Matt Chapman, Blue Jays reunion hopes officially dashed as he heads to the NL West

The winter-long standoff between Scott Boras, his clients and teams around Major League Baseball appears to finally be coming to a close. According to multiple reports, including one from the New York Post's Jon Heyman, the superstar third baseman is signing a three-year contract with the San Francisco Giants.

Chapman, 30, will make a total of $54M over the life of his contract. $20M in 2024, $18M in 2025 and $16M in 2026, with opt-outs between each year.

This is a shockingly low value for Chapman, who at one point was offered north of $100M to remain with the Blue Jays. The club reportedly offered him an extension around here in April of last season. It appears that the defensive wizard is going to count on a strong 2024 season, opt out, and then test the free agent waters once again to boost his payday.

Many Blue Jays fans are immediately frustrated at the low salary and why the Jays weren't able to beat this number. It seems more that the Jays weren't interested any longer rather than they didn't have the funds to spend. Scott Boras has notoriously been known as a tough negotiator, so it's entirely possible that the Jays soured on a potential reunion at some during the offseason.

So now, Chapman is heading to the Bay Area. After a red-hot April last year, he regressed rather significantly in a Blue Jays uniform. All told, he finished the year with 17 home runs and 54 RBI along with a 108 wRC+. Of course, his value is largely carried by what he can do on defense.

Last season, the four-time Gold Glove winner finished in the 87th percentile in Outs Above Average and 80th in Arm Strength. His 12 Defensive Runs Saved once again ranked near the top of the league amongst fellow third basemen.

The Giants are counting on him bouncing back with the bat, but doing so may result in their pact being of the one-year variety if he can turn things around offensively. If we suggested earlier in the offseason that Chapman would sign for $54M and Cody Bellinger would sign for $80M, can you imagine how hard we'd be laughed at? Now, they've sacrificed significant paydays for opt-out-laden deals in hopes of bouncing back.

For the Blue Jays, this is going to continue the plan that's already been in place. There's currently a massive group of players in line for playing time at third this year. Justin Turner, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Santiago Espinal and Cavan Biggio figure to lead the charge, while Davis Schneider gets the occasional start at the hot corner and bounces around elsewhere. This is not to mention the presence of Addison Barger and Orelvis Martinez down in Triple-A.

Signing Chapman would've done nothing but make this infield logjam worse. It seems that the Jays, barring a last minute change, are going "all in" on their current group and crossing their fingers that it works out in their favor.