Plenty of uncertainty lies with Blue Jays’ closer role in 2025
Photo credit: Brian Bradshaw Sevald-USA TODAY Sports
By Thomas Hall
Oct 4, 2024, 15:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 4, 2024, 15:06 EDT
One year away from free agency, there’s no guarantee Jordan Romano will regain his previous role as the Toronto Blue Jays’ closer next season — or even return for a seventh season, for that matter.
Romano, coming off elbow surgery that limited him to 13.2 innings in 2024, has just one season of club control remaining before he becomes a free agent after next season, aligning with franchise cornerstones Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette in that regard. But it’s unclear if the 31-year-old reliever will be tendered a contract this off-season.
MLB Trade Rumors has Romano receiving a projected $7.75 million — matching the exact figure he earned this past season — in his final year of arbitration eligibility. After an abbreviated season in which he posted a 6.59 ERA and 6.17 FIP, though, the Markham, Ont., native could become a financial casualty if the Blue Jays aren’t confident about his chances of rebounding in 2025.
“I don’t know,” GM Ross Atkins told reporters, including the Toronto Star’s Gregor Chisholm, about Romano returning as Toronto’s closer next season. “Yeah, I don’t know. We will have some guys that are currently on our roster that have done it before and they will certainly be potentially in that role.”
If Toronto non-tenders Romano, the front office could attempt to re-sign him on a more cost-effective multi-year deal, or they could explore that path to avoid arbitration when the time comes without exposing him to the 29 other teams.
Assuming the right-hander returns next season, Atkins hinted that he’ll have to earn the ninth-inning job rather than it automatically being returned to him. Whether or not he resembles his pre-2024 form will be the key here.
But the organization also can’t afford to wait until spring training for that prognosis. They’ll need to act before then to address a battered and bruised bullpen that was among the worst in baseball this season, placing 29th in ERA (4.82) — ahead of only the Colorado Rockies (5.41) — and last in FIP (4.84) and fWAR (-2.6).
“He’s got to come back and be the pitcher [he was],” Atkins said. “I don’t want to just lay my head on the pillow and say, ‘OK, that’s covered.’ I want to be open to it. Depending upon his return, depending upon how he’s feeling. But I believe he will. I believe he can.”
Internally, the Blue Jays don’t currently have many alternatives to Romano, which is another issue entirely. But, for now, it appears the most likely choices would be Chad Green — who recorded 17 saves in 2024 — and Erik Swanson, both free agents after ’25.
While that’s not a terrible place to start, Swanson struggled for most of this season after beginning the campaign on the IL, ultimately resulting in a triple-A demotion in June. However, it’s worth noting he found his footing down the stretch, allowing just one run via a solo shot over his final 11 relief appearances, issuing 12 strikeouts and only one walk across 10.1 innings.
As for Green, he outperformed most of his underlying metrics, such as his 3.21 ERA being just over a full run lower than his 4.29 FIP. Plus, the veteran righty produced a career-low 21.9-per-cent strikeout rate, a byproduct of his slider not producing the types of movements that it’s normally accustomed to, both vertically and horizontally.
”[Green’s] slider shape, he was working on it almost the entire time of his return [from injury],” Atkins said. “I don’t think he ever got to the consistent one that allows depth, that allows him to better attack left-handed hitters.”
Due to this lack of certainty at the back end of Toronto’s bullpen, management will likely act “a little bit more aggressively” in the reliever markets — both via trade and free agency — than in previous off-seasons. And that may involve handing out a lucrative contract to a relief pitcher, something this current regime has historically steered clear of.
But with high-leverage arms like Carlos Estévez, Tanner Scott and Clay Holmes becoming free agents, Atkins and his staff could end up making a big splash on the reliever front in the coming months, and understandably so.