Blue Jays will need more than just one closer to contend

Climb to over .500 for first time in 341 days

Following a 5-2 win over the young Washington Nationals on Monday, the Blue Jays moved to a game above the .500 mark for the first time since April 24, 2024, a total of 341 days without a winning record. It’s certainly not nosebleed territory and a celebration, but it’s something to build upon.

However, to put together and sustain even one streak of 7-10 wins or more as the year goes on, in a sport that plays almost every day, in an era when relievers throwing back-top-back days is a rarity, the Jays are going to need more than just Jeff Hoffman for the ninth inning. Two games in a row seems the norm for this generation of closer. The Jays may have identified that second bullpen ace. He is righthander Yimi Garcia.

On Sunday, Hoffman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out the final two batters, in a 3-1 win over the Orioles. It was his second day in a row. Oxygen!! Then, on Monday, Garcia pitched a 1-2-3 ninth, striking out the final two batters vs. the Nats. It was his second appearance in three days. Both men are now available on Tuesday. There is a level of comfort there for manager John Schneider.

“I think we have a really good look of guys in the pen, that you can match up a certain way, without (Hoffman) being available,” Schneider explained. “So, being above .500, it’s nice to stack wins as much as you can. But, yeah, it’s cool to have options in the bullpen, for sure.”

Both veterans boast multiple pitches in their repertoires, when other successful relievers simply rely on two above average pitchers and go all out, knowing they don’t have to face an order, even one full time. It’s how closers obtained the reputation as “failed starters,” a view even espoused by Jays’ Cy Young winner Pat Hentgen.

But, both Jays righthanders, Hoffman and Garcia, can rely on more than two pitches when called upon … that’s pitches they throw more than 15% of the time.

Garcia works a four-seamer at 96.4 mph, 41% of the time, a sinker at 95.7 mph, 30% of the time and a curveball 18% of the time. He mixes in a sweeper and change at single-digit percentage usage. Since joining the Jays in 2022 and including his brief second-half stint with the Mariners last year, the 34-year-old Dominican has a 1.081 WHIP, with 190 strikeouts in 169 innings.

Hoffman throws a four-seamer at 96.6 mph, 39% of the time, a splitter at 91.2 mph, 32% of the time and a slider 21% of the time. He mixes in a 97 mph sinker with single-digit percentage usage. Over his past three-plus years, since 2022, with the Reds, Phillies and Jays, the native of upstate New York has a 1.065 WHIP and a 2.67 ERA, with 206 strikeouts in 165.1 innings.

The late-inning wild-card for the Jays in their still-being-ironed-out mix of setup men and closers may be the oft-maligned 26-year-old Cuban, Yariel Rodriguez, called upon Sunday in the eighth inning vs. the O’s, with a two-run lead. He dominated. Y-Rod was in limbo in terms of a role, following an unimpressive spring training and a rookie season in 2024, in which he was exclusively the fifth starter, with uneven results. His short-burst stuff and a history of bullpen success in a short stint in Japan may help to lock him, with confidence, into a setup role.

“That was, in my opinion, probably his best professional inning,” an admiring Schneider opined. “That was pretty damn good. That was the plan, coming right after you and he located it well.”

Y-Rod threw one splitter, otherwise sticking to a 96-97 mph fastball and a tight slider. The clear problem with Rodriguez as a starter, last year, was sustaining his command and his stuff over the course of 80-plus pitches, whereas going into games as a short-burst reliever offers his manager hope for a meaningful role.

“You don’t want to react to one outing, but we kind of know that that’s in there,” Schneider continued. “That’s been in there in his career before. So we’re still trying to figure out the best way to use that. If it’s in the pen, if it’s starting. But that was a pretty good inning.”

It seems that the plan for the Blue Jays rotation without Max Scherzer could change, but rookie lefthander Easton Lucas is likely to be the fifth man in the rotation – for now. It is flexible. If the Jays win on Tuesday night when Jose Berrios faces the Nationals, look for Schneider to take that opportunity to have Lucas start on Wednesday afternoon, pushing Kevin Gausman back to Friday, giving him six days of rest before his second start of the season. If the Jays lose Game 2 of the current series, it would likely be Gausman handed the ball to try and create a winning opening homestand, as they head out on a difficult 10-game road trip.

Sometimes you have to roll the dice.