Blue Jays agree to terms with Cecil, Saunders, Delabar

The Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to terms with outfielder Michael Saunders, and relievers Steve Delabar and Brett Cecil ahead of their pending arbitration cases

Brett Cecil, Michael Saunders and Steve Delabar have come in at or near their projected arbitration numbers, agreeing to terms with the Blue Jays earlier today. Toronto, a file-and-trial organization, could several more of these agreements as the day unfolds as the arbitration figures need to be exchanged by 1:00 PM.

Delabar’s number comes in just north of the $700,000 projected by MLBTR earlier in the offseason, but that’s not a great enough gap to have any tangible impact on the Blue Jays front office.

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Being out of options could make the Spring Training process difficult on Delabar, who is now far removed from the All-Star Game nod and 12.6 K/9 in 2013 as a surprise member of the Jays bullpen. His ‘boom’ potential still remains, though, especially if he’s able to reel in his control over an extended stretch and allow his elite splitter to do work.

If Delabar were on the open market, he would seem to be a fit with Toronto’s offseason mindset regardless. The (albeit unlikely) potential to pitch high-leverage innings and record high strikeout numbers, but on an affordable salary due to recent inconsistencies.

With Michael Saunders, a year lost to injury has wrongly soured many to a player that easily possesses 2.0 WAR potential over a full workload season.

Even if Saunders is able to play a strong supporting role to the younger Dalton Pompey and spell off Jose Bautista in right field, a $2.9 million salary is a perfectly comfortable annual number. Saunders’ primary challenge will be to not only return to 100% after his knee injury, but stay there throughout the daily grind of a Major League season.

Cecil’s number comes in $400,000 higher than projected, but for one of the league’s most dominant back-end lefties, nobody will lose any sleep. Cecil is expected to remain in a setup and/or high leverage role surrounded by Drew Storen and Roberto Osuna in some capacity.