TORONTO – The path from rebuilding team to contender includes countless steps, most of which occur with little fanfare behind the scenes. And then there are the decisions that catch everyone’s attention.
Late Sunday night, the Blue Jays made one of those moves, agreeing to terms with last year’s National League ERA leader in a bold deal that now ranks among the largest in franchise history. The Blue Jays are in agreement with Hyun-Jin Ryu on a four-year, $80 million deal, Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported first.
Immediately, the deal with the 32-year-old South Korean impacts the Blue Jays on and off the field. He bolsters a rotation that needed short-term help, represents a long-term building block for a franchise looking to contend again and offers the clearest sign yet that the current front office is willing and able to spend big.
Of course, there are questions here too.
A finesse pitcher, Ryu averaged 90.6 m.p.h. with his fastball in 2019 while also relying on a cutter, curve and his preferred out-pitch, a plus change-up. The combination worked in 2019, when he posted an NL-best 2.32 ERA in 182.2 innings while striking out 163.
He joins a rotation featuring two other newcomers, free agent signing Tanner Roark and trade acquisition Chase Anderson. On paper, Matt Shoemaker would be the club’s No. 4 starter while Trent Thornton and Ryan Borucki would be leading candidates for the final spot. That’s a much better rotation than the one that posted a 5.25 ERA in 2019.
“It’s not good enough just to have depth,” GM Ross Atkins said soon after the regular season. “You have to have major-league pieces and guys that can contribute in significant ways.”
Of course, that initial rotation will just be a starting point. A year ago, the Blue Jays used 21 different starters including Ryan Feierabend, Buddy Boshers and Neil Ramirez. The lack of viable starters was apparent at times, with manager Charlie Montoyo once justifying his decision to start Edwin Jackson and his 11.12 ERA by acknowledging “We don’t have anybody else.”
Well, now they do. On paper, the Blue Jays seem poised to begin the season with a triple-A rotation filled with young pitchers ready or nearly ready for the majors. Jacob Waguespack, Anthony Kay, T.J. Zeuch and Sean Reid-Foley all have some big-league experience and can be optioned to and from Buffalo as needed. Plus, there’s Nate Pearson, arguably the game’s top pitching prospect, who should be ready for major-league hitters at some point this season.
Ryu’s presence should help ensure that the days of ‘an opener and a guy’ are over.
Even so, the Blue Jays can’t assume they’re getting 200 innings per season from Ryu, who has missed considerable time over the years. Shoulder surgery cost him the entire 2015 season and the first half of 2016. After just one start back, elbow tendonitis sidelined him until 2017. Hip and foot injuries impacted him that year, but only briefly. Then, in 2018, he missed 90 games with a left groin strain.
Those injuries could resurface, so a fair over/under for total innings pitched in Toronto may be 500 rather than 800. Regardless, that risk is priced into his contract to some extent as Ryu signed for a lower average annual value than fellow free agents Gerrit Cole ($36 million), Stephen Strasburg ($35) million and Zack Wheeler ($23.6 million). Adding to Ryu’s appeal, he won’t cost the Blue Jays a draft pick since he accepted Los Angeles’ qualifying offer a year ago.
Clearly, there’s risk here — it’s the largest free agent pitching deal in franchise history — but the Blue Jays are positioned to absorb it at a time that they have considerable financial flexibility. Beyond 2021, the team’s only commitments are Roark, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk. It won’t be until the final year of Ryu’s contract that the likes of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio are arbitration-eligible.
Even after completing this deal with Ryu and agent Scott Boras, the Blue Jays should have room to add and retain more impact players in the coming seasons. According to Roster Resource, Toronto’s projected 2020 payroll sits at $106 million — nowhere near the luxury tax threshold of $208 million.
Ryu’s agreement represents the largest Blue Jays deal of any kind since club president and CEO Mark Shapiro took over following the 2015 season. In the intervening years, Shapiro often said the Blue Jays would have the means to spend on major free agents at the right time, but that was often met with skepticism from the fan base. Now, the Ryu deal speaks for itself.
Eventually, the Blue Jays hope he’ll be pitching them back to contention. If everything breaks right, that could even happen as soon as next season. In the perhaps more likely event that 2020 represents a step towards respectability, Ryu’s greatest impact may be felt in 2021 and beyond.
CLEVELAND (AP) — Restricted free agent forward Isaac Okoro has agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Cavaliers on a three-year contract, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Okoro’s new deal is worth $38 million, according to the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the contract has not been signed or announced by the team.
ESPN.com first reported the agreement, citing Okoro’s representation.
The fifth overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, Okoro is Cleveland’s best perimeter defender, often drawing the assignment of guarding the opponent’s top scorer. Okoro also has worked to improve his offensive game.
The 23-year-old averaged 9.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 69 games — 42 starts — last season for the Cavs, who beat Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs before losing to eventual champion Boston.
Okoro shot a career-best 39% on 3-pointers, forcing teams to come out and guard him.
His agreement caps an extraordinarily busy summer for the Cavs that began with coach J.B. Bickerstaff being fired and replaced by Kenny Atkinson. All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell signed a three-year, $150 million extension in July, ending months of speculation that he wanted out of Cleveland