Now we know why the Cubs were never going to sign Jeff Hoffman

Another high-leverage reliever just came off the board as former Philadelphia Phillies set-up man Jeff Hoffman inked a three-year deal with the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday, explaining why the Chicago Cubs were probably never really in on the 32-year-old.

Signing relievers to multi-year deals is not the kind of commitment Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer is into. Since Hoyer took over in 2020, the team has stuck to one-year deals and bargain bin hunting to fill out the bullpen. The results have mostly been poor, and Hoyer knows it.

After the Hector Neris SNAFU last year and key injuries to Adbert Alzolay, Yency Almonte and Julian Merryweather, the Cubs bullpen suffered an early season implosion. Hoyer himself told the media that he didn't do enough to shore up the team's relief corps, which seemed to signal he would be in play for someone like Hoffman. The 32-year-old has been one of the best arms in baseball the past two seasons, with a 2.28 ERA and 158 strikeouts over 118 2/3 innings. But things have been business as usual in the Cubs front office so far.

While high-leverage guys like Hoffman, Jordan Romano and Aroldis Chapman have signed with other teams, the Cubs are continuing their bargain-hunting strategy. So far the only meaningful additions Hoyer has made include Eli Morgan and southpaw Caleb Thielbar, the latter of whom is coming off the worst season of his career.

Will the Cubs actually commit serious money to the bullpen?

Hoffman's contract with Toronto will command an average annual value of $11 million. Although there were rumors he would be converted to a starter, Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins confirmed to the press that he will be used out of the bullpen in late innings.

Unless the Cubs are significantly shedding payroll, they can afford $11 million a year since they still have about $28 million to play with if they want to stay safely below the luxury tax threshold. Committing more financial resources to the bullpen makes sense right now, especially when the Cubs are still projected to have one of the worst bullpens in baseball.

They need to address this issue before the season or the Cubs are probably destined for another disappointing performance from the bullpen. There are still good options out there, like Tanner Scott, Kyle Finnegan or Kirby Yates. Like Hoffman though, Scott will command a multi-year deal so Hoyer would need to get out of his comfort zone.