Do the Blue Jays need an additional reliever? I won’t lie, probably not.

However, that doesn’t mean that they aren’t looking for an additional high-leverage reliever with a penchant for strikeouts, or another left-handed reliever. For example, they were (and still could be) in on Liam Hendriks from the Chicago White Sox.

#BlueJays interested in Liam Hendriks
— MLBScoops (@mlb_scoops) December 22, 2022

So in part two of my New Year’s wish list, we’ll look at some remaining relievers on the free agent market to determine if they’re a good fit for the 2023 Blue Jays.
The state of the bullpen:
The bullpen is full of depth heading into the 2023 season. It’s headlined by Jordan Romano, Anthony Bass, and Erik Swanson. However, they also have a mix of Zach Pop, Trevor Richards, one of Yusei Kikuchi or Mitch White, Tim Mayza, Adam Cimber, and countless more names. I wrote an article about this here (before the Swanson deal.)
The state of the bullpen is in a good spot, but one hopes they look to add a high-leverage guy with a high K%, or a second left-handed pitcher depending on the plan with Kikuchi.
With that being said, they make additional moves, but if they don’t, there’s no reason to panic, as they also have a ton of relief prospects such as Nate Pearson, Hagen Danner, Adrián Hernández, Bowden Francis, Brandon Eisert, and more. You can read the relief prospect article here.
Without further ado, let’s look at some names they could look to bring in.
Will Smith (the left-handed reliever, not the catcher or slap man):
Starting off with a left-handed reliever who has done a good job striking out batters over his career (28.7 K%), we have Will Smith. As the header points out, I’m not discussing the Los Angeles catcher Will Smith, nor am I discussing the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

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Author: Brennan Delaney / Blue Jays Nation