If Bauer balks, who’s on deck?
Many free-agent pitchers are on the market within team’s $40M price range
The biggest pitching domino has yet to fall in baseball’s slowmoving off-season with Trevor Bauer still a free agent, but the Blue Jays have reportedly been active in their pursuit of starters.
They ignited the hot stove by inking Robbie Ray to a oneyear, $8-million (U.S.) deal on Nov. 7, the first free agent to put pen to paper. Around that time, general manager Ross Atkins told reporters he had been close to another unspecified deal, possibly with right-hander Kevin Gausman. This past week, the Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that the Jays offered Gausman a three-year deal worth around $40 million before he accepted a $18.9-million qualifying offer from the San Francisco Giants.
Gausman was in the second tier of available starters below Bauer, and while the Jays might still be in the hunt for the National League Cy Young winner, they can’t put all their eggs in one basket.
Using that $40 million as a guide, what could they afford on the free-agent pitching market? Who should they avoid? Here’s a look at some of the leading, middling and unlikely candidates, with salary projections from MLB Trade Rumours:
> Jake Odorizzi, RH Projection:
Three years, $39M It was a lost year for the 30year-old Odorizzi, who pitched just13 2⁄3innings for the Minnesota Twins because of injuries, but he remains among the best starters available. His ability to throw strikes, career durability and velocity — which didn’t seem to take a hit in limited frames in 2020 — put Odorizzi alongside Gausman and Masahiro Tanaka. He doesn’t have strong ties to the Twins, having spent the bulk of his career in the AL East with the Rays.
> Jose Quintana, LH Projection:
Two years, $18M Like Odorizzi, the 31-year-old Quintana has his share of struggles in 2020, pitching just 10 innings for the Chicago Cubs
because of injuries. Prior to that, though, he was a reliable veteran and even though his workload has shrunk somewhat in recent years, the 171 innings he threw in 2019 would have led the Jays.
MIDDLING
> Masahiro Tanaka, RH Projection: Three years, $39M At 32, Tanaka’s resumé is top notch, and in the end it might take more than $40 million to land him. There’s the career 3.74 ERA to go with 8.5 strikeouts and just 1.8 walks per nine innings — all with the New York Yankees. The Jays’ AL East rivals also have holes to fill in their rotation, however, so odds are they’ll find a way to bring back the veteran.
> Corey Kluber, RH Projection: One year, $12M
Kluber, 34, became a free agent in October when the Texas Rangers declined an $18-million contract option. The twotime Cy Young winner pitched just one inning this year before season-ending shoulder injury. The Jays reportedly inquired about a trade for Kluber last year, and Atkins and Jays president Mark Shapiro know him well from their days in Cleveland. There are health questions, but the Jays might have enough depth to allow Kluber to cut back his normal workload. The young Jays could benefit from having a bona fide big-game pitcher in their midst, even if he is no longer at his peak.
UNLIKELY
> J.A. Happ, LH Projection:
One year, $6M Happ was well liked and put up solid numbers in his second stint with the Jays from 2016 to 2018, but at 38 he has become more of a back-end-of-the-rotation guy. The Jays already have enough of those in Ray, Tanner Roark and Ross Stripling.
> James Paxton, LH Projection:
One year, $10M Jays fans seem keen on having a Canadian in their rotation, and why not? But Paxton and the Jays have a complicated backstory. In 2009, the Jays drafted the southpaw, who was later accused of violating NCAA rules after the sides couldn’t agree on asigning bonus. The front office has changed, but history make keep the Jays off his list.