Is the Blue Jays' Bullpen Playoff-Ready?

The Blue Jays acquired Anthony Bass and Zach Pop at the 2022 MLB trade deadline, bolstering a bullpen that's been quietly dominant in recent weeks.

At some point this year, the Blue Jays' season will be on the line, hanging in the balance of a single pitch. When that moment comes, Toronto will hand the ball to a reliever.

That's why bullpen helped topped Toronto's trade deadline wish list, and why the Jays made moves for three potential relief arms on August 2. But did they do enough? When the ball falls to the 'pen in October, is the Blue Jays bullpen ready? 

"It's very exciting for us to think about adding to ... a bullpen that over the last stretch has been very effective for us," GM Ross Atkins said on deadline day.

Atkins isn't wrong about the bullpen's recent effectiveness. Since July 1, the Blue Jays have had the best bullpen in baseball, with a 2.51 ERA and .193 batting average against. In that time, AL RP of the Month Jordan Romano converted all eight of his save opportunities, and seven different Toronto relievers have ERAs below 2.0.

The recent stretch of success has pushed the Jays' season-long bullpen numbers in the right direction—whether the public bullpen perception agrees or not. After deadline additions, the Blue Jays now have seven regular relievers with ERAs of 3.60 or better. The Yankees have six and the Mariners four.

Each of Romano, Yimi García, Tim Mayza, and David Phelps have ERAs that start with a two. Add Anthony Bass and his 1.58 ERA and the Jays have the fourth-most sub-three ERA relievers in baseball.

Adding Bass, the Jays found the additional back-end arm they've needed for much of the season. His standard numbers have been great, the Baseball Savant page is painted with red, and 2022 isn't just some one-year blip. His ERA is at an all-time low this season, but over the last five years, the 34-year-old has been consistently strong with a 3.12 ERA in 196 IP. Increasing his slider usage in each of his last five seasons, the 11-year MLB veteran has found new heights. Bass is throwing the slider around 60% of the time this year, owning the outside corner to righties while opposing hitters have just a .185 average against the breaking pitch.

In Pop, the Jays added a bit more variance. He's proven capable of getting outs at the big league level already—3.93 ERA in 75.2 IP—but there's the makings of something more. The 25-year-old is a two-pitch guy who relies mainly on his 97 MPH sinker, which induces a 69% ground ball rate. Add in a slider with well above average velocity, drop, and horizontal break, and Pop's built in the mold of Zach Britton, Brusdar Graterol, and some more of baseball's best sinkerballers.

Pop's Sinker

What neither of Toronto's deadline relief adds bring is that dominant bat-missing ability. Even with Pop's power sinker and Bass's pristine ERA, only Romano and Trevor Richards have strikeout rates over 26% in Toronto's current bullpen. 

Whiffs aren't the only way to get outs, but they're certainly a useful tool for the league's best 'pens. The league's top four teams by bullpen strikeout rate just happen to be four of the top six teams in baseball this year—the Braves, Mets, Astros, and Dodgers. The Jays have a 'pen strikeout rate of 23.2% this year, a mark that five of the last six World Series winners have bested.

Toronto has a few internal options for that swing-and-miss injection, but if the Jays are banking on the injured Nate Pearson and Julian Merryweather or the enticing potential of Yosver Zulueta and Hayden Juenger, they're probably asking too much.

So, unless one of those guys joins the Jays and starts blowing bats away alongside Romano, Toronto will be forced to get outs other ways. For the last few weeks, the Blue Jays bullpen hasn't had any issues sitting batters down. But we'll find out if they have what it takes when those outs become harder to get.