4 changes the Blue Jays must make immediately after 2024 debacle

After a disappointing 2024 MLB season, the Toronto Blue Jays were destined to embark in an offseason facing a wholesale of changes on the agenda. Jays general manager Ross Atkins may be safe for now as he was recently confirmed to be returning for the 2025 season. However, other action has already begun with the dismissal of various personnel at the management level, including hitting coach Guillermo Martinez, field coordinator Gil Kim and bullpen coach Jeff Ware, along with the re-assignments of assistant pitching coach David Howell and offensive coordinator Don Mattingly.

The Jays will not stop right there, as many more moves need to be made in the coming months if they intend to get back to their winning ways. As a result, let’s a take a look at four changes that the Jays need to make immediately to rectify the debacle of a season that they had in 2024.

Time to take George Springer out of the leadoff spot

Star outfielder George Springer may have made a name for himself for being an elite leadoff hitter for almost the past decade in MLB. However, it has now come the time that he may need to move on from that role going forward.

That is because in 2024, Springer had actually put together his worst season in the role since he was moved into that spot permanently by the Houston Astros during 2016. He batted a dismal .214 with a .640 OPS, along with just 50 runs scored, 13 doubles, 12 home runs, 33 RBI and 14 stolen over 101 games played in the leadoff spot. Those numbers were a far cry from his usual standards that he had produced year in and year out.

With obvious signs of regression occurring for the 35-year-old veteran, it should be about time that the Jays move on from Springer in the position and try out a more traditional leadoff hitter that could be more effective at getting on base and generating runs. At the same time, Springer can still be productive in driving in runs, so moving him further down the lineup could potentially work wonders. As a result, it could present a win-win situation for the Jays going forward if Springer is willing to take one for the team.

Sacrifice defense for some offense

It wasn’t just too long ago that the Jays were one of the top offensive teams in the league. In fact, just two years ago, Toronto ranked in the top five in MLB across the bulk of the major offensive stat categories. However, with their defense severely lacking at the time, the team moved towards the mentality of upgrading their defense by sacrificing some offense in the process.

In doing so, the Jays ultimately moved away from power-producing hitters such as Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Teoscar Hernández and Brandon Belt in favour of more defensively-minded pieces such as Kevin Kiermaier, Daulton Varsho and more recently Isiah Kiner-Falefa. So what result has that approach brought to the club? Two straight seasons with a declining winning record along with a huge struggle to score runs in the process. This season, the Jays actually ranked near the bottom third of the league across many offensive categories. In addition, with their inability to generate runs, they ranked second-last only to the lowly Chicago White Sox in come-from-behind wins with only 25 all season. So basically if they ever fell behind in a game, it was a tall task for them to pull off a win in the end.

As a result, the Jays need to ditch that approach now and revert back to the offense-first mentality. In other words, their focus this offseason should be to bolster their offence once again at the expense of some of their solid defense. It has become evident now that the team had much more success previously in that setup and also provided some much more exciting baseball in the process. Therefore, when the Jays are set to explore options in free agency coming up, they should focus on offense, offense and more offense.

Complete bullpen overhaul is a must

Going into the 2024 season, one of the things that the Jays had the least worries about was the state of their bullpen. Led by closer Jordan Romano and company, Toronto’s relief corps actually ranked among the league’s best in 2023, sitting third in saves, fourth in losses and WHIP, eighth in ERA, and 11th in opponents batting average. With the bulk of the bullpen core remaining intact for this year, the Jays were expecting more of the same from their competent group.

Unfortunately, 2024 turned out to be a complete disaster for practically the entire unit. Befell by injuries and inconsistency, the Jays’ bullpen ultimately became their weakest link over the course of the season. The usually dependable and trusted arms in Romano, Erik Swanson, Trevor Richards, Tim Mayza and even Chad Green later in the season all fell apart, while returnees Nate Pearson, Zach Pop and Genesis Cabrera to some extent didn’t help the cause either. On top of that, when the Jays needed bullpen reinforcements along the way, the makeshift replacements didn’t fare any better. The lone bright spots were perhaps just Yimi García, who was traded at the deadline, and Ryan Yarbrough, who now heads into free agency.

As a result, a massive overhaul of the Jays’ bullpen is an absolute necessity in order to get them back on track. That is because there’s no guarantee that Romano, Swanson, Green and those that remain will regain their prior dominant form for 2025. In addition, having an abundance of pitching depth will be key, as we all witnessed their immense struggles this past season whenever the Jays needed more arms. This drastic change should start the moment free agency season commences, with plenty of viable options available this offseason in the market to help solve their problems.