The Blue Jays are targeting high-leverage relievers, reports Mitch Bannon of The Athletic. Free agent Edwin Díaz appears to be one possibility, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Rosenthal frames the Jays as the main threat to poach Díaz from the Mets. Rosenthal reports that the Jays recently met with Díaz’s representatives from Wasserman, though he also notes that may not mean anything since everyone meets with everyone at this time of year. Jeff Jones of The Belleville News-Democrat reports that the Jays were interested in Ryan Helsley ahead of the deadline. He is now a free agent and could be a target as well. The Jays were also connected to Pete Fairbanks earlier this week.
The Jays have seemingly been casting a wide net early in the offseason, having been connected to all kinds of different pursuits. The bullpen is one thing on their list and it’s a sensible one. The Jays had a middling relief group in 2025. Toronto relievers had a collective 3.98 earned run average, which was 16th out of the 30 big league clubs. Closer Jeff Hoffman had a 4.37 ERA for the year. He dominated through most of the playoffs but then surrendered the big Miguel Rojas home run when the Jays were two outs away from a title.
Last week, general manager Ross Atkins said that Hoffman would be open to moving to a different role if the Jays found another closer. It seems the Jays are indeed considering that. Díaz is one of the best closers in the game today. He already has 253 saves under his belt. He just wrapped up a season in which he had 1.63 ERA, 38% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate and 48.4% ground ball rate.
He has been with the Mets since 2019 and it might be assumed by some that he will end up back in Queens. He was approaching free agency three years ago but signed a five-year, $102MM deal to stay with the Mets just days before he was set to hit the open market. That deal contained an opt-out after three years, which Díaz triggered. He is now a free agent for the first time.
The Mets could certainly re-sign him but it doesn’t seem to be a fait accompli. Díaz himself said this week he has been talking with the Mets but put the odds of a return at 50/50, per Laura Albanese of Newsday. “If they came with the best deal for me, I’d enjoy to stay with them,” Díaz said, “but at the end of the day, I don’t know what they’re thinking.”
Díaz is still quite a good reliever but he is three years older than when he signed his previous deal. MLBTR predicted him to secure a four-year, $82MM pact this time around, a similar average annual value but on a shorter commitment since he’ll turn 32 years old in a few months. Díaz appears to be setting his sights a bit higher than that. Earlier this week, reporting from Rosenthal and Will Sammon of The Athletic indicated he is looking for roughly the same kind of deal he got last time. Bob Nightengale of USA Today echoed that this week, reporting that Díaz is looking for at least $100MM over five years.
That would be a notable expenditure for any club. As shown in MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, the $102MM guarantee from the previous Díaz deal is still the record for a reliever. The $20.4MM AAV is also top of the list, apart from swingman Nick Martinez accepting a $21.1MM qualifying offer from the Reds a year ago.
Whether the Jays would be willing to do that remains to be seen. They’ve never given a reliever more than the three years and $33MM they gave to Hoffman a year ago. They might have to triple that to land Díaz. Perhaps getting so close to a World Series will push them there, both because the bullpen let the last game slip away and because they presumably raked in a bunch of extra money from the deep playoff run.
RosterResource projects the Jays for a $235MM payroll next year, more than $20MM shy of their year-end figure in 2025. It’s unknown how high they are willing to go in the wake of their 2025 run. Presumably, there is a limit somewhere and they will have to balance their desire for Díaz against pursuits of Bo Bichette, Kyle Tucker, starting pitching and so on. Díaz also rejected a qualifying offer. Since the Jays paid the competitive balance tax in 2025, signing a player tied to a QO means they would have to forfeit two draft picks and international bonus pool space.
The Mets have been operating with very few payroll limits in recent years but David Stearns has shown a measured approach to building his pitching staff since taking the president of baseball operations job. Despite having Steve Cohen’s seemingly boundless resources, he hasn’t given a pitcher a deal longer than three years yet. The bullpen has mostly been built with one-year deals. A.J. Minter got two years with an opt-out in the middle, though his lack of health in 2025 means he will be coming back for that second year.
Some may speculate that Cohen would just override Stearns and bring back Díaz as a fan favorite. Rosenthal downplays this notion is his column, linked above, referring back to the 50/50 comments from Díaz.
Turning back to the Jays, they could also shop in a different aisle. As mentioned, they have been connected to Fairbanks, who will be far cheaper than Díaz. That’s also true of Helsley, who has a strong track record but is coming off a poor platform season.
From 2022 to 2024, Helsley tossed 167 2/3 innings with a 1.83 ERA, 34.6% strikeout rate and 9.2% walk rate. In 2025, his ERA jumped to 4.50 as his strikeout rate fell to 25%. He was especially bad after getting traded from the Cardinals to the Mets at the deadline, with a 7.20 ERA after that swap.
That obviously puts a big dent in his earning power but he should still get interest as a bounceback candidate. Plenty of clubs would be happy to try him on a one-year deal with the hope that 2025 was a blip. He might also have enough juice for two years with an opt-out. MLBTR went the latter route, predicting him for a two-year, $24MM guarantee.
