When the Blue Jays signed reliever Jeff Hoffman to a three-year, $33 million contract in January, Toronto general manager Ross Atkins made it clear the Blue Jays were signing Hoffman with the expectation that he’d be a closer.
Would expectation would stop the Blue Jays from trying to acquire another veteran free agent reliever with closing experience?
This year’s free agency class is a bit unique in that regard as it features two of the best closers in MLB history in Craig Kimbrel and Kenley Jansen.
While neither are the pitchers they once were in their prime, they have a combined 887 saves between them and could be a dangerous weapon in the Blue Jays bullpen — if they’d be interested in joining Toronto.
With that in mind, here’s a look at how they could fit into Toronto’s bullpen.
Craig Kimbrel
At one point in time, there was perhaps no pitcher on the planet better than Kimbrel.
A nine-time All-Star, Kimbrel led MLB in saves in every year from 2011-14, and won a World Series with the Red Sox in 2018.
That said, Kimbrel’s recorded a pedestrian 3.90 ERA over the past six seasons, and is coming off two subpar seasons. While Kimbrel was solid for the Phillies in the regular season in 2023 (3.26 ERA, 23 saves), he imploded in the NLCS and gave up walk-off single in Game 3 and a go-head home run in the eighth inning of Game 4. He became the first Phillies pitcher to lose back-to-back postseason appearances since Mitch Williams.
Ketel Marte WALKS IT OFF for the @Dbacks! #NLCS pic.twitter.com/8R5vSdRzrZ
— MLB (@MLB) October 19, 2023
Things didn’t go much better for him in 2024, as he signed a one-year, $13 million deal with the Orioles (becoming their highest-paid player since 2019) with the expectation that he’d lock down the ninth inning.
And in the first half of the season, he did, as he had a 2.10 ERA in his first 38 appearances. But then the wheels fell off, as he posted a 11.50 ERA after July 7, which led to him losing the closer’s role and, eventually, his job.
His 440 saves are the fifth-most in MLB history, but it’s hard to believe the Blue Jays would regularly trust him with the ninth inning over Hoffman. While there hasn’t been any reporting about whether Kimbrel would take a non-closer role, he took the ball in the middle innings for the Orioles after he lost their closer role last season.
Kenley Jansen
Like Kimbrel, Jansen is at the end of his career but is still trying to prove he’s got a little bit more magic left in his arm. While his career is a bit of a slow burn compared to Kimbrel’s (he didn’t have a 40 save season until his fifth MLB season), he had 30+ saves in every 162 game season from 2014 to 2022.
But unlike Kimbrel, it seems clear that Jansen still views himself as a closer, as The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported last week that Jansen wants to reach 500 career saves, which has reportedly “muddied his price tag.”
If Jansen truly is making achieving 500 saves his main priority in free agency, then it’s hard to see him ending up in Toronto considering he’ll likely be splitting save opportunities with Hoffman.
Kenley Jansen's Cutter could be absolutely Unfair. 😳
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) December 7, 2024
I included an overlay with his Two Seamer from the same at bat. pic.twitter.com/jcIUeGS7pc
Jansen has pitched better as of late (he has a 3.44 ERA over the past two seasons and was an All-Star in 2023), which could also lead to him ending up outside of Toronto’s price range. While they have some financial flexibility thanks to the deferrals in Anthony Santander’s contract, they might choose to spend that money on Pete Alonso or Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Neither Kimbrel or Jansen are a perfect fit, but it makes sense for the Blue Jays to kick the tires on both of them, so long as it’s for a non-closer role.
While Toronto has some solid middle-inning options in Chad Green, Erik Swanson and Yimi García, you can never have enough bullpen depth. The only question is whether Kimbrel or Jansen would be comfortable being a depth option and not being the guy who gets the ball every ninth inning.