Article: The Blue Jays Are Down a Trusted Reliever

[Leo Morgenstern]

The Blue Jays spent more money upgrading their bullpen over the 2024-25 offseason than any other AL team; only the Dodgers outspent the Jays on free agent relievers. It wasn’t hard to understand why. Blue Jays relievers had the highest ERA and the lowest strikeout rate in the Junior Circuit last year. According to FanGraphs, their bullpen was three wins worse than that of any other AL team. Heck, their -2.5 bullpen fWAR was the lowest for any AL club in more than a decade. 

Jeff Hoffman was the big-name signing. Widely considered the second-best bullpen arm on the market (after the southpaw Tanner Scott), Hoffman did indeed command the second-largest contract of any free agent reliever (second only to Scott), inking a three-year, $33 million deal with the Jays.

Yimi García didn’t receive nearly as much attention. Many publications left him off their lists of the top free agents, and as far as I can tell, he wasn’t credibly linked to any other suitors before he signed with the Jays. Yet, he was one of just seven relief pitchers to sign a multi-year deal last winter, and his $15 million salary over two years was the sixth-highest guarantee for a free agent reliever. That’s not chump change.

García threw 157 innings for the Jays from 2022-24 before they flipped him to the Mariners ahead of the deadline last summer. He then appeared in just 10 games for Seattle before a bout of elbow inflammation sent him to the IL. So, the Blue Jays arguably knew García better than any other team, and they signed him to a $15 million deal despite his age (he’ll be 35 in August), his struggles with Seattle (6 ER in 9.0 IP), and the elbow injury that prematurely ended his 2024 campaign. They were that sure he could be a difference-maker in their bullpen – a bullpen that desperately needed all the help it could get.

Over his first 21 appearances in 2025, García was exactly what the Blue Jays hoped he could be. Seeing most of his work in the eighth and ninth innings, he pitched to a 3.15 ERA and 2.98 FIP. Now, he wasn’t always perfect. He earned losses in back-to-back appearances at the beginning of May, giving up a total of seven runs while recording just three outs. He has also issued nine unintentional walks this year, the same number as last year in about half as many innings. Still, by and large, García was effective through those first 21 outings, making use of his 96-mph fastball and deep arsenal of secondaries to earn whiffs and limit extra-base hits. 

In fact, one could make a case that he was the most trustworthy reliever in John Schneider’s ‘pen. Hoffman is the All-Star closer, but he has been uncharacteristically shaky in May. Conversely, fellow veteran Chad Green has had good results, but his underlying numbers are troubling – specifically his league-worst hard-hit rate. Meanwhile, Brendon Little has been nothing short of stellar, but the sample is still small, and his track record before this season is almost non-existent. García is the only pitcher in the Blue Jays bullpen with good stuff, good results, and a history of success. 

Or at least he was. 

Over the weekend, the Blue Jays placed García on the 15-day IL with a right shoulder impingement. He received a cortisone shot on Monday, and for what it's worth, he says he already feels better (per The Athletic’s Mitch Bannon). That said, the team won’t have a clear sense of his timeline until he starts throwing again in a few days.

A shoulder impingement is a common cause of shoulder pain, and its severity can vary. Sometimes, all it takes is a little rest, a little ice, and maybe a few Advil to make the pain subside. Other times, however, surgery is the best course of action. In García’s case, it doesn’t seem like surgery will be necessary. Even so, it's very difficult to guess how long it will take before he's back on the field. Just as the severity of a shoulder impingement can vary widely, so can the amount of time it takes for a pitcher to return to the field.

For example, Mets star closer Edwin Díaz went on the IL with a shoulder impingement around this time last year. He returned less than three weeks later and pitched to a 2.41 ERA and 2.07 FIP over the rest of the year. All he needed was a little rest, and he was back to being his dominant self. On the other hand, Díaz’s then-teammate (and former Blue Jay) Sean Reid-Foley also dealt with a shoulder impingement last season. He opened the year on the IL and returned in mid-April. However, the impingement came back and shut him down again in June. He spent the rest of the season on the injured list. Then, he failed to make the Mets out of camp this year, and after he struggled badly at Triple A, the Mets released him last week. You can't necessarily blame the shoulder impingement for all of that, but it's concerning all the same. 

Hopefully, García only needs a brief rest and reset period before he can get back to his pivotal late-inning role in the Blue Jays' bullpen. On top of that, perhaps this shoulder issue, which Schneider said has been simmering for a few weeks (per Sportsnet’s Arden Zwelling), explains some of García’s recent control issues, and the righty will be even better upon his return. At the same time, the Blue Jays have to prepare for the possibility that this could be a longer absence. Arm injuries are always worrisome, and especially so for a pitcher in his mid-thirties.

In the meantime, for however long that is, the Blue Jays will have to hope that Hoffman can break out of his May funk and some of the less proven arms in the barn can step up too. (Don’t look now, but Yariel Rodríguez has been fantastic in May.) They'll also hope that Erik Swanson and Ryan Burr, both of whom are currently on rehab assignments, could be on their way back to reinforce the 'pen. That's far from a perfect plan, but right now, it's pretty much all the Jays can do. Relievers might be a dime a dozen in this day and age, but trusted relievers like García are never easy to replace.

View full article