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Details on Blue Jays contract with Gibbons, more on Sanchez

By Keegan Matheson

Sep 18, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons (5) shakes hands with relief pitcher Aaron Sanchez (41) as they celebrate a 6-1 win over Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 18, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons (5) shakes hands with relief pitcher Aaron Sanchez (41) as they celebrate a 6-1 win over Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Blue Jays manager will receive a pay raise as part of his newly structured deal, which covers the 2016 and 2017 seasons

John Gibbons‘ and the Toronto Blue Jays have restructured his contract, but not a great deal is changing.

Gone is the “rollover clause”, a unique contract feature that triggered the guarantee of another year beyond the current one every time the calendar hit January 1st. For example, this January 1st, Gibbons’ 2017 contract became guaranteed.

This produced a rolling two-year contract, essentially. Now, for a bump in annual salary, Gibbons has moved into a “traditional” two-year deal covering this season and next.

After Mark Shapiro alluded to the change on Sunday night while appearing on Sirius XM MLB Network Radio, Steve Phillips provided the hard details on Monday.


“It’s something I first spoke to Alex about before he left,” Gibbons told Jeff Blair of Sportsnet.

If anything, this is a confident move by Gibbons that also gives the organization a greater level of flexibility next season (though not necessarily this season).

Pete Walker: Aaron Sanchez not headed to AAA

As the Blue Jays still face a decision between Sanchez and veteran Gavin Floyd for the fifth spot in the rotation, some have floated the idea of beginning the 23-year-old as a member of the triple-A Buffalo Bisons rotation.

The most convincing argument can be found here from Matt Gwin of BP Toronto, where he makes the case for Toronto to wait for Sanchez to force his way on to the Major League roster from Buffalo. This is something that Sanchez admittedly did not do in his first trip up the ladder.

According to John Lott, though, it’s not happening.


It’s not exactly shocking news, but it does close the door on one potential course of action. If anything, it (very narrowly) lowers the chances that Sanchez will start games for the Blue Jays at some point in the 2016 season.

There could be a happy medium of sorts, though. If Sanchez is to begin the year in the bullpen and does not see his workload become too inflated with multi-inning appearances, it is possible that he briefly drops down to stretch out for the playoff run if Toronto is in need of starters.

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