{"id":628598,"date":"2026-04-24T20:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/628598\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T20:48:11","slug":"blue-jays-remove-jeff-hoffman-from-closers-role-after-3-blown-saves-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/628598\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays remove Jeff Hoffman from closer&#8217;s role after 3 blown saves this season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/sports\/baseball\/mlb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB<\/a>\u00b7New<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Hoffman will not be closing games for the Toronto Blue Jays in the near future, with general manager Ross Atkins saying Friday it would be a shared responsibility among the team&#8217;s other relief pitchers for the short term.<\/p>\n<p>General manager Ross Atkins says 9th-inning duties will be shared for short term<a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/sports\/author\/gregory-strong-1.5150195\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gregory Strong<\/a>  \u00b7 The Canadian Press  \u00b7 Posted: Apr 24, 2026 4:22 PM EDT | Last Updated: 17 minutes ago<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/a\/assets\/texttospeech.svg\" alt=\"Text to Speech Icon\" width=\"44\" height=\"44\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Listen to this article<\/p>\n<p>Estimated 1 minute<\/p>\n<p>The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\" alt=\"Blue Jays relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman throws to first base to get out Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy during an April 8, 2026 MLB regular-season game at Rogers Centre in Toronto.\"   src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777063691_353_default.jpg\" data-cy=\"leadmedia-story-img\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>This season, Blue Jays relief pitcher Jeff Hoffman has a 1-2 record with three blown saves and a 7.59 earned-run average. (John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images via Reuters\/File)<\/p>\n<p>The Toronto Blue Jays are moving Jeff Hoffman out of the closer role.  <\/p>\n<p>General manager Ross Atkins says ninth-inning duties will be a shared responsibility for the short term.  <\/p>\n<p>Hoffman has struggled over the first few weeks of the season. He has a 1-2 record with three blown saves and a 7.59 earned-run average.  <\/p>\n<p>The right-hander could still have save opportunities but he&#8217;s no longer the clear option to close out games.  <\/p>\n<p>The Blue Jays are the reigning American League champions but have a 10-14 record entering play Friday night against the visiting Cleveland Guardians.  <\/p>\n<p>Louis Varland and Tyler Rogers are two of Toronto&#8217;s top high-leverage relievers. Yimi Garcia, who&#8217;s building up after elbow surgery last year, could be another ninth-inning option when he returns.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"reportIssue-MwDQL\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/corrections-clarifications-1.5893564\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Corrections and clarifications<\/a>\u00b7Report error<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MLB\u00b7New Jeff Hoffman will not be closing games for the Toronto Blue Jays in the near future, with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-628598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}