As closer Jeff Hoffman falters, Blue Jays are missing injured Yimi Garcia that much more

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It’s easy to go ‘out of sight, out of mind’ with the walking wounded on the Blue Jays roster, though that would be a gross undersell of the team’s season to date.

Starting pitcher Max Scherzer is the most-celebrated and talked-about one given that, after a 74-game stint on the injured list with a vexing thumb injury, he’s due to return to game action on Wednesday in Cleveland.

Anthony Santander, the other high-rent off-season acquisition by the Jays, is the big dude rarely talked about now. Sidelined for 21 games with shoulder inflammation (and only vague speculation on when he will return), the former Orioles slugger is almost literally the forgotten man given the virtual invisibility of his first two months as a Blue Jay.

But given the sudden wobbles of the Blue Jays bullpen, the one absence that is perhaps most impactful is that of reliever Yimi Garcia, now missing 28 games (and counting) with what the team describes as a shoulder impingement.

When the bullpen was humming, Garcia was better than the ideal setup man for closer Jeff Hoffman. The pair provided a dynamic one-two highest-leverage punch at the back end of the bullpen that were a clear strength of the team in the early going.

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Garcia didn’t allow an earned run in 19 of his 21 appearances and none in his first 14 outings while pitching to a tidy 3.15 ERA.

But now with Garcia out and Hoffman struggling, there is at minimum a sense of disarray in the Jays ‘pen and, at worst, serious concern for manager John Schneider’s late-game options.

Hoffman, of course, was money in his early days with the Jays, seemingly easily validating general manager Ross Atkins’ decision to move on from Canadian closer Jordan Romano. In the first month of the season, Hoffman allowed just one home run and owned a skimpy 1.17 ERA.

Since then, there have been issues. His ERA in the interim is a shade over 9.00 and he has surrendered seven homers and nine walks. The latest blip came in Sunday’s blown save against the White Sox, an outcome that was undeniably ugly but, in fairness, was caused more by Hoffman’s fielding miscue than how he was operating on the mound.

After the game, Schneider was adamant that the Jays “trust the (poop)” out of Hoffman. That may be the case, but the longer Garcia is out, the more the concern about shutting down wins will heighten.

There is no precise timeline on Garcia’s return, though Schneider said on the weekend that after throwing a live BP session at the team’s player development complex, it’s possible that he can begin a rehab stint in Dunedin early this week.

Of course, the concern beyond that is that with a 34-year-old right arm with some miles on it, there is no guarantee Garcia will return to the form he was early in the 2025 season. Overworked early, the Jays are going to need him — or an arm like him — to be a late-inning force.

The underlying concern is that the workload Garcia endured due to the season-long rotation concerns wore him down physically. It’s always a delicate balance for teams trying to win games in the now yet preserve arms for the long haul.

On a more bullish bullpen development, the emergence and sustained effectiveness of Yariel Rodriguez has been an important antidote for some of the other reliever struggles. It’s to the point that Schneider trusts the hard-throwing Cuban in just about any situation. Rather than be a replacement for Garcia, the prospect of having three potent high-leverage arms is enticing, if it ever gets to that point.

What unfolds with Hoffman and Garcia over the next five weeks no doubt will impact general manager Ross Atkins’ trade deadline strategy. Starting depth is the bold-face lingering concern for the Jays, but bolstering the bullpen will be a priority as well. Any such pursuit would brings its own set of challenges, given that the suitors for relief help at the deadline will be deep.

A return to health and sizzling form by Garcia certainly would mitigate some of the urgency on that end, however.

In totality, the high-profile Jays population of the injured list (add Daulton Varsho to the group) has been an understated part of the Jays season to date.

In the case of Santander, it certainly seems that since being placed in the IL on May 30, he will miss all of June.

Given that he has returned to throwing but yet to hit, it’s almost certain he will need a rehab assignment to get back into game shape. After that, the player we’ve been told over and over again is a slow starter essentially will attempt to begin his season from scratch some time in July.

As the Jays enjoyed an off day Monday to lick the wounds from dropping two of three to the dreadful White Sox and prepare for a six-game trip, there is muted optimism on what Scherzer will bring, given that his thumb issues have been lingering for almost two years now.

Desperate for at least one reliable starting arm back in the rotation, Wednesday is a big day in the overall picture of the Blue Jays season.

So too, we would argue, is whatever happens in Florida with Garcia, who could be a massive factor in the second half of the season.