With marquee free agents Kyle Tucker, Bo Bichette and Cody Bellinger off the board, each of whom signed elsewhere, you can argue the Toronto Blue Jays still need to make another splash to fortify their 2026 lineup in the post-Bichette era. While that may be true, others have noted the club’s bullpen as another pressing area that requires upgrading.

The signing of Tyler Rogers (three years, $37 million) was significant for the Blue Jays, inserting another high-leverage reliever capable of bridging the gap to closer Jeff Hoffman, who’s set new career-highs (since transitioning to the ‘pen) in both appearances and innings pitched in consecutive seasons — topping out at 71 and 68.0, respectively, in 2025.

Supplying additional support around Hoffman has been a priority for Toronto’s brass this winter. But is Rogers’ arrival enough? Or do they need more to ensure the 33-year-old closer endures a less strenuous workload next season?

In addition to reducing Hoffman’s usage, management also needed to improve a relief corps that ranked middle-of-the-pack in several categories last season — including ERA (3.98, 16th), xERA (4.02, 18th), FIP (3.99, tied for 13th) and fWAR (3.2, tied for 17th).

Needless to say, acquiring a veteran like Rogers, who featured a sub-two ERA and sub-three FIP while matching his career-best 1.3 fWAR in ’25, and has been this decade’s most durable reliever, should help them accomplish both feats next season. Featuring a full season of Louis Varland and the return of Yimi García — injured for all but 21 innings last year — should provide a major boost, too.

However, there’s always room for additional depth in late-inning situations.

Between Hoffman, Varland, García (if healthy) and Rogers, all four should be considered locks within the Blue Jays’ bullpen heading into spring training, already filling half of the eight roster spots with pitchers and catchers reporting to Dunedin, Fla., in two weeks.

Unless the club breaks camp with a six-man rotation, that’ll leave four spots available for Brendon Little and Tommy Nance (out of options), who likely have a step up on the competition, which includes Mason Fluharty, Braydon Fisher, Yariel Rodríguez (non-roster invitee), Chase Lee, Angel Bastardo and Spencer Miles — with those last two both Rule 5 selections.

The Blue Jays are also likely to carry a traditional multi-inning reliever in the ‘pen — either Eric Lauer or Ponce, both of whom will also compete alongside José Berríos for the fifth starter’s job this spring. That means there may only be three roster spots available for the previously mentioned group.

Given the surplus of bullpen depth, Toronto likely isn’t a preferred destination for a thinned-out free-agent class that lacks high-leverage relievers this late in the off-season, as any addition from that diminished pool wouldn’t be guaranteed a roster spot. With more arms than jobs available, even attracting a minor-league signing might prove challenging at this point.

That’s why, if the front office intends to continue adding to its bullpen surplus, it may need to be via trade. Based on the organization’s needs, management should probably canvass multiple tiers in that market.

Swapping out Seranthony Domínguez — who inked a two-year, $20 million deal with the Chicago White Sox last week — for Rogers figures to improve Toronto’s bullpen as a whole next season. It does, however, subtract one less ninth-inning option from the equation, with the latter converting just three saves over the last four seasons — and zero in ’25.

Outside of Hoffman, who was overworked as the club’s go-to solution in save situations last season, the only other closing options on the roster are García and Varland. On paper, that figures to be a formidable back-end trio. But there are lingering questions surrounding García’s availability, considering he’s been hampered by injuries in consecutive seasons.

So far, the Blue Jays’ brass hasn’t seemed overly concerned about García’s status, which points to their lack of activity in the high-leverage reliever market since signing Rogers. Things can change quickly in this sport, though, and the best indicator of any future injury is usually a previous one. As such, it’s worth exploring any opportunities that could provide additional protection.

After unloading Freddy Peralta in last week’s blockbuster deal with the New York Mets, perhaps the Milwaukee Brewers are now more inclined to part with another pitcher who’s nearing free agency — reliever Trevor Megill, who features two arbitration seasons of club control in 2026 and ’27.

Megill has spent the last two seasons as the Brewers’ closer, totalling 51 saves in that span, but has missed considerable time due to injury in back-to-back years and appears to have been overtaken by Abner Uribe for the ninth-inning role. With his dominant two-pitch arsenal, including a high-90s four-seamer and an elusive knuckle-curve, the 32-year-old righty would be an excellent complement to Hoffman as co-closers in Toronto.

Houston’s Bryan Abreu would also make sense in a similar role for the Blue Jays. The 28-year-old, who’s owed $5.85 million in his final arbitration season, is coming off a career year with the Astros and did a tremendous job stepping into the closer’s role for Josh Hader — who missed the final two months with a season-ending shoulder injury — pitching to a remarkable 2.28 ERA and 2.39 FIP with a 25 per cent strikeout-minus-walk rate, worth 2.2 fWAR (tied for third-highest among big-league relievers) across 71 innings.

Megill and Abreu would certainly offer the most upside to Toronto’s bullpen, a duo that’d also surely warrant lucrative acquisition costs, as well. Alternatively, other potential targets with prior closing experience could include San Diego’s Adrian Morejon, St. Louis’ JoJo Romero and Pittsburgh’s Dennis Santana — all free agents after ’26.

Another pathway to improving the ‘pen could be through maximizing its internal flexibility, targeting someone with at least one minor-league option and more than one season of club control remaining entering the ’26 campaign.

Looking at the Blue Jays’ current depth, the only relievers currently on the 40-man roster capable of shuttling back and forth between the majors and triple-A (via options) are Varland — who hasn’t returned to the minors since becoming a full-time reliever in 2024 — and Little, as well as sophomores Fisher, Fluharty and Lee.

That doesn’t leave much margin for error amongst that group, especially if an injury or two end up compromising the organization’s flexibility even further.

Ideally, the front office locates this year’s version of Nick Sandlin, who, at the time of his arrival from the Cleveland Guardians, figured to offer versatility as a medium-to-high-leverage option for Toronto’s coaching staff. Of course, an injury-plagued ’25 season ultimately derailed those plans for the 29-year-old reliever, limiting him to just 16.1 innings in his lone campaign with the franchise.

But perhaps they might have better luck with another Guardians reliever — Erik Sabrowski, a lefty relief arm who missed most of last season with an elbow injury, but has five seasons of control and all three options remaining, and has punched out over a third of his batters faced across 42 career major league innings.

It may also be worth considering Miami’s Andrew Nardi. The oft-injured 27-year-old reliever missed all last season due to a back injury and was expected to be a non-tender candidate, but is set to return after avoiding arbitration with a one-year deal worth $800,000 earlier this month. When healthy, the left-hander — who carries three seasons of club control — has generated elite strikeout totals, producing a 96th percentile clip (33.3 per cent) in ’24.

Atlanta’s Hayden Harris is another name, albeit an under-the-radar one, that could be an intriguing target for Toronto. The 26-year-old lefty only features 27 days of MLB service time, all accrued last September, but is currently without a path to The Show following the Braves’ off-season additions. He’s likely garnered attention across the sport after sporting a 0.52 ERA, 2.07 FIP and 30.6 per cent K-BB% across double-A and triple-A in ’25, earning a trip to the MLB All-Star Futures Game.