Three players we’re glad the Blue Jays did not sign in the offseason

Steven Matz

Signed a four-year deal worth $44 million with the St. Louis Cardinals

Similar to this piece by fellow contributor Graeme Wallace, the Blue Jays appeared to have dodged a bullet when it comes to Steven Matz taking his talents to St. Louis rather than re-signing with the Blue Jays. The Jays did offer him a multi-year deal and he was on the line of whether the club should present him with a qualifying offer but ultimately, neither materialized for the Jays and Matz went to the Cardinals.

Although he pitched well in his lone season with the Jays to the tune of a 3.82 ERA through 29 starts, Matz was not able to recreate the same stats this season with his new club. Through 10 games, the southpaw has struggled in Missouri, authoring a 5.70 ERA through 42.2 innings with a 1.313 WHIP. His FIP at 3.94 indicates his team might not be helping him out so much but the reason the Jays dodged a bullet is more so due to his injuries, as not only has he been limited to just ten starts, he is now likely out for the season with a torn MCL.

If the Jays had brought Matz back into the rotation, compounded with the Ryu injury, this Jays rotation would be looking a whole hell of a lot different than what we currently see. As I mentioned earlier, the Jays starting pitching depth is not as deep as we would like to see and that would surely be tested with Ryu and Matz out unless the front office made some bigger trade deadline moves for the rotation.

Overall, the four-year $44 million dollar deal was good for Matz but likely too rich for the Blue Jays moving forward, however, we do not know at this time what the Jays offer to Matz before he went to St. Louis. We shall wait and see what the next season of the multi-year deal brings but so far, it’s looking alright for the Blue Jays.