Blue Jays: The different stages of investing in the roster

Fast forward to this offseason, pre-lockout

As you’re more than likely aware, things have stalled to a complete halt with the MLB offseason due to the lockout. Until there is a new Collective Bargaining Agreement between the owners and the Player’s Association, it will stay that way too. There have been reports of positive movement in that direction, but it appears things are still a ways off.

The good news is the Blue Jays made some strong moves to improve their roster while they still could. The big free agent fish this time was Kevin Gausman, who agreed to a five-year, 110 million dollar pact. He’s an exciting addition, but also an important one after the Jays lost 2021 Cy Young winner Robbie Ray to the Seattle Mariners, and Semien signed his previously mentioned deal in Texas.

The other significant move was signing Jose Berrios to a seven-year, 131 million dollar contract extension, which will keep him in a Blue Jays uniform until after the 2028 season. At just 27 years old the Blue Jays should get the prime of the talented right-hander’s career, and he’s already an excellent starting pitcher. Pairing him with Gausman, and having the luxury of Ryu and Alek Manoah to fill out the top four gives them one of the better rotations in baseball, at least on paper.

These big-money contracts are the type that the Blue Jays have historically shied away from, so as a long-time fan of the team it’s still a bit tough to wrap my head around what we’ve seen over the last few years. Between Ryu, Springer, Gausman, and Berrios we’re talking about 471 million dollars committed to four players, and that’s not even discussing the other notable investments they’ve made during this rebuild.

And I sincerely doubt they’re done either.