several players of varying degrees of significance to free agency. Each of them had more or less some level of impact on the team’s success and failures this past season and for some, even for the years prior to 2023. Which of those now former Jays players will we be glad are no longer with the team and which ones will we end up missing the most and wished had stayed in 2024?

3 former Blue Jays we’ll be glad are gone

Adam Cimber

After coming over from the Miami Marlins via trade in 2022, Adam Cimber had been a key cog in the Jays’ bullpen, putting up back-to-back strong seasons in both 2021 and 2022. Many were expecting more of the same when 2023 rolled around. However, things didn’t go as planned as it quickly turned out to be Cimber’s worst year-long performance. In the end, he compiled an 0-2 record with an unsightly 7.40 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, giving up 17 earned runs including tying his career high of 6 home runs, 7 walks and 12 strikeouts in just 20.2 innings of work in 22 appearances.

Eventually, Cimber suffered a right shoulder injury in late June that sidelined him for most of the reminder of the season. He did get in a rehab stint in the minors in September with hopes to rejoin the club for the postseason. However, a subpar performance mirroring his stats earlier in the season in the majors put an end to that possibility. 

Steamer and ZiPS projections are both unkind to Cimber for 2024 as they predict he will not be able to regain his prior dominant form witnessed from his previous years. His ERA is expected to hover close to 5.00, his WAR will remain below 0 at -0.2, his LOB% to remain below 70%, while he will be on track to give up the most home runs of his career. In addition, taking a look at his advanced metrics from last season, not only were many of his stats littered in blue, Cimber also lost 2-3 mph off both his fastball and slider. That slight difference is actually quite significant for him since he throws only in the high 80s for his fastball and high 70s for his slider. Being in the always dangerous AL East loaded with offensive juggernauts if he stayed with the Jays, Cimber could be eaten alive when his funky delivery apparently isn’t working anymore to go along with his decreasing fastball. As a result, the Jays made the right choice in not retaining him this offseason as he ultimatelyjoined the Los Angeles Angels via free agency.