There’s no denying the trend lines aren’t good. Helsley’s strikeout rate has gone from 39.3% in 2022 to 35.6%, 29.7% and 25% in the most recent seasons. But he still averaged 99.3 miles per hour on his fastball this year, a tiny drop from his peak of 99.7 mph in in 2023. He may have been tipping his pitches and he also surrendered a fairly high .342 batting average on balls in play. His 14.5% home run to fly ball ratio was far worse than previous seasons. Part of that was him getting hit harder than before but some teams may feel he could be back to his old self with a tweak or two.
If the Jays circle back to Helsley, that would be a far different addition than Díaz. Díaz is about as rock-solid as a closer gets these days and would immediately supplant Hoffman as the top guy in the bullpen. Helsley would be a lower-cost flier and would surely start lower in the pecking order before having to earn his way up. How the Jays play it will presumably depend on the other market factors and how things play out with the other things on their to-do list.
Photo courtesy of Brad Penner, Imagn Images
With Diaz wanting a five year $100m deal again, give Breslow credit for re-signing Chapman.
@The Varshow
And one is throwing gas at 38. Will the 32 still be doing that?
@Old York: Not sure about the relevance of your question. You will be paying for Diaz’s age 32, 33, 34, 35, and maybe 36 seasons. If he’s not still throwing gas at 38, it won’t be your problem.
My arguments were a) the AAV and b) the questions regarding the next CBA. I wasn’t comparing a 32 year old to a 38 year old although one could argue in today’s world, the shorter the deal, the higher the AAV.
@rct
Depends what he’s requesting and how many years, but again, a 38 year old is still throwing 100+. Will that still be the case with Diaz?
He was referring to effectiveness not earning power.
You have no clue how important his age-38 season will be.
@The Varshow
You’re comparing apples to skyscrapers.
Try again…
Jesus Steve! You’re the Bay Harbor Butcher!?!
Stowers plays in Miami, tonight’s the night
A vastly different management group, but they did give BJ Ryan more. It didn’t go well.
Yep, 5 years $47m back in 2005. His first year was incredible at least.
That deal was a J P Ricciardi special along with Vernon Wells. Lol
props to the Jays,…They’re in on more big name free agents. They try, which is more than I can say for most organizations.
Yeah, take a more rare, more valuable commodity and convert it to a more common, much less valuable one. Makes so much sense.
If you think those guys are rare commodities as starters then I have a bridge to sell you
Not sure, but I’m guessing that his statement was in general starting pitchers have more value. So, if they’re effective as starting pitchers better off using them there versus putting them in the bullpen. Obviously there are exceptions. And some pitchers are better out of the pen for many different possible reasons. Dodgers were able to use Glasnow/Sheehan out of the pen to offset the huge pen weakness in postseason. If you have a deep rotation that option is available for postseason.
They’re only more valuable if they perform well. High performing reliever is more valuable than a poor performing starting pitcher.
Nah. Even an average starter is more valuable than a reliever.
There’s a difference between average and poor performing.
Hoffman isn’t the biggest reliever contract the Jays have given out. You’re forgetting the awful BJ Ryan contract for $47M in 2005. it was 5 years, so a lower AAV (without adjusting for inflation), but still significantly bigger than Hoffman’s $33M.
Came here to say that. On top of that it was the biggest contract ever given to a reliever at the time.
Wasn’t *that* awful considering the 2006 Jays finished 2nd and Ryan had an elite season as closer. He just got hurt, but it didn’t meaningfully affect their ability to sign someone else.
The difference between the Jays and most other teams is that they’re chasing a championship now. Hence their need for a proven closer. Diaz is on the very short list of closers who would be considered elite. He’s consistently been among the game’s best.
Making a plan to convert a marginal starter into your ninth-inning guy comes at an enormous risk. If it doesn’t work out, you end up kicking yourself for passing on the elite closer you could have picked up in the winter.
El Kabong: “The difference between the Jays and most other teams…”
Huh? Given the playoff system, at least 15-18 teams are chasing a championship. The Jays aren’t that unique.
Not necessarily. A lot of those teams seem to be looking to do just enough to sneak into the playoffs rather than trying to maximize their roster to give them the best chance at a championship
Jaysfansince92: Yes necessary. Even if it’s only five teams in each league, that’s 10 teams at minimum. The Jays simply aren’t that unique.
Plus you have to factor in the all-too-common common error of overrating one year’s most successful teams going into the following season.
Okay, let’s be honest. A lot of those contending teams could spend a lot more than they do if they wanted to. The idea that they’re all maximizing their resources to the fullest and getting everyone they possibly can to make their team better simply isn’t rooted in reality.
For example, even in 2024, the Blue Jays were only one of three teams to spend at least 70% of their revenue on payroll. Since you’re claiming that 15 to 18 are all trying as hard as they can, I took a look at some of the others on the list and only nine teams spent at least 50% of their revenue on payroll, and only 6 teams were above 60%. So no, not necessarily.
