According to Mitch Bannon of The Athletic, the Blue Jays are targeting a productive reliever. free agent Edwin Diaz That appears to be a possibility, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. Rosenthal views the Blue Jays as the main threat to poach Diaz from the Mets. Rosenthal reported that the Jayhawks recently met with Diaz representatives from Wasserman, though he also noted that may not mean anything since everyone is meeting with everyone this time of year. Geoff Jones of the Belleville Press-Democrat reports that the Jayhawks Ryan Helsley Early deadlines. He’s now a free agent and could be a target. The Blue Jays also Pete Fairbanks earlier this week.
The Jayhawks seemed to cast a wide net early in the offseason, being linked to a variety of different pursuits. The bullpen is one thing on their roster, and a smart one at that. The Jayhawks have a middle-of-the-pack reliever group in 2025. Toronto’s relievers have a combined 3.98 ERA, which ranks 16th among 30 major league clubs. closer Jeff Hoffman The ERA this year is 4.37. He dominated for most of the playoffs, but then gave up big opportunities Miguel Rojas He hit a home run with the Blue Jays two outs away from the championship.
Last week, general manager Ross Atkins said Huffman would be willing to step into a different role if the Jayhawks find another closer. It seems like the Jays are indeed considering this. Diaz is one of the best finishers in the game today. He has made 253 saves. He was coming off a season with a 1.63 ERA, 38% strikeout rate, 8% walk rate, and 48.4% ground ball rate.
He has been with the Mets since 2019, and some may think he will eventually return to Queens. Three years ago, he was closing in on free agency, but just days before he was set to hit the open market, he signed a five-year, $10MM deal to stay with the Mets. The agreement contains an opt-out after three years, triggered by Diaz. He is now a free agent for the first time.
The Mets could certainly re-sign him, but that doesn’t appear to be a fait accompli. Diaz himself said this week that he’s been in talks with the Mets but thinks the odds of returning are 50/50, Newsday’s Laura Albanese reports. “If they offer me the best deal, I’d love to be with them,” Diaz said, “but at the end of the day, I don’t know what they’re thinking.”
Diaz is still a pretty good reliever, but he’s three years older than he was when he signed his last contract. MLBTR projects he’ll sign a four-year, $8MM deal this time around, with a similar average annual value, but a shorter commitment since he’ll be 32 in a few months. Diaz seems to be aiming a little higher than that. Reports from Rosenthal and Will Salmon of The Athletic earlier this week suggested he was looking for roughly the same deal as last time. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale agreed this week, reporting that Diaz hopes to earn at least $100 within five years.
This is a significant expenditure for any club. As MLBTR’s contract tracker shows, Diaz’s previous $102 in guaranteed money remains a record for a reliever. In addition to Swingman, $20.4 AAV also topped the list Nick Martinez Accepted a $21.1MM qualifying offer from the Reds a year ago.
Whether the Jays are willing to do that remains to be seen. They’ve never given three years and $33 more in relief than they gave Huffman a year ago. They may need to triple that number to land Diaz. Maybe being so close to the World Series will push them there, both because the bullpen lets the final game slip away and because they might make a ton of extra money from the postseason.
RosterResource projects the Jays’ payroll next year at $235 million, more than $20 below the end of 2025 figure. It’s unclear how high they’re willing to go after the 2025 campaign. Presumably, there is a limit somewhere and they have to balance their desire for Diaz with their pursuit of Diaz. Beau Bichette, Kyle Tuckerstart pitching and so on. Diaz also turned down a qualifying offer. Since the Jays pay a competitive balance tax in 2025, signing a player tied to a QO means they would have to give up two draft picks and international bonus pool space.
The Mets have had few salary restrictions in recent years, but David Stearns has shown caution in developing the pitching staff since taking over as president of baseball operations. Despite Steve Cohen’s seemingly unlimited resources, he has yet to give a pitcher a contract longer than three years. Bullpens are mostly built on one-year contracts. AJ Minter He has two years with an option to opt out in the middle, although his lack of health in 2025 means he will return for the following year.
Some may have speculated that Cohen would dethrone Sterns and return Diaz as the fan favorite. Rosenthal downplayed this view in his column, linked above, and cited Diaz’s 50/50 comments.
Back to the Jays, they can also shop in different aisles. As mentioned, they are connected to Fairbanks, which will be much more affordable than Diaz. The same goes for Helsley, who has a solid track record but is coming off a poor platform season.
From 2022 to 2024, Helsley pitched 167 2/3 innings with a 1.83 ERA, 34.6% strikeout rate, and 9.2% walk rate. In 2025, his ERA jumped to 4.50 and his strikeout rate dropped to 25%. He fared particularly poorly after being traded from the Cardinals to the Mets at the deadline, posting a 7.20 ERA.
That obviously cuts into his money-making power significantly, but he should still attract interest as a bounce-back candidate. Plenty of clubs would be happy to sign him to a one-year deal in the hope that 2025 is just a blip. He might also have enough juice for two years if he opts out. MLBTR chose the latter, predicting he’ll get two years and $24.04 guaranteed.
Admittedly, trend lines are not great. Helsley’s strikeout rate has increased from 39.3% in 2022 to 35.6%, 29.7% and 25% in recent seasons. But his fastball average is still 99.3 mph this year, down slightly from his 2023 peak of 99.7 mph. He may have been slanting the ball, and he also had a pretty high .342 batting average on the ball in the game. His 14.5% home run to fly ball ratio was far inferior to previous seasons. Part of that is because he’s been hit harder than before, but some teams may think he can get back to his old self with an adjustment or two.
If the Jays return to Helsley, it will be a much different addition than Diaz. Diaz is pretty much a rock among today’s closers and will immediately replace Hoffman as the top guy in the bullpen. Helsley will be a cheaper pilot and will certainly be lower in the pecking order before having to work his way up. How the Jays fare presumably depends on other market factors and how other things on their to-do list go.
Photos by Brad Penner, Imagn Images
