Blue Jays Make Significant Change in Pitching Staff

The Toronto Blue Jays' start to the season hasn't gone as anyone had hoped, and a large part of that can be put at the feet of struggling closer Jeff Hoffman. The team has now officially pulled Hoffman from the closer's role after his latest blown save.

News: Jeff Hoffman is out as the #BlueJays’ closer.

They’ll go with a closer by committee for now while Hoffman works on things in lower-leverage spots.
— Keegan Matheson (@KeeganMatheson) April 24, 2026

The Jays will now go with a 'closer by committee' while Hoffman will work in lower-leverage innings (i.e. earlier in the contest, when games aren't on the line).

GM Ross Atkins made the announcement to reporters, stating, "In the short term, we are going to share that responsibility."

Of course, it is Atkins who should be taking all of the 'responsibility' for not going out and signing one of the multitude of legitimate closers that were on the free agent market this past offseason. It was obvious that Hoffman was one of the weak links for an otherwise AL-best team. His home run surrendered in the 9th inning of Game 7 last fall to the Dodgers' No. 9 hitter, Miguel Rojas, cost the Jays the World Series (among other crazy plays that came later).

Atkins said he 'absolutely' didn't look for a new closer in the offseason; Now Hoffman is out as closer for Jays

But Atkins insisted before the 2026 season that he "absolutely" did not think bringing in a new closer was necessary.

Hoffman has blown half of his save opportunities this season, with 3 saves and 3 blown, while putting up an ugly 7.59 ERA and 2.06 WHIP. He's given up a grand slam, continuing his home run problems from last year. In 2025, Hoffman gave up 50% more homers than any other regular closer, surrendering a whopping 15 in just 68 innings. This year, add another two dingers in just 10.2 innings.

Louis Varland, with a 0.00 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 13 innings, is likely to get a fair share of save opportunities as part of the new closer committee. Tyler Rogers will also submarine his way into some 9th inning work as well.

Toronto is off to a disappointing 10-14 start to the season and find themselves 5.5 games back of the New York Yankees.