Toronto Blue Jays Offseason: What’s Been Done and What to Watch for
Bullpen:
Potential Options: Mark Melancon, Neftali Feliz, Boone Logan, and Patrick Corbin
The biggest weakness for the Jays the past two seasons has without a doubt been their bullpen. Outside of Roberto Osuna, the Jays don’t have any relievers of envy for other teams, and although Osuna is incredible, he definitely needs help back there. Despite the excellence of Joe Biagini in his bullpen role, management made the right decision in attempting to stretch him out into a starter because with regards to asset management, controllable starting pitchers are incredibly valuable while relievers are extremely volatile and can be found in many different ways, like the bargain bin in free agency or the Rule 5 draft like Biagini. Four guys who I highlighted as targets for the Blue Jays are:
Mark Melancon, the excellent closer for the Pirates/Nationals would be a tremendous signing for the Blue Jays as either a set up man or closer. Melancon has been incredibly consistent over the past two seasons and would be a MASSIVE upgrade for the Jays’ bullpen. Although it remains to be seen if the Blue Jays would be willing to offer a contract in the range of three-years and around $24-30 million.
My second free agent target would be Neftali Feliz, also of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The former phenom isn’t the fire baller that he was in his Texas days when he would routinely hit triple digits on the radar gun, but he still sits around 97 mph and has a pretty nasty slider. Him and Osuna would be a pretty nasty one-two punch and I doubt it would be extremely expensive either. I think two years and $12-15 million would get it done.
Outside of Aroldis Chapman, the only lefties of value in the free agent relief market are Brett Cecil, who has signed in St. Louis, and Logan. The former Yankee had a solid year for the Colorado Rockies and would be a nice addition to a bullpen that doesn’t have very many lefties who they can count on.
My only trade target, Patrick Corbin is a name that has come up a lot amongst stats geeks. If you watched the 2016 playoffs, you obviously saw the incredible performance that Andrew Miller put up against the Blue Jays. Miller, a failed starter for the Marlins, made a major comeback as a reliever with the Orioles and Red Sox before becoming a superstar with the New York Yankees.
Miller is effective because he uses an elite two-pitch mix (fastball and wipeout slider) that is absolutely deadly to both lefties and righties. Corbin reminds people of Miller because he has pretty much the exact same repertoire as Miller, a 94 mph fastball with great control and a sweeping slider that keeps both lefties and righties off balance. That comparison holds some weight following an incredibly impressive stint as a reliever by Corbin, where he owned a 1.20 ERA with 18 strikeouts over 15 Innings in the month of September.
Overall I have no idea what the Diamondbacks would demand for Corbin, given that he was pretty awful as a starter but showed promise as a reliever, but this would definitely be a scenario that should be investigated by Blue Jays management.