:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/44400062/usa-today-8037104.0.jpg)
The consensus around Blue Jays land seems to be that the team could use a new second baseman and new closer before the team breaks camp in April. Although it's been pointed out that the team could have Casey Janssen's successor already on its roster, the front office apparently is prioritizing the closer search over the second base search. According to Jon Heyman, the Blue Jays are looking at acquiring a closer through trade and if that plan doesn't work then they will turn to the free agent market.
The free agent market is pretty thin for quality closers, not to mention the fact that you often have to overpay for pitchers with high save totals. Francisco Rodriguez and Rafael Soriano are both still available as well as recently released Brian Wilson who could be signed for an extremely team-friendly contract. The options through trade are obviously endless, but acquiring a team's closer is often a pricey endeavour.
Here's the tweet:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>ever-improved jays prioritizing closer. looking at trades 1st, then will consider free agents.</p>— Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/status/547566723613065216">December 24, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
It's doubtful that the Blue Jays have forgotten about their hole at second base, but rather they feel some combination of Devon Travis, Maicer Izturis, Ryan Goins, and Steve Tolleson will be less of a problem than the current bullpen they have. The season is still three months away and as teams begin to put the final touches on their roster it's likely that pieces become available through trade. The problem for the Blue Jays seems to be that they don't have many areas of surplus aside from the catcher position and closing a hole in the bullpen would require opening another hole somewhere else.
With the projected payroll still short of the 2014 figure, it seems like the front office has a little bit of money to throw around. Unfortunately very few big free agent contracts for relievers ending up looking very smart, so the team will be careful to not end up with an unmovable contract simply because they had payroll to spend and a hole to fill.