3 Toronto Blue Jays Who Won't Be Back in 2025
The Toronto Blue Jays had a massively disappointing season, as they came into 2024 predicted by some to be a division title contender, and stumbling along to a last place finish and deafening calls for the ouster of GM Ross Atkins and others.
Certainly, there are many around the team who will not be back for 2025, unfortunately for Jays fans, GM Atkins is not one of them. But let's have a look at three players who Atkins and the team will likely bid farewell to this offseason.
Bo Bichette
The rumors persisted all season about the future of the two-time All-Star shortstop in Toronto. Once thought to be one of the cornerstone pieces of the franchise for years to come, Bichette had the worst season of his young career and trade rumors were all the rage. Near the end of the year, he insisted that he wants to be a Blue Jay for the long haul, but as he enters his final year of team control next season before free agency, there's no doubt the Jays will have multiple suitors trying to pry him loose this winter.
Many feel that a trade is almost inevitable. "I feel there is interest on (the team's) part to move Bichette," one rival AL executive told mlb.com insider Mark Feinsand recently.
Jordan Romano
He's a hometown kid, and was the team's lockdown closer for three years. But he missed most of 2024 with an elbow injury, and hasn't pitched since May. There's a lot of uncertainty with closers and relievers in general from year to year, even in the best of times. But coming off a troubling injury like this, and, like Bichette, heading into his final year of team control, it's quite possible that the Jays will cut bait on Romano.
Zach Pop
The reliever came to Toronto in a trade deadline deal in 2022. He had an excellent 17 appearances for the Jays down the stretch that season, but ran into injury troubles that wrecked his 2023 season. He came back this year hopefully ready to turn things around, but it wound up in disaster. Pop, in his 48.1 innings, had a 5.59 ERA with an awful 33:19 strikeout-to-walk ratio. With the third-worst bullpen in baseball in 2024, and Pop being one of the worst options in it, there's little to no chance the Jays bring him back.
Photo: © Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images
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