Right-handed pitching is not the main driving force behind the Toronto Blue Jays’ bullpen, and we have seen that over the last few years.
When you separate Louis Varland and Tyler Rogers — before them there was Jeff Hoffman, who really could not hold up as expected — the left-handed arms are the ones who have been responsible for handling the largest number of situations in the bullpen.
Varland, who arrived with the Jays at the 2025 trade deadline and became the closer in late April of this year following Hoffman’s inconsistencies, leads the bullpen with 3.2 fWAR. Then, there is only one pitcher who has accumulated at least 1.0 fWAR, and it is, you know, the submarine pitcher Rogers, who has accumulated 1.1.
Next comes Braydon Fisher, who has recorded 0.9 fWAR in 116 relief appearances since 2025, but had a concerning decline in 2026, when his strikeout rate dropped from 11.16 to 8.8 and hitters ended up increasing his home run rate allowed from 7.4% to 11.3%. Tommy Nance, who was sent to the Minnesota Twins, appears with 0.8, while left-handers Brendon Little and Mason Fluharty close the list with 0.7 fWAR, respectively.
I know the Jays are likely to bring in reinforcements for their starting rotation, as that is imminent, so some of the pitchers who have taken on starting roles, such as Spencer Miles, Cody Ponce, Bowden Francis or Spencer Arrighetti, could end up in the bullpen. However, I still think Toronto needs arms suited to handling the pressure in the most important innings before getting to Rogers and Varland.
At some point, it was thought that Chad Green or Hoffman could fit in and offer their experience, and that Yariel Rodriguez could finally profile as a consistent reliever, but in the end the experiment did not work well enough with any of them.
Now Toronto has the opportunity to strengthen itself and find depth in the open free-agent market, and Jonathan Loaisiga’s experience could be an important factor. Loaisiga, 32, has reached free agency after recovering from several injuries that affected him over three years and forced him to accept a $1 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks last January.
As expected, Loaisiga bounced back and looked good from the beginning, eventually finishing with a great campaign in which he pitched 67 innings and recorded a 2.42 ERA and a 2.88 FIP, with revealing dominance in terms of run prevention, as he allowed only three home runs and reduced his walk rate to 1.75 BB/9, the best of his career in seasons in which he has pitched at least 40 innings.
Do not look for a high swing-and-miss rate or many strikeouts, as that was not his formula for dominance, but rather the ability of his fastball, capable of touching 98 mph, to generate ground balls and avoid hard contact. Loaisiga finished with the third-highest Run Value among this year’s free-agent class, with +14 on his fastball, placing him in a small group of just seven pitchers who qualified with +11 or more.
Among all of them, he finished with the second-lowest whiff% rate (23.1%), tied with Sonny Gray, but allowed the lowest Hard-Hit rate (31.7%) of the entire group, led by Nick Martinez (+17 Fastball) and left-hander Foster Griffin (+16).
He was also the second pitcher with the greatest ability to generate ground balls (55.8%), behind only left-hander Adrian Morejon (58.0%), a characteristic that fits perfectly with Toronto’s excellent infield defense, where third baseman Kazuma Okamoto was the only player with negative Fielding Run Value grades.
That said, Loaisiga has more arguments to be a valuable piece in Toronto, and one of them has been his track record as a pitcher against teams in the American League East.
Counting his time pitching for the New York Yankees during the first eight seasons of his career, he recorded dominant performances that have led him to accumulate a 9-5 record with a 2.85 ERA in 104 ⅔ innings, with experience in 85 relief appearances and two starts. That is a key point in this conversation, as the Jays will not find many pitchers with this ability and track record in free agency.
Steamer projects that Loaisiga will pitch around 65 innings next season, with his FIP increasing from 2.98 to 3.63 and around 0.6 fWAR. This would establish a useful performance standard for a reliever who could reach a one- or two-year contract worth between $10 million and $12 million, which could represent a very good investment for teams like Toronto, which need to strengthen their bullpen.
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