The Blue Jays are switching up their closer.
With Jeff Hoffman struggling as Toronto’s bullpen anchor, general manager Ross Atkins announced Friday that the team would be going to a closer-by-committee approach for the time being.
“In the short term, we are going to share that [closing] responsibility,” Atkins said, per MLB.com. “He’s still going to be getting very important outs for us, and I very much believe in him as a weapon for us.”
Hoffman, who served as the Blue Jays’ closer in 2025, saving 33 games during the regular season, is not off to a great start in 2026.
In 12 appearances out of the ‘pen, Hoffman has a 7.59 ERA and three blown saves.
In his last outing during Tuesday’s game against the Angels, Hoffman hit two batters and yielded two hits while only getting one out.
Atkins suggested that Hoffman will still play a big role in the Blue Jays’ relief unit.
“The way I think about Jeff and his situation is, I immediately think that we need to be better as an organization in the deployment of his arsenal and how we’re helping him, putting him in situations [to] be successful, because of how good he has been and still is,” Atkins added.
Hoffman signed with Toronto in free agency prior to the 2025 season after a career year with the Phillies in 2024, inking a three-year, $33 million deal with the club.
He wasn’t exactly lights out during his first year with the Blue Jays, though, which may explain the quick change-up at closer.
Hoffman posted a 4.37 ERA while giving up 15 home runs in just 67 innings last season.
He was much better during the Blue Jays’ AL pennant-winning playoff run, saving two games with a 1.46 ERA across 10 outings. However, he gave up a game-tying home run to the Dodgers’ Miguel Rojas in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series to blow the save before Toronto lost in extras.
Relievers Louis Varland, Braydon Fisher, Tyler Rogers and Mason Fluharty are all potential options to pick up saves for the Blue Jays going forward.