No mystery why Ray isn’t here
But rumours about his vaccination status aren’t why Toronto chose to go with Gausman this year
The Seattle Mariners rolled into town for their only road series of the year against the Blue Jays and the reigning American League Cy Young Award winner was conspicuously absent from the trip.
As reporters arrived at the visitors clubhouse on Monday afternoon, Robbie Ray’s locker was nowhere to be seen. When asked if the former Jay would be available to speak with reporters, a Mariners club official said no, but didn’t specify why.
After a media member pressed for further information, the answer was an elusive “haven’t seen him today.” About an hour later, Mariners manager Scott Servais confirmed Ray wasn’t on Canadian soil, while also remaining short on specifics.
“No,” Servais said when asked if Ray was in town. “He’ll pitch for us in Boston.”
What Servais didn’t get into was Ray’s vaccination status. On Sunday, the manager said a “couple” of players would be unable to join the Mariners in Toronto because of Canada’s cross-border rules that require unvaccinated travellers to quarantine for 14 days. The following day, reliever Drew Steckenrider was the only one placed on the club’s restricted list.
That might seem strange, but according to MLB rules, starters who pitched within four days of their team entering Canada are not eligible for the restricted list. The rule is intended to stop teams from manipulating rosters to add an extra bench player.
Ray couldn’t be on the list because he pitched Sunday, but the timing of that outing seems unusual if his vaccination status wasn’t an issue. While the 30-year-old was lined up to start Monday, the Mariners used Thursday’s off-day to shuffle their rotation. Ray moved up one day and righty Chris Flexen was pushed back to start against the Jays in the series opener.
One doesn’t need to be a detective to connect the dots. It would be strange for a starter to not join his teammates on the road even if he wasn’t scheduled to pitch. It’s equally bizarre to be on the first and third legs of the trip, but not the second. Skipping the city where he won a Cy Young about six months prior is even more unusual.
There have been rumblings about Ray’s vaccination status dating back to last season, but the rules were different in 2021. The federal government provided professional sports leagues with a national interest exemption that allowed unvaccinated athletes to cross the border without having to quarantine. That exemption expired in January.
There will be some who believe Ray’s vaccination status provides the answer to why the Jays chose Kevin Gausman in free agency during the off-season, but that would be an oversimplification of what transpired. Just because Ray appears to be unvaxxed doesn’t mean he would have resisted getting the shots if the Jays tabled the best offer. After all, money talks.
More important, though, the Jays pursued Gausman at least twice before finally sealing the deal with him in December. Vaccines aside, he was the guy they preferred long term, even though Ray had a dominating run for them a season ago.
“Consistency,” Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said when asked what stood out about Ray’s time with the Jays. “I don’t think he ever struggled. He was just the same guy, going after you, throwing strikes with all his pitches. He was fun to watch. The whole team felt like: We have Robbie Ray today, we have a pretty good chance to win. He was steady, good, the whole time.”
The ironic part about Montoyo’s comments is that it was a lack of faith in Ray’s ability to maintain that consistency which caused the Jays to focus on Gausman. Ray was spectacular for the Jays in 2021 with an AL-best 2.84 ERA, but was an absolute mess when he arrived at the trade deadline the year before.
Prior to joining the Jays, Ray had a 7.84 ERA across seven starts while walking a career-worst nine batters per nine innings. The year before, he had posted a 4.34 ERA. There was no questioning the elite stuff, but there were lots of doubts about his ability to command it for an extended period.
Some of those concerns went away after a lot of work with pitching coach Pete Walker, but not all of them, and the possibility existed that his issues could resurface at any time. So far in Seattle, it’s been a mixed bag with a 4-3 record and 4.62 ERA across eight starts.
“I know he’s not having the type of numerical season he had last year, but the stuff is still very good. I think he had 26, 27 swing-andmisses on his stuff (Sunday),” Servais said, referencing Ray’s outing against the Mets, which saw him strike out nine batters while allowing five runs over six frames.
“He’s just had that one bad inning that’s affected each outing, but he has given us a chance to win almost every time he has been out there, and he pitches six innings consistently, or more. I don’t know a manager alive who won’t take that. In today’s game, you take that every time.”
While there’s truth in that, there’s also no denying that through six weeks Gausman has been the more prudent choice. He leads Ray in almost every category, including strikeouts, and he’ll earn $5 million (U.S.) less over the same five-year term.
While Gausman remains the safer long-term bet because of his command, he’s now looking like the superior short-term pick as well.
Ray’s vaccine status only tells part of this story, but don’t expect to read or hear much more about it this week because while his teammates are in Toronto, the Jays’ former ace is unavailable for comment while stuck hanging out in New York, Boston or who knows where.