logo
A healthy Yimi García should be a huge part of the Blue Jays’ bullpen in 2026
alt
Photo credit: © Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
Ben Wrixon
Dec 7, 2025, 08:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 7, 2025, 04:43 EST
Comments
The Toronto Blue Jays shouldn’t overlook Yimi García when evaluating their internal bullpen options heading into 2026 — he might be their best reliever when healthy. 
Last year was a lost season for García, who rejoined the team on a two-year, $15-million contract after being traded away midseason in 2024. He went on the injured list at the end of May with a right shoulder impingement, returned for one appearance in July, then experienced an elbow issue that required season-ending surgery.
He finished the season with a 3.86 ERA and 1.190 WHIP across his 21 innings pitched and was one of the Jays’ best arms in their bullpen before going down with the injury. He didn’t allow a single earned run through his first 14 outings into the season and finished the year with a 3.85 FIP, allowing just nine earned runs across three total outings. 
García, when healthy, is the kind of strikeout pitcher the Blue Jays desperately need in their bullpen. He punched out 79 batters in 66 innings in 2023 and 49 in 39 innings in 2024 before being shipped to the Seattle Mariners at the trade deadline. 
He still has the pitches to be a dominant reliever. His Stuff+, a metric that quantifies pitch quality based on characteristics such as velocity, movement, and spin rate, was 119. That’s 19% better than the average score of 100 and almost identical to his 2024 score of 121. 
The eye test tells a similar story: García still averaged 96 mph on his fastball last season and struck out batters 27.8% of the time. 
It was García’s command that let him down last year as his 13.3% walk rate equated to a career-worst 5.1 BB/9, albeit through a smaller sample size given the injury. It’s also worth wondering, however, if his nagging injuries created mechanical issues that made it harder for him to throw strikes. 
The Blue Jays should want to find out, considering García has 29 career saves despite never having spent a full season as a closer. His ninth-inning experience could allow them to deploy Jeff Hoffman less frequently, which would be advantageous considering how his performance suffered when pitching multiple days in a row. He could even compete with Hoffman for the closer job should his home run issues persist into next season, depending if the Jays make any additional moves this winter. 
A healthy García can and will be a huge asset out of the bullpen in 2026. 
All Toronto Blue Jays odds are brought to you by MLB betting site Betway!
Presented by Betway

Featured

Editorials

Breaking News