With relievers set to hit the open market, teams will always look for ways to improve, even if it isn’t a primary need.

With a top-five bullpen last season, the Toronto Blue Jays may want to build on that with depth across the board. With the team adding Tyler Rogers last off-season to a three-year deal and re-signing Yimi García to a two-year contract in the 2024-25 off-season, this team is not shy of spending money on relievers.

Enter A.J. Minter, a 33-year-old left-handed reliever who spent last season with the New York Mets before being traded to the Minnesota Twins leading up to the trade deadline. Across 48 games with the Mets and Twins, Minter posted a 2.56 ERA and recorded 41 strikeouts across 45.2 innings.

Minter is a veteran reliever who won a World Series with the Atlanta Braves in 2021. His pitches include a fastball that averages around 94 mph, a cutter, changeup, and sinker. Minter is a high-velocity pitcher who throws heat and can get swing-and-misses when on the mound. This past season, he held batters to only .227 against him, .211 for right-handed hitters, and .244 for left-handed hitters.

To have a left-handed reliever be that dominant against right-handers while many favour the left-on-left matchup is for sure enticing.

Minters’ cutter is by far his most effective pitch, used 55% of the time this past season. Up by 7.4% from the previous season, which also resulted in a 4.4% increase in whiff % against hitters. While those numbers may be very technical, it basically means his control and command over the pitch is resulting in more batters missing it, as seen by the video below.

Last season, the left-handed pitching depth for the Blue Jays was primarily Mason Fluharty, as he pitched in 83 games. Other options included Brendon Little, Joe Matinply, Eric Lauer, and Adam Macko, with some cameos from Ricky Tiedemann and Brendan Cellucci.

While the none of those southpaws aside from Fluharty were regulars, some managed to show promise, namely Tiedemann, Cellucci, and Little in the second half of the season. Despite the flashes of promise, though, having one left-handed option for most of the season is an issue, and getting another capable arm in Minter, who has a career 3.15 ERA, is not a bad idea. Minter’s numbers in the postseason for his career are great as well, with 36 strikeouts across 25 innings of relief.

Minter’s biggest problem last year was his fastball, as batters were hitting .340 off of it, a huge uptick compared to the .235 in 2025. With the increased usage of his changeup, we could see perhaps Pete Walker and the pitching staff work with Minter to try and perfect his usage of off-speed and velocity-oriented pitches to try and become a more capable reliever.

The lefty is dominant with runners in scoring position, allowing just 11 runs across 46 plate appearances with RISP, with a 9.50 strikeout-to-walk ratio. To simplify, he is great when it comes to getting out of jams and limiting runs, something that is key for an impact reliever.

Last season, Minter was coming off a 2-year, $22 million contract he signed with the Mets in the off-season of 2024, meaning he is going to demand something similar in that ballpark. With numbers like that and a World Series ring under his belt, he is going to ask for a pretty penny. Fortunately, this Blue Jays front office has a ton of money coming off the books, which means they can allocate it to other resources.

While paying relievers is a risk at the end of the day, something similar to the deal Minter received back in 2024 would be great for a contending team. 3 years, $33 million, with potential options from the club could mean the lefty could fly north of the border this coming winter.