Jayes make Ray priority
No time wasted in re-signing erratic lefty
Signing a starting pitcher who still has work to do to return to his peak form to a one- year contract may not qualify as a blockbuster, but don’t dismiss the Blue Jays agreeing to terms with lefthander Robbie Ray on Saturday as insignificant.
In signing Ray to an $8-million deal for 2021, the Jays were one of the first teams in Major League Baseball to make a move in free agency, which began last Sunday. That in itself is a noteworthy indicator of the mindset of the Jays’ brain trust this off-season.
And while not Hyun- Jin Ryu money ( or even that of since punted starter Chase Anderson), the fact that general manager Ross Atkins got an early jump on what is expected to be a tepid and cautious season of free agency leaguewide certainly sets a signal that the Jays front office will be in the game.
Perhaps most importantly as it pertains to immediate competitiveness, it is clear that the Jays see some upside in Ray, who battled control issues while leading the National League in walks before the Jays acquired him from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the August trade deadline.
On the surface, Ray may seem to be a work in progress to get back to the precision he flashed in 2017, but in the month that he worked under Jays pitching coach Pete Walker there were both incremental improvements and a belief from the Jays that there is strong potential for more of that to come.
Ray and Walker hit it off immediately and given the veteran coach’s propensity for helping pitchers regain confidence and results, the fact that the team saw enough in the southpaw to offer a mid- range contract (albeit light on term) speaks somewhat loudly.
The obvious issue with Ray is that he walks too many batters — 45 in his 51- and- change innings with the Diamondbacks and Jays in 2020 — but when his command is on, he’s effective. Though the 29- year- old took the loss to the eventual American League champion Tampa Bay Rays in their playoff opener back in September, Ray allowed just one hit in three innings of work while striking out five.
One signing isn’t enough to lead to assumptions on how the Jays will fare in an off- season that is expected to be slow moving, but at least it indicates that Atkins and team president Mark Shapiro intend to be bullish where possible.
Atkins will no doubt be an active participant in the annual GM meetings, which begin Monday and will be held virtually due to COVID- 19 concerns. Both Atkins and Shapiro have indicated that they are determined to build off the positive steps the team made in the shortened season, and presumably that means exploring options via trade.