Blue Jays Discussion Thread (2026)

[max silver]

4 minutes ago, Brownie19 said:

At this point, it's probably worth finding out.  Even if it just helps his confidence a bit.  

Yeah I think it's high time for him to be moved down the pecking order a bit. It leaves the club short a leverage arm though so hopefully someone else picks up the slack in the meantime. We can only hope that post surgery Yimi has fully recovered his stuff as he can be a key piece in the pen essentially taking over from Varland as the fireman out of the pen. 

[Laika]

39 minutes ago, max silver said:

I don't necessarily buy into this theory that Hoffman has some kind of mental block. His command is very spotty at the best of times and he's shown a tendency for his command to completely escape him at times. I don't think this is going to magically go away simply because he's pitching in a lower leverage role.

Yeah I haven't looked at the numbers but he probably has a relatively low Zone%

Lots of relievers with nasty stuff have a low Zone% and when people are swinging they are good but when people lay off they suck 

Ryne Stanek, Genesis Cabrera, Jose Alvarado. You know the type. 

Hoffman is weird in this respect though because hitters ARE SWINGING. His command wobbles game to game seem to lead to players keyholing him and hunting, not just laying off and waiting for walks. So the K rate is maintained but the results are ugly. 

[Jays24]

Blue Jays removing Hoffman from closer role
https://thescore.com/mlb/news/3529525

[Laika]

The Blue Jays bullpen is bad by WPA

-1.59 is the fourth worst figure in MLB

But Jeff Hoffman alone is -1.65, hilariously. 

If Joffman didn't exist they'd probably be 12-12 

(The Jays pen was good by WPA in 2025 and decent to very good in 2026 by most meaningful measurements)

[Jays24]

12 minutes ago, Laika said:

The Blue Jays bullpen is bad by WPA

-1.59 is the fourth worst figure in MLB

But Jeff Hoffman alone is -1.65, hilariously. 

If Joffman didn't exist they'd probably be 12-12 

(The Jays pen was good by WPA in 2025 and decent to very good in 2026 by most meaningful measurements)

Hoffman and Little single handedly ruined the bullpen.  We got Rogers/Varland on the other end of the spectrum lol

[G-Snarls]

Blue Jays Acquire Willie MacIver, Designate Tyler Fitzgerald For Assignment

April 24th, 2026 at 5:20pm CST • By Darragh McDonald

The Blue Jays announced that they have acquired catcher Willie MacIver from the Rangers and optioned him to Triple-A. The Rangers, who designated him for assignment yesterday, get cash considerations in return. To open a 40-man spot for MacIver, the Jays have designated Tyler Fitzgerald for assignment.