After making back-to-back All-Star teams in 2022 and 2023, closer Jordan Romano was positioned as one of the game’s best at his position. Unfortunately, injuries derailed his 2024 season, and now the Toronto Blue Jays have non-tendered Romano, sending him to free agency, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Chad Green stepped up in Romano’s absence, logging 17 saves across 53 appearances. Romano tallied 36 saves in his last two full seasons, but his numbers took a tumble in 2024. Across 15 games, he pitched 13.2 innings with a 6.59 ERA and 1.463 WHIP. His HR9 exploded to 2.6, and H9 jumped to 10.5 in last year’s small sample.
Blue Jays need a big difference-maker like Juan Soto
One of the dark horse candidates for Soto has been the Blue Jays. Speculation says Toronto is willing to spend big, making them a contender in pursuing the game’s biggest free agent, per Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
“Don’t hold me to this, what I’m going to predict today, and I change every other day, I think it’s going to be about the money,” Heyman said. “So the teams that are going to be able to win the bidding war are probably the teams with the biggest advantage. And I’m gonna say right here that the Mets, followed by the Blue Jays…would be my guess today.”
However, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal believes the Blue Jays won’t land Soto for another reason.
“The uncertain futures of Jays president Mark Shapiro (signed through 2025) and general manager Ross Atkins (through ’26) only add to the questions surrounding the club and might be fueling its desire to make a splash. The Jays tried for Shohei Ohtani in free agency last offseason and Soto in a trade. And Shapiro and Atkins have made it clear they intend to keep pushing forward.
Soto’s appeal to the Jays, then, is obvious. A Soto-Guerrero left-right combination might not be quite as potent as Soto-Aaron Judge, but it wouldn’t be far off. Judge led the majors in OPS+ last season. Soto was third, Guerrero sixth. And here’s the most intriguing part: Guerrero is 4 1/2 months younger than Soto — and seven years younger than Judge.”
By securing Guerrero long-term, they make the prospects of joining the team more desirable.
It is also rumored that Toronto could offer Soto $700 million to outbid the New York Yankees, New York Mets, and Los Angeles Dodgers, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today.
“The Blue Jays still have $700 million burning a hole in their wallet, and after Yankees refuse to budge from their original offer, the Blue Jays swoop in and get their man for $630 million over 14 years,” Nightengale wrote.
Whatever the deal for Soto ends up being, it will be massive and set the market for superstars for years to come.
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