Grading the largest contracts in Toronto Blue Jays history

Dave Stewart

Signed a two-year, $8.5 million deal on Dec. 8, 1992
Grade: B

Stewart was the 29th highest earner in 1993 and 33rd in 1994. Stewart produced 2.5 bWAR in his two seasons with the Blue Jays, but his overall numbers were not great, as he had a 5.09 ERA with 207 strikeouts in 295 1/3 innings in his two years with the Blue Jays.

Still, he stifled a talented White Sox club in the ALCS in 1993, and, without his 2.03 ERA in 13 1/3 innings that series, there’s no guarantee the Blue Jays repeat as World Champs.   

Rogers Clemens

Signed a four-year, $40 million deal on Dec. 13, 1996
Grade: A

Clemens had two of the most dominant seasons on the mound in Blue Jays history.

He was the fourth-highest paid player in MLB in 1997, and fifth-highest in 1998. Clemens won back-to-back Cy Young Awards, was an All-Star in back-to-back seasons and produced 20.1 bWAR across 498 2/3 innings in those two years.

He threw recorded a 2.33 ERA with 563 strikeouts in those innings, and went 41-13 — which is 25% of the 164 games they won over those two seasons. He was traded traded to the Yankees in the third year of that deal.

Carlos Delgado

Signed a four-year, $68 million deal on Nov. 6, 2000
Grade: A

Delgado's extension shot him into the upper echelon of MLB’s highest earners, as he ranked in the top-three earners in baseball from 2001 to '04.

Delgado produced 18.2 bWAR over the course of this extension and slashed with 282/.405/.555 with 146 home runs during his age 29-32 seasons.

He led the league in RBI, OPS and OPS+ in 2003, and was also named an All-Star that season.

While you can’t say Delgado gave the Blue Jays a hometown discount, this signing kept a homegrown star player in town for a couple more years and paid him pretty much exactly what he would’ve been worth on the open market.