A decision on Chad Green&#8217;s future may soon be required. 

When the Toronto Blue Jays take the field at Fenway Park on Friday, they&#8217;ll officially reach the halfway point of the 2025 season in Game 81 against the Boston Red Sox. By all accounts, the bullpen has arguably been this team&#8217;s biggest strength in the first half, and that&#8217;s despite having to overcome multiple injuries and a few disappointing performances &#8212; <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/05/20/chad-green-by-the-numbers-how-the-home-runs-have-impacted-the-blue-jays-reliever-in-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most notably Green&#8217;s</a>.
We&#8217;re nearly three months into this season, and yet, the struggling 34-year-old still isn&#8217;t any closer to breaking out of his prolonged woes. The results have been a complete trainwreck thus far, as the right-hander carries a 4.24 ERA through 35 appearances, allowing the most home runs in the majors (10) while <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&amp;lg=all&amp;qual=y&amp;type=8&amp;season=2025&amp;month=0&amp;season1=2025&amp;ind=0&amp;stats=rel&amp;sortcol=18&amp;sortdir=desc&amp;pagenum=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">producing the second-highest FIP (6.07) of 181 qualified relievers &#8212; trailing only former Blue Jay Trent Thornton (6.36)</a>.
All in all, Green has been a below-replacement-level relief pitcher worth minus-0.6 fWAR &#8212; tied with Tampa Bay&#8217;s Edwin Uceta for second-worst in the majors, ahead of only Thornton (-0.8).
If you followed Green&#8217;s 2024 performance, then these struggles probably aren&#8217;t all that surprising to you. During the dark days of last season, with Jordan Romano (injured) and Yimi García (traded) unavailable, the longtime New York Yankees setup man took over the closer&#8217;s role down the stretch and ended up finishing with a career-high 17 saves to the tune of a 3.21 ERA in 53 games &#8212; his most post-Tommy John surgery.
Based on his underlying metrics, though, the veteran reliever probably shouldn&#8217;t have fared as well as he did on the surface, considering his 4.29 FIP was a full run higher than his ERA. And we&#8217;re seeing the effects of that regression play out this season, albeit to a much larger extent, as a result of his worsening ability to minimize hard contact.
There isn&#8217;t a reliever in the majors who&#8217;s been barrelled up more than Green, whose 16.5-per-cent barrel rate against ranks in the first percentile in the majors and last among qualified relief pitchers. He also features a 49.5-per-cent hard-hit rate against &#8212; also a career-worst &#8212; that resides in the fifth percentile of the sport.
Adding to Green&#8217;s woes, his strikeout rate has plummeted to 20.4 per cent, the lowest of his 10-year major league career. Meanwhile, his 24.8-per-cent whiff rate sits in the 48th percentile after falling to the 32nd in &#8217;24.
There&#8217;s nothing worse than a reliever who struggles to miss barrels and generate swing-and-miss, particularly one in the final season of a three-year, $23.25-million contract &#8212; earning $10.5 million this season. So, where do the Blue Jays go from here?
They already <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/06/24/toronto-blue-jays-release-erik-swanson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">parted ways with Erik Swanson earlier this month</a>, proving the organization isn&#8217;t afraid to act aggressively and make tough decisions when needed. As García &#8212; scheduled to pitch for triple-A Buffalo on Sunday &#8212; inches closer to returning from injury, management may have no choice but to make another with Green soon.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Yimi García allowed an unearned run in what was a strong one inning of work as the opener for single-A Dunedin tonight.
1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K &amp; 18 pitches (12 strikes)
Fastball velo is starting to get back to where it was pre-injury. Buffalo&#39;s up next on Sunday. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BlueJays?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BlueJays</a> <a href="https://t.co/yhnbr5phUF">pic.twitter.com/yhnbr5phUF</a>
&mdash; Thomas Hall (@Hall_Thomas_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Hall_Thomas_/status/1938366025256370204?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 26, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Toronto will need to open a spot in the bullpen once García returns from the IL, although there are probably only two relievers in danger of losing their jobs: Green and Paxton Schultz.
Schultz has all three minor-league options remaining, meaning he could easily be optioned back to triple-A. At the same time, with Eric Lauer and Max Scherzer currently occupying two-fifths of the starting rotation, the multi-inning reliever is currently the club&#8217;s insurance blanket in the &#8216;pen, capable of consuming innings if a need arises. Thus, it probably makes more sense to keep him around for now.
That leaves us with Green, who&#8217;s out of options and would be subject to waivers if removed from the 26-man roster.
As much as the Blue Jays were counting on him to serve as a dependable high-leverage reliever this season, they likely won&#8217;t be able to justify rostering him for much longer. Granted, his lucrative salary would surely give some teams pause. For a big-market franchise like Toronto, however, that shouldn&#8217;t impact their decision at this stage of the season.
This club has already waited long enough for Green&#8217;s performance to improve, only for it to trend in the other direction. His command remains extremely problematic, as both his four-seamer and slider continue to miss over the heart of the plate far too often.
With García likely returning next week, it might soon be time to cut their losses with another well-known reliever.

