In 2024, the Blue Jays bullpen was the worst in baseball. Depending on which projection model you look at, they’re poised to reverse their fortunes and become a top 10 relief corps in 2025. Yes, I’m as shocked as you are.

For as much grief as the front office has received this offseason, they’ve overhauled the bullpen to at least bring it back to the league average. The Blue Jays signed Jeff Hoffman and Yimi Garcia; they also acquired Nick Sandlin in the Andres Gimenez trade, and they will presumably move Yariel Rodriguez to the bullpen. Those moves alone netted the Blue Jays 1.3 fWAR by Steamer projections, and that includes the loss of non-tendering Jordan Romano. That 1.3 WAR doesn’t even factor in Rodriguez’s role, which isn’t set in stone as of now.

If the Blue Jays roll into Spring Training with this cast of bullpen characters, they’re already miles ahead of where they were at the end of 2024. But adding one final free-agent piece – likely one they can get on the cheap – would fortify this core even more.

These are some intriguing free-agent names that are still floating out there and could fit into Toronto’s bullpen plans for 2025.

Every year, it seems like Adam Ottavino is a candidate as a relief target and for good reason; even approaching his age-39 season, the lanky right-hander still brings it. Ottavino’s strikeout rate shot back up to 28.3% last year, but it’s always his walk rate that gets him into trouble (it was 9.4% in 2024).

His fastball still hovers around 93 miles per hour, and his sinker and sweeper pitchers are among the best when it comes to MLB relievers. Ottavino may be one of the oldest relief pitchers in the game, but his numbers are trending upward for his 15th big league season.

He’s also one of the most durable relievers in recent memory, making 496 total appearances since 2017. That’s an average of 62 appearances a season, and a 3.32 ERA and 133 ERA+ over that span to boot. There’s only one other active reliever who has more appearances since 2017, and his name is …

With 500 games played since 2017, Andrew Chafin has been the biggest relief workhorse in Major League Baseball. He’s already played for six teams in his 11-year career with the potential to join a seventh team in 2025. Could it be the Toronto Blue Jays?

Let’s set aside the fact that he looks like Kenny Powers incarnate, Chafin has also been trending upwards. Since the 2020 shortened campaign, Chafin’s strikeout numbers have risen to where he rocked a 28.5% strikeout rate split between the Tigers and the Rangers last year.

Much like Ottavino, the walks are a concern with Chafin, but he has a plus slider and fastball, with his slider striking out 48.7% of batters last year. Chafin also doesn’t keep the ball on the ground very much, so he’s going to give up a lot of loud contact.

But if the Blue Jays can live with the warts, Chafin would be an upgrade over guys like Zach Pop, Ryan Burr, Brendon Little or Easton Lucas.

Remember old friend Ryan Yarbrough? Most people believed he would be a prime candidate to be re-signed by the Blue Jays, and since he’s still on the open market, that still might be the case.

Once the left-hander came over to the Blue Jays, he adjusted his pitch mix and his strikeout rate shot up to 31.4% with the Blue Jays compared to 17.3 with the Dodgers. As a guy who doesn’t have overpowering stuff like other relievers on this list, Yarbrough relies on his sidearm delivery to create deception.

It also wouldn’t hurt for the Blue Jays to have at least one more lefty in the bullpen, since Little is the only other left-hander in Toronto’s depth chart who pitched more than a handful of games in relief in 2024.

I will never not struggle to spell his last name, but veteran Drew Smyly could carve out a niche in the Blue Jays bullpen in 2024. He does a decent job at limiting hard contact, but strikeouts are not his forte.

Smyly wasn’t 100 percent last year, dealing with a hip injury to start the season. He’s a curveball/sinker pitcher now compared to his starting days, with the curveball being his plus pitch. Smyly might have to take a minor league deal with an opportunity to break camp with a suitor with a strong performance in Spring Training.

This is someone who won’t see high-leverage situations too often but can go multiple innings if Jays manager John Schneider needs to bridge the gap to the back end of the bullpen.

Good to know you’re also hearing Buck Martinez pronounce his name that way, but JT Chargois is one final flier the Blue Jays could add to raise the floor of their bullpen. His numbers were likely boosted in 2024 due to some good batted-ball luck (a .189 BABIP and 93% strand rate).

Chargois’ fastball isn’t that far removed from being one of the fastest among MLB relievers, but his four-seamer lost a few ticks in 2024. The Mariners non-tendered him a few months ago, so he should come cheap to whichever team takes a chance on him.

He dealt with neck spasms earlier in the season, so that may have hampered his ability to dial up his fastball to his typical velo, which sits around 96 miles per hour.