Jaysfansince92: But you’re also failing to take into account that, with rare exceptions such as the Dodgers, one year’s winners like the 2023 Diamondbacks and Rangers and the 2024 Mets and Yankees are overrated going into the following season. It’s more than likely that the Blue Jays will fall into this trap.
The discussion wasn’t really about what the results would be next year. It was about which teams were pushing the hardest to get a championship. Not a lot of teams are going to shell out 20 million a year for a closer.
Also to be fair the Jays have won at least 89 games a year in four of the last five seasons. The only other team you mentioned that has accomplished that is the Yankees, and only 4 teams total including the Jays and Yankees. People are acting like they came out of nowhere, but that’s not really the case.
But the fact remains that it’s unreasonable to expect them to repeat their postseason success next year.
Jaysfansince92: Think about the teams trying to win and add them up.
In the AL, you have the Blue Jays, Red Sox, Yankees, Guardians, Tigers, Astros, Mariners, and Rangers. That’s eight.
In the NL, you have the Braves, Mets, Phillies, Brewers, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Giants, and Padres. That’s also eight.
Eight in the AL plus eight in the NL is 16, and I left out borderline teams like the Cardinals and Orioles. So it’s arguably as many as 18.
Congratulations, the Blue Jays are among more than half the teams in MLB trying to win a championship.
They’re just not that unique. I rest my case.
Yeah, we’ve been through this. You’re just changing the goal posts now. I’m going to go ahead and move on.
I wonder if they have had issues with relievers in high leverage situations recently to prompt this.
😐
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Signed, Orion Kerkering?
They should sign the reliever who won’t give up a game-tying home run to Miguel Rojas in the 9th inning of Game 7.
I agree with this for Scherzer. Dude could extend his career by 10, maybe 15 more years if he becomes a reliever.
Are you suggesting Scherzer would be pitching until he’s 51-56 years old?
Yes.
He might just be crazy enough to do it
@DuaKickflip
Bring him into the game on a golf cart and let him pitch from an electric scooter.
#bulldogmentality
Exactly. Dude will lose his arm before calling it a career.
Realistically, if Scherzer ever decides to pitch like Greinke, he could last well into his 40s.
I’m calling it now–Helsley will be signed and be a great value for next year
Sign Diaz if you want a lockdown closer; Sign Helsley if you want to be like the LOL Mets.
They need atleast 2 high leverage guys, unless they plan to use varland 162 games next year
Was just in Toronto for the World Series Great vibe and Series.
Was a fun ride for sure.
One of them a lefty if-possible.
@its_happening
A high leverage lefty would be nice, expensive as all out doors but nice. I’d rather it not be the closer though. I think it would be more productive to use him tactically in the 6th to 8th innings.
Yes we are in-agreement there.
Devin Williams
Gregory Soto
Soto has the stuff no doubt.
They absolutely have to upgrade the closer role. Hoffman can’t be that guy.
I’d love to see Diaz go to a team I don’t hate, even moreso to a team I actually like.
Who’s a high leverage reliever?
Robert Suarez would fit well with the Jays. 3-years probably gets it done given he’ll be 35 next year.
Glad to see that they ran it by Hoffman and he is open to the idea of someone else closing. “Now Jeff, we’re thinking about possibly signing a new closer. Would you be open to this idea? We don’t want to proceed without your approval.”
It’s not the worst idea. It lets you know whether there could be a potential clubhouse problem. It also signals to free agents that they will at least ask for their input when considering a role change.
I’d guess that the odds of the BJs signing Diaz for $100M, to be a setup guy, are about -0-.
Yas! I would prefer the Jays sign Bo, Cease , Diaz and Tucker. Use as many “Dodger Deferrals” to get the total under the third tier of the CBT.
@bullred
Deferrals are included in CBT calculations.
Yes at a reduced rate. Ohtani is calculated at 46M instead of 70M. Santander was closer to 14M than the almost 20M the Jays signed him for. “Dodger Deferrals”
Santander is at $13,720 M per year. Sign Tucker at 34M per year and deferrals can bring it down to 23 or 20 M a year for the CBT.
I know baseball is a business, but when I see comments like this: If they came with the best deal for me, I’d enjoy to stay with them,” Díaz said, “but at the end of the day, I don’t know what they’re thinking., it’s frustrating.
As a Mets fan, you gave the guy the record setting deal, you’ve dealt with some inconsistency from the guy, and you get the money talks & bs runs the marathon comment.
Frustrating!? Totally cool w/the guy wanting to get paid or even overpaid for a 5/102+, but dang the mindset/comments!?
Ballplayers say dumb things fairly often, doesn’t pay to dwell on it. The money is crazy. Stearns and Cohen have no leverage and they’ll have to offer a contract they’re not thrilled about.
ESL. Never take what is said to be what they actually mean. Díaz just trying to answer the question and get back to his day in broken English.
Which reminds me of the desperation of sportswriters to make something out of nothing. Saw something on espn website yesterday in which they tried to make a story out of Naylor saying the clubhouse dog helped him get acclimated when he was traded at the deadline.