Arbitration setback gives Tepera ‘fuel’ on the hill
LAURA ARMSTRONG
DUNEDIN, FLA.— It took Ryan Tepera about 15 hours to drive from his Texas home to the Blue Jays’ spring training facility, where his arrival was greeted warmly by teammates.
Tepera responded in kind, but the 31-year-old right-hander also arrived at Dunedin Stadium with a chip on his shoulder after losing his recent salary arbitration case.
The sides weren’t far apart by baseball standards — $275,000 (U.S.) — with the reliever seeking $1.8 million and the Jays offering $1.525 million, which is what he wound up with.
It’s a substantial hike from the $575,000 he made in 2018 — when he finished 19 games, including seven saves in15 chances, and recorded a 3.64 ERA over 64 2⁄ innings — but he 3 wasn’t happy about the outcome.
“It’s a f----d-up process, it really is, and I don’t know what the solution is to it, to make it better,” Tepera said Wednesday. “At the end of the day, it comes down to me winning or losing the case and I hate losing at anything. So obviously I’m not happy, but it’s over and done with. It’s part of the process.”
Tepera was among nine arbitration-eligible Jays, but the only one who didn’t settle without a hearing. He likened last Thursday’s proceedings — a suit-and-tie affair settled by arbitrators Mark Burstein, Howard Edelman and Edna Francis — to a court hearing.
“I don’t say a word, I just kind of sit there and listen and basically hear my side brag about me for an hour, and then the other side kind of talk crap about me for an hour,” Tepera said.
The Jays’ front office had no immediate comment. General manager Ross Atkins was expected to speak to the media on Thursday morning.
The club has won three of five cases since Mark Shapiro and Atkins took charge in late 2015. Jesse Chavez won his case in 2016, and Marcus Stroman was victorious in 2017. Stroman and Roberto Osuna lost in 2018.
“The negative things that were said to me, by my own team, will never leave my mind,” Stroman tweeted (since deleted) after last year’s arbitration defeat, when the sides were just $400,000 apart.
Around the majors, players have won six of nine cases this off-season, guaranteeing they’ll win more than they lose for the first time since 1989-90.
Tepera has become a key part of one of the busiest bullpens in the majors. Jays relievers combined for 5962⁄ 3 innings in 2017, third-most in MLB, and Tepera led the way with 772⁄ 3frames. In that breakout year he wound up with a 3.59 earned-run average and 1.13 WHIP. The bullpen combined for 5941⁄ innings in 3 2018, the 11th-highest total in the bigs.
He spent about two weeks on the injured list last season with right elbow inflammation, but says he learned from the experience and enters camp feeling stronger than ever.
Arbitration feelings aside, Tepera says he’s looking forward to being a go-to guy in the late innings once again as the club continues to rebuild, adding that he’s still learning as he gains experience. He was in the eye of the storm last June when he gave up a walk-off homer to Houston’s Alex Bregman in a 7-6 loss, a game the Jays led 5-0 in the first inning. Then manager John Gibbons called it the “low point” of the season.
Primarily a fastball-slider pitcher, Tepera is looking to bulk up his repertoire with a slower slider as well as a splitter or changeup. He’s also focused on ways to strand more base- runners, including quickening his delivery to help control the running game.
Areas of his game that need work were brought up in the salary hearing, Tepera said before adding that he’s “thickskinned” and just as committed to helping the Jays get to the next level.
“It leaves a little bad taste in your mouth, but (I’ll) use it for motivation to be better,” he said. “There are certain things that I need to work on and obviously they pointed them out, so just be better. That’s what you do every season … but there’s a little extra motivation, no doubt.”