The Blue Jays are known to be looking for bullpen upgrades and Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reports that free agent Robert Suarez is a guy they have shown some interest in, though Nicholson-Smith suggests the interest may be preliminary. Suarez has also been connected to the Mets and Dodgers this offseason.
The relief market has been the fastest-moving segment of free agency so far in this offseason. Devin Williams, Emilio Pagán, Ryan Helsley, Phil Maton, Raisel Iglesias and others have already come off the board. There are still some notable names still out there, including Suarez, Edwin Díaz and Pete Fairbanks.
The Blue Jays have been one of the most active teams so far this winter, having added Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce to their rotation via notable free agent deals. They have also been on the hunt for notable bullpen upgrades. Jeff Hoffman was the closer in 2025 but he posted a 4.37 earned run average and is apparently willing to be bumped into a setup role. The Jays were previously connected to the now-signed Helsley, Maton and Iglesias, in addition to being linked to Díaz and Fairbanks.
Suarez would also be a logical target for Toronto. He has been San Diego’s closer for the past two years. In 2024, he notched 36 saves while posting a 2.77 ERA. His 22.9% strikeout rate was only around average but he showed good control with a 6.2% walk rate. In 2025, he took his game to another level. His 2.97 ERA was technically a slight increase over the previous season but his walk rate dropped to 5.9% and his strikeout rate spiked up to 27.9% as he saved 40 contests for the Padres.
Despite the strong results, Suarez will have his earning power limited by his age. He has only been in the big leagues for four years but that’s because he broke out in Japan before coming over to join the Padres for the 2022 season. He’s now 34 years old and will turn 35 in March.
MLBTR predicted Suarez for a three-year, $48MM deal at the beginning of the season. Even getting to three years would require Suarez to break recent precedent. The last time a reliever got a three-year deal beginning at age-35 or later was Will Harris. His $24MM guarantee was half of what MLBTR predicted for Suarez. Mariano Rivera’s deal in 2007 was the last time a pitcher this age or older got three years with an average annual value more than $8MM.
Time will tell what kind of deal Suarez can earn and if the Jays are strongly involved. Though they have been connected to various relief targets, Toronto’s splashes thus far have been on the rotation side. Next up could be the lineup, as they have been frequently connected to both Bo Bichette and Kyle Tucker, the top free agent position players available.
Nicholson-Smith also suggests the Jays might still be looking for more rotation depth, but on a lesser scale than their previous moves. At present, the Jays have an on-paper rotation consisting of Cease, Ponce, Kevin Gausman, Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage and José Berríos. They also have guys like Eric Lauer, Ricky Tiedemann and Bowden Francis in the mix. Now that Yariel Rodríguez has been outrighted off the 40-man, it’s possible that he could get stretched out in the minors, since he was a starter in 2024.
That’s a lot of depth already but injuries are inevitable and the cliché about never having enough pitching exists for good reasons. It’s also possible that the Toronto rotation picture changes over the winter. There have been trade rumors around Berríos since the Cease and Ponce signings. Moving him would subtract from the depth but could perhaps free up some payroll space to for other pursuits.
A similar path could be taken with Rodríguez, though his remaining guarantee is far less than that of Berríos. Rodríguez is guaranteed $17MM over the next three seasons whereas Berríos is still owed $66MM over the same time period, with an opt-out after 2026. Moving Berríos would therefore open more spending capacity for the Jays but the Rodríguez deal may be easier to move.
RosterResource projects the Jays to spend $268MM on next year’s squad. That’s already above the $258MM figure they had at the end of 2025. It’s unclear how much more room they have but it seems their deep postseason run this year will lead to a bit of extra spending.
Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images
How about we get a list of teams who aren’t interested in Robert Suarez instead?
There may be a lot of teams interested, but very few that are actually able to sign him
I want to see Suarez get way overpaid. Good guy, he is durable and brings it even when overworked.
Jays gonna get him thou ! Signing will come soon
I want the Astros to win the World Series, but it’s not possible or plausible. I find myself turning to Toronto to win it.
Blue Jays get Suarez and Tucker? How’s that?
As a ajays fan that’d make me happy. Then trade a few spare parts for more pen help as well.
Suarez gave me a heart attack most of the time because he rarely had a 1-2-3 inning, but he got the job done.
Suarez had a whip of .904. So it just felt like that more than anything. Not many pitchers at all that had that low of a whip.
He had a 1-2-3 inning 33 times out of the 59 times he pitched exactly one inning. No idea how that compares to other top relievers.
The Blue Jays are in overpay mode.
That’s generally how free agency works – to get your guy you typically have to “overpay”.
The jays have been trying to spend for years, it just took some success and attention for players to want to take the monies
Yeah OK Dodgers of the East
The Blue Jays are getting every free agent! They’re ruining baseball! /s
Us Jay fans are quite happy with that. A WS rematch would be nice.
It’s terrible. Who do they think they are?
– Player salary cap? Yes
– Ownership equalization payments? Yes
– Stop hiring dirt-bag companies in countries like Haiti that pay pennies on the dollar for labour in order to manufacture MLB merch that teams sell for 500 times that amount? Yes.
There’s not enough airplanes to have them on their way to Toronto.
Get Diaz stop monkeying around
No.