According to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Toronto Blue Jays have shown interest in signing All-Star closer Carlos Estevez, who had a career-best season with the Los Angeles Angels and Philadelphia Phillies. He posted a 2.45 ERA across 54 appearances, striking out 50 batters with just 12 walks and five home runs allowed, posting a career-high 2.1 WAR. The Blue Jays aren’t alone in this, there are half a dozen teams involved in his bidding according to Heyman as well, and it makes sense given that teams always want to improve their bullpen depth.
His fastball-slider combination is excellent, with a 112 Stuff+ and 106 Pitching+ indicating that his pitch shapes and velocity are above-average while commanding the ball well, a combination that bred a low walk rate and decent strikeout rate.
Carlos Estevez Could Shore Up Blue Jays’ Bullpen In Closer Role
The Toronto Blue Jays had a terrible bullpen last season, they were second-worst in ERA (4.82) and K% (20.7%) as a group last season, finishing with by far the worst fWAR in MLB (-2.5). It wasn’t close either, the Colorado Rockies had the second-worst fWAR in baseball as a bullpen last season, and they were at just -0.2. In fact, it’s the worst fWAR for a bullpen since 2016 when the Cincinnati Reds had a -3.0 fWAR as a bullpen.
Carlos Estevez would improve Toronto’s backend of the bullpen, especially after losing Jordan Romano, who struggled last season due to injury after years of being a reliable closing option. After bringing back Yimi Garcia, Toronto could form a much better bullpen if they can add the veteran closer to the mix and move Chad Green back into a set-up role. Green had a 3.21 ERA and 3.81 SIERA with the Blue Jays in his first healthy season in Toronto, leading the team in saves (17).
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The Blue Jays have poked around on star closer Ryan Helsley of the St. Louis Cardinals as well, who could be moved if they decide to rebuild and look toward 2026 and beyond. With Vladimir Guerrero Jr. having just one year left in free agency, there’s some sense of desperation to make it back to the postseason and at least collect a playoff win with the star first baseman.
Since promoting Guerrero in 2019, the Blue Jays have made the playoffs three different times as a Wild Card team, being swept in each of those best-of-three rounds. Being 0-6 in the postseason with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is a disaster, and Ross Atkins is aware that not only will the rebuild they underwent last decade be viewed as a waste, but that his employment with the Blue Jays would likely come to an end.
Whether the Blue Jays can get a marquee free agent to join them or not remains to be seen. They’re in on both Anthony Santander and Alex Bregman after making massive offers to Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes, but if they strike out on those names, Toronto could find itself in a very awkward position as it tries to entice their franchise icon into staying with the Blue Jays for the remainder of his career.