The 2024 MLB playoffs are officially over, and the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series Champions! The Dodgers have been the epitome of success over the last decade as they have made the playoffs in 12 straight seasons. This is the type of continuous success that the Toronto Blue Jays strive for, but have yet to be able to accomplish. This kind of success is difficult to reach as evidenced by the 2024 season for the Jays.
They came into the year with the expectations to go to the playoffs for the third consecutive year, however they not only didn’t make the playoffs, but they finished last in their division with a record of 74-88. This is the first time the Jays have had a losing record since 2019, and the fourth time in nine years of this front office’s regime. Team President and CEO Mark Shapiro met with the media a few days after the season ended and described the 2024 season as “a bitter disappointment” but is confident that next year will be better. The question now is, how? What exactly went wrong in 2024, and what can the front office do in the offseason to make the team better?
Heading into the offseason, there are two glaring issues with the team that must be addressed if they want to have any shot at competing in 2025; these areas are the offence and the bullpen.
After a lackluster offensive season in 2023, GM Ross Atkins described that season as a “blip” and believed that 2024 would be better because the players who had down years in 2023, would bounce back. Unfortunately, they did not. Two of these players in particular are George Springer and Alejandro Kirk.
Springer looks to be on the back nine of his career and performed worse in 2024 than he did in 2023. He hit just .220/.303/.371 with 19 homeruns and his swing is looking slower as he consistently misses fastballs that he would’ve hammered a few years ago. Kirk was an All-Star and Silver Slugger Award winner in 2022, but he has not been able to reproduce that success as he struggled a lot since then. He finished 2024 strong as he hit .297/.342/.405 in September, but the Jays cannot assume he will be able to replicate his 2022 season in the foreseeable future.
The Jays cannot go into next year expecting any more from these two, or any of the other current players for that matter. Making assumptions that any of their current players will take monumental steps forward and be able to carry the team, will be catastrophic mistakes and lead to another failure of a season. Banking on internal improvements again is unacceptable, and they must bring in impactful bats in the offseason. The Jays were in the bottom half of most offensive categories, and they also didn’t hit for a lot of power. In the American League, they finished 9th in slugging, 11th in runs scored, and 13th in homeruns. They hit 156 homeruns whereas their division rivals Orioles and Yankees hit 235 and 237 respectively. You cannot win the American League, and in the AL East specifically, without significant power.
The easiest way for the Jays to address their recent “power outage” is by signing middle of the order bats in the offseason. The best player available in free agency this year will be Juan Soto. The 26-year-old phenom is one of the best hitters in baseball and would look magnificent in the Jays’ lineup. However, after a great year with the Yankees, both in the regular season and postseason, he will likely be outside of the Jays’ budget. The Jays will surely have conversations with Soto and his agent, but I believe he will end up in New York with either the Mets or Yankees.
Signing Soto would be incredible, but even if they don’t, there are still other viable power bats on the market. The two that I think the Jays should be all-in on are Anthony Santander and old friend Teoscar Hernandez. Santander hit a career-high 44 homeruns and drove in 102 runs for the Orioles this season. He is also a switch-hitter, which would look great in the middle of the Jays’ lineup. The Jays are familiar with Teoscar as he was a Blue Jay from 2017 to 2022, so they know what impact he can have in a lineup. They had talks with him last offseason but couldn’t come to terms on a deal before he ultimately signed with the Dodgers. He hit a career-high 33 homeruns with LA and was a key contributor to their success and run to become World Series champions. Bringing Teo’s bat and fun personality back to Toronto would be great for the team and fans.
Two other players that would fit the Blue Jays well are Alex Bregman and fellow Canadian Tyler O’Neill. The Jays don’t really have an everyday third baseman and Alex Bregman would fill that void perfectly. By his standards, Bregman had a down year in 2024, but he still put up a 4.1 WAR and 118 OPS+; both of which would’ve been third on the Jays. Bregman won’t be cheap though, as he will likely cost around $200 million, and it remains to be seen if the Jays are willing to dish out that kind of money this offseason.
After being traded from the St. Louis Cardinals last offseason, Tyler O’Neil put up an impressive season in Boston as he led the team with 31 homeruns. He also destroyed left-handed pitching as he hit .313/.429/.750 with an OPS of 1.179. The Jays were a team that struggled against lefties this season, so they would welcome this production with open arms. O’Neil will be 30 in June and will likely be the cheapest amongst the power bats mentioned thus far, so he could be exactly what the Jays are looking for. Plus he’s Canadian, so that has to count for something, right?
Unlike last offseason, there are more impactful bats available in the free agent market, which should give the Blue Jays plenty of opportunities to improve the team. The Jays need to bring in at minimum, two power hitting players that can hit in the middle of the lineup and launch the ball out of the ballpark.
As underwhelming the offense was this season, there was a part of the team that was even worse – the bullpen. It is well-known that relievers can be quite volatile from year to year, and you can never perfectly predict what to get out of a bullpen, even from some of the best in the game. The Jays experienced this firsthand as they went from one of the best bullpens in 2023 with a 4.6 WAR to one of the worst in 2024 with a -2.5 WAR. The Jays came into 2024 with a majority of the same arms from 2023, but injuries to Romano and Swanson to start the year, coupled with struggles from Mayza and Richards, left the Jays in a very vulnerable spot early, and one that they were unable fix midseason like they had done in previous seasons.
It’s very hard to remake an entire bullpen in the offseason, but the Jays have to do almost exactly that. The uncertainty of Romano’s injury and ability to pitch next season will be the biggest factor in determining how much they need to spend on the bullpen. The Jays have never spent significant money on relievers, so it will be interesting to see how they attack this free agent class. The top relief pitcher is probably lefty Tanner Scott of the Padres, but he will be highly coveted, and it is very likely there will be a team out the willing to overpay to acquire him.
Other notable relievers are Clay Holmes and Tommy Kahnle from the Yankees, Blake Treinen of the Dodgers and Carlos Estevez from the Phillies. The Jays could even look to bring back Yimi Garcia who was their best reliever this year before they traded him to the Mariners. Free agency isn’t the only route to acquire pitching, as the Jays could bring in some arms via trade. Brewer’s closer Devin Williams is a big name to watch as a possible trade candidate and one that would be great to have in the back end of the Jays’ bullpen.
It’s very difficult to predict the success of a bullpen, but if you have a guy in the back end of it that you can hand the ball to in any spot and feel confident that he’ll get the job done, you’ll find yourself in better situations more often than not. The Jays don’t have that right now, so they will have to find that arm first, and then try to work backwards to piece the rest of the pen together.
There were very few positive things to come out of the 2024 season for the Blue Jays, but it’s time to leave that behind and move onto 2025. With the starting pitching they have, and an offence led by Bo and Vladdy, they shouldn’t be too far behind some of the other teams in the American League as long as they make the right moves this offseason. There is no question that they have some significant work to do to become a contender again, but it is certainly doable.