Blue Jays: Looking back on an eventful hot stove season

Robbie Ray is out, Kevin Gausman in

When the Seattle Mariners signed Robbie Ray to a five-year, $115 contract (with an opt-out after year three, and a no-trade clause) on November 30th, it didn’t take the Blue Jays long to respond. As a matter of fact, the very next day, December 1st, Kevin Gausman was signed to a nearly identical five-year contract worth $110 million.

It’s worth noting that Gausman signed on the last day MLB teams could have contact with players before the looming lockout. It’s clear both sides wanted to have a deal in place before what turned out to be 100-plus days of negotiations that eventually led to a new CBA.

It also seems obvious by the terms of the two deals that the Jays were getting a comparatively-talented pitcher in Gausman. No one knows if the club would be able to pull off the coup of signing both aces, but Ray not joining the Mariners for the earlier series in Toronto suggests his vaccination status could have been a factor.

While the baseball world saw a Ray for Gausman swap of sorts as a virtual wash, that’s not the way it’s played out so far this season.

Gausman has been sensational sporting a 4-3 record, 2.25 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and a mind-boggling 65-5 K/BB ratio. He’s emerged as a Cy Young favourite and his splitter is one of the most unhittable pitchers in the sport.

Meanwhile, Ray has pitched to a 4-5 record with a 4.75 ERA and a bWAR of -0.1. He leads the AL in innings pitched and batters faced but also in earned runs.

Replacing Semien with Espinal

On the same day Toronto signed Gausman, Semien signed a mega-deal with the suddenly cash-crazy Texas Rangers.

If the terms of the deal didn’t help lighten the blow for Jays’ fans, his play this season certainly should. After committing seven years and $175 million for the veteran, the Rangers haven’t gotten a great return on their investment so far. Semien is hitting just .194 and hit his first home run of the season on Saturday night.

Semien was an MVP finalist last season and earned his huge payday. However, he’s played barely above replacement level (0.2) and has been a disappointment for the Rangers so far.

Many observers figured the Blue Jays would at least sign a veteran middle infielder to compete with incumbents Santiago Espinal and Cavan Biggio. Instead, they traded for another high-level infielder, third baseman Matt Chapman, and left second base as an open competition.

Espinal showed up to camp looking noticeably stronger and with a goal to drive the ball harder than he had previously shown. Even his strongest supporters have to be pleasantly surprised with his play this season. Espinal is hitting .264 with a team-leading 13 doubles.

Espinal took what was supposed to be a platoon situation at second base and turned it into a monopoly. Biggio didn’t get off to a great start, got put on the COVID-19 IL and spent some time in Triple-A Buffalo. That stint seems to have served him well and Biggio re-joined the team for the series in Anaheim against the Angels and played pretty well. Still, Espinal has a pretty firm grip on the job at second base these days.

Southpaw Swap

When the Blue Jays traded for Steven Matz before last season, no one was really sure how it would turn out. Sure, he had some good years under his belt, but he was also hit hard in 2020 and some thought he was finished.

Matz bounced back nicely in 2021 and parlayed that into a four-year, $44 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals. Unfortunately, for Matz and the Cards, he hasn’t been able to maintain the success he enjoyed last season. He’s 3-3 with a 6.03 ERA, a -0.6 bWAR, and has pitched just 37.1 innings over his first nine starts.

Shortly after teams and players were allowed to communicate again, the Jays and Yusei Kikuchi agreed to terms on a three-year, $36 million deal. The move made a lot of sense as the club had lost two left-handed starters in free agency and Kikuchi had flashed good stuff over three seasons in Seattle.

Although he had some shaky moments out of the gate, Kikuchi has seemingly settled in and has enjoyed a solid May. He’s 2-0 with a 2.36 ERA and .177 opponent batting average for the month.  He’s recorded 31 strikeouts over 26.2 innings over those five starts. For the season he’s 2-1 with a 3.48 ERA with 44 K’s over 41.1 innings. He does lead the American League in walks with 24, so that will be an area that the coaching staff will continue to work with him on.

The trend with Kikuchi has been a bloated ERA in the season’s second half, so that’ll be something to keep an eye on.

Berrios Blockbuster

When the trade for Jose Berrios was consummated, there were mixed reviews. There were the fans who thought it was too risky to move on from top prospects Austin Martin and Simeon Woods-Richardson. Others saw Berrios as the missing puzzle piece on a win-now team, while a third faction was in wait-and-see mode. How would he perform in a larger market with a bigger spotlight on him, and could he be retained?

After making 12 starts down the stretch for a Jays team in a wild-card race until the final day of the regular season, he performed well going 5-4 with a 3.58 ERA. It was obvious that extending Berrios would be one of the first things management would focus on in the fall. While it made sense to sign the right-hander considering the quality of the prospects surrendered to acquire him, the question now is did they do it too soon?

Berrios struggled mightily in the first game of the season when he was pulled after giving up four runs and getting just one out. He’s had a couple of rough outings since then, including lasting only two and third innings and giving up six earned runs against the Angels on Sunday. The Blue Jays have hitched their wagon to Berrios to the tune of seven years and $131 million. He’s paid like their number one starter but he’s pitched like their number five starter.

The interesting thing is that both Berrios and Robbie Ray have struggled unexpectedly this season. They had matching 4.75 ERA’s entering Sunday’s action although Berrios’ lousy outing ballooned his to 5.62.

Grichuk Gone

For the better part of two years I’ve been wondering, when will the Blue Jays trade Randal Grichuk? Just a couple of weeks before the start of this season, I finally got my answer. He was traded to the Colorado Rockies for Raimel Tapia and minor league infielder Adrian Pinto.

It’s not that Grichuk is a bad player, he’s quite useful actually. It’s just that he’s been part of a crowded and talented position group, one that includes younger players under team control for several years.

It’s a good thing he wasn’t moved last year because it turns out he was needed early and often and he was the team’s most consistent player for much of the early part of the season. He could’ve been utilized this season too.

Tesocar Hernandez and Lourdes Gurriel Jr. have both struggled with injuries and haven’t really gotten going yet, although the latter has heated up lately.

This is a hard trade to evaluate because it’s not as simple as who’s the better player? Tapia gives the Jays a different look in the outfield: a speedy, lanky, high-contact guy who can be used in a variety of ways. It’s taken him a little while to get going but he’s been better lately. He’s hitting .241 with 13 RBI. Grichuk has fit in nicely with the Rockies and is batting .279 with five homers and 25 RBI.

Tapia’s contact ($3.95 M, in first-year of arbitration) is much more palatable and, who knows, the undersized Pinto may be able to help out in a few years.

Yimi Garcia was added as another hard-thowing reliever and David Phelps took advantage of his minor-league deal and has added much-needed depth to the Jays bullpen.