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Matt Chapman’s tenure with the Blue Jays ended for good when the third baseman signed with the Giants yesterday, scuttling any probabilities of a attainable return to Toronto. The Blue Jays’ additions of Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Justin Turner didn’t totally shut the door on the likelihood that Chapman and the Jays might maybe attain some type of deal, particularly since we simply noticed Cody Bellinger (like Chapman, a Boras Company shopper) re-sign with his former team on a short-term contract with a number of opt-outs.
The Jays had additionally been linked to Chapman’s market earlier this winter, and their curiosity in retaining Chapman dated again effectively earlier than he entered free company. Again in November, TSN’s Scott Mitchell reported that Chapman had sooner or later turned down an extension provide price greater than $100MM over 4 or 5 years. Mitchell added extra element in a post on X earlier in the present day, saying the Blue Jays’ provide was really a six-year pact price $120MM.
Chapman ended up with a three-year, $54MM assure from San Francisco, and the third baseman can choose out of the deal after both the 2024 or 2025 seasons. Primarily based on sheer greenback worth alone, it’s straightforward to second-guess Chapman’s choice to reject Toronto’s extension provide in the meanwhile, although six years and $120MM would’ve appeared like one thing of a cut price for Chapman for a lot of the 2023 marketing campaign. Although a finger damage contributed to Chapman’s huge dropoff on the plate late within the season, MLBTR nonetheless projected him to land six years and $150MM this winter, owing to each his still-excellent defensive play, his excellent superior metrics, and the shortage of position-player depth in the remainder of the free agent class.
Nonetheless, a bustling market by no means actually appeared to develop. The Mariners, Cubs, Blue Jays, and Giants ended up being the one groups publicly linked to Chapman, and the third baseman in the end selected the shorter-term cope with San Francisco, with the opt-out giving him an opportunity for a fast re-entry into free company subsequent offseason. He’ll financial institution $20MM in wage from the Giants earlier than making that call, and a extra constant 2024 season will seemingly place Chapman for a extra profitable long-term deal (and he gained’t be connected to qualifying-offer compensation). Whereas merely signing that extension with the Blue Jays would’ve erased any of this future uncertainty, Chapman appears keen to guess on himself in having a greater platform yr.
From Toronto’s perspective, it isn’t recognized if the Jays (or some other groups) had additionally floated one of these participant option-heavy shorter-term deal to Chapman at any level. If the Blue Jays have been certainly out of Chapman, Mitchell wonders if payroll constraints might need been an element, because the Jays are on pace for his or her second straight yr with a club-record payroll, in addition to a second yr over luxurious tax overage. RosterResource estimates Toronto’s tax quantity at round $248.6MM, and re-signing Chapman to an $18MM common annual worth would’ve put Toronto effectively over the second tier ($257MM) of luxurious tax penalization, and inching nearer to the third tier that begins at $277MM.
It could possibly be that the Jays are glad sufficient with Kiner-Falefa, Turner, and the in-house infield choices that they have been comfy shifting on from Chapman even at a lowered price ticket. Or, maybe the Jays did make Chapman an identical provide to the Giants’ contract, however Chapman merely most popular to return to the Bay Space and re-unite with Bob Melvin, his outdated supervisor from his days with the Athletics.
Turning to some information from the Blue Jays’ spring camp in Dunedin, supervisor John Schneider advised reporters (together with MLB.com’s Keegan Matheson) that Alek Manoah gained’t throw for a number of days after feeling some soreness in his proper shoulder throughout a bullpen session. An MRI didn’t reveal any structural injury, so Manoah shall be re-evaluated in a number of days’ time. In accordance with Schneider, Manoah mentioned his shoulder felt “a bit cranky, so we wished to be further cautious at this level.”
Whereas there isn’t any indication that the damage is something greater than fundamental soreness, the shoulder difficulty provides to Manoah’s standing as the most important query mark on the Blue Jays roster. After seemingly breaking out as a frontline pitcher in 2021-22, Manoah struggled badly in 2023, posting a 5.87 ERA in 87 1/3 huge league innings. Manoah spent the offseason under a changed nutrition and training plan, however his first spring outing wasn’t promising, as he allowed 4 runs on three hits and three hit batters over 1 2/3 innings final Tuesday.
Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Jose Berrios, and Yusei Kikuchi are Toronto’s prime 4 starters, with Manoah considerably tentatively penciled into the fifth spot. Bowden Francis looks as if the highest candidate on the depth chart ought to any holes open within the rotation, with Schneider additionally citing Mitch White and non-roster invite Paolo Espino. Prime prospect Ricky Tiedemann is extra prone to start the season at Triple-A, and Tiedemann is simply getting again to common prep work after lacking a while with minor irritation in his calf and hamstring.
Yariel Rodriguez is one other new face in camp, because the right-hander is trying to make his MLB debut after signing a five-year, $32MM free agent contract. Other than the World Baseball Traditional, nevertheless, Rodriguez didn’t pitch in 2023, as he spent the yr making ready to leap to the majors after spending his first eight professional seasons within the Cuban Serie Nacional and with Nippon Skilled Baseball’s Chunichi Dragons.
Given this lengthy layoff, it isn’t stunning that Rodriguez has some rust, and Schneider advised Sportsnet and different media yesterday that Rodriguez had some again spasms earlier in camp that delayed his prep work. The righty is slated to throw a bullpen session in the present day and is “feeling 100 per cent proper now,” in keeping with Schneider. “That was form of our plan, to take it gradual and actually get him acclimated. However he ought to have sufficient time to hopefully ramp as much as a number of innings when he does get into video games,” the supervisor mentioned.
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