Toronto Blue Jays sign free agent outfielder George Springer

According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, George Springer and the Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a 6 year, $150MM pact. After a months long standoff between the Mets and Blue Jays, the boys in blue finally got their man.

Other sources have reported that the Mets offer was somewhere in the 6 year, $125MM range so relatively speaking, the Jays made a very aggressive bid.

This contract is by far the biggest free agent signing in Toronto Blue Jays history. The next highest pacts are Russell Martin and Hyun Jin Ryu who signed $82.5MM and $80MM pacts,  respectively. The focal difference is that George Springer isn’t Canadian or from Korea so this may just be the move that convinces other marquee free agents in the future that signing in Toronto as an American citizen really isn’t all that bad.

Throughout the history of Toronto sports, it has been rare for a Toronto club to outbid teams like the Yankees, Mets and Lakers (mostly due to geography). Who knows, maybe this will benchmark a new standard for the future.

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The centre field slugger looks to join a stacked lineup that features Cavan Biggio, Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guererro Jr. and Lourdes Gurriel Jr, all of whom posted an OPS+ clip above the average mark. On paper, this Jays club that was already 8th in baseball last year in runs per game looks to be one of the better offences in the MLB.

The Jays aren’t over the hump yet. They still have one of the weaker rotations and defenses in baseball. However, this is a starting point for the Blue Jays. The main competition of the Jays has objectively gotten worse this offseason.

The Yankees merely retained DJ LeMahieu and have only replaced the losses of Masahiro Tanaka and JA Happ with an injury prone Corey Kluber. As for the Rays, they have continued their selling ways, trading former Cy Young award winner Blake Snell to the Padres for a couple of prospects.

After today, one thing is certain. The Jays just got a lot better.