A decision on Chad Green's future may soon be required.


When the Toronto Blue Jays take the field at Fenway Park on Friday, they'll officially reach the halfway point of the 2025 season in Game 81 against the Boston Red Sox. By all accounts, the bullpen has arguably been this team's biggest strength in the first half, and that's despite having to overcome multiple injuries and a few disappointing performances -- <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/05/20/chad-green-by-the-numbers-how-the-home-runs-have-impacted-the-blue-jays-reliever-in-2025/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">most notably Green's</a>.

We're nearly three months into this season, and yet, the struggling 34-year-old still isn't any closer to breaking out of his prolonged woes. The results have been a complete trainwreck thus far, as the right-hander carries a 4.24 ERA through 35 appearances, allowing the most home runs in the majors (10) while <a href="https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&amp;lg=all&amp;qual=y&amp;type=8&amp;season=2025&amp;month=0&amp;season1=2025&amp;ind=0&amp;stats=rel&amp;sortcol=18&amp;sortdir=desc&amp;pagenum=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">producing the second-highest FIP (6.07) of 181 qualified relievers -- trailing only former Blue Jay Trent Thornton (6.36)</a>.

All in all, Green has been a below-replacement-level relief pitcher worth minus-0.6 fWAR -- tied with Tampa Bay's Edwin Uceta for second-worst in the majors, ahead of only Thornton (-0.8).

If you followed Green's 2024 performance, then these struggles probably aren't all that surprising to you. During the dark days of last season, with Jordan Romano (injured) and Yimi García (traded) unavailable, the longtime New York Yankees setup man took over the closer's role down the stretch and ended up finishing with a career-high 17 saves to the tune of a 3.21 ERA in 53 games -- his most post-Tommy John surgery.

Based on his underlying metrics, though, the veteran reliever probably shouldn't have fared as well as he did on the surface, considering his 4.29 FIP was a full run higher than his ERA. And we're seeing the effects of that regression play out this season, albeit to a much larger extent, as a result of his worsening ability to minimize hard contact.

There isn't a reliever in the majors who's been barrelled up more than Green, whose 16.5-per-cent barrel rate against ranks in the first percentile in the majors and last among qualified relief pitchers. He also features a 49.5-per-cent hard-hit rate against -- also a career-worst -- that resides in the fifth percentile of the sport.

Adding to Green's woes, his strikeout rate has plummeted to 20.4 per cent, the lowest of his 10-year major league career. Meanwhile, his 24.8-per-cent whiff rate sits in the 48th percentile after falling to the 32nd in '24.

There's nothing worse than a reliever who struggles to miss barrels and generate swing-and-miss, particularly one in the final season of a three-year, $23.25-million contract -- earning $10.5 million this season. So, where do the Blue Jays go from here?

They already <a href="https://publish.bluejaysnation.com/2025/06/24/toronto-blue-jays-release-erik-swanson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">parted ways with Erik Swanson earlier this month</a>, proving the organization isn't afraid to act aggressively and make tough decisions when needed. As García -- scheduled to pitch for triple-A Buffalo on Sunday -- inches closer to returning from injury, management may have no choice but to make another with Green soon.

https://twitter.com/Hall_Thomas_/status/1938366025256370204

Toronto will need to open a spot in the bullpen once García returns from the IL, although there are probably only two relievers in danger of losing their jobs: Green and Paxton Schultz.

Schultz has all three minor-league options remaining, meaning he could easily be optioned back to triple-A. At the same time, with Eric Lauer and Max Scherzer currently occupying two-fifths of the starting rotation, the multi-inning reliever is currently the club's insurance blanket in the 'pen, capable of consuming innings if a need arises. Thus, it probably makes more sense to keep him around for now.

That leaves us with Green, who's out of options and would be subject to waivers if removed from the 26-man roster.

As much as the Blue Jays were counting on him to serve as a dependable high-leverage reliever this season, they likely won't be able to justify rostering him for much longer. Granted, his lucrative salary would surely give some teams pause. For a big-market franchise like Toronto, however, that shouldn't impact their decision at this stage of the season.

This club has already waited long enough for Green's performance to improve, only for it to trend in the other direction. His command remains extremely problematic, as both his four-seamer and slider continue to miss over the heart of the plate far too often.

With García likely returning next week, it might soon be time to cut their losses with another well-known reliever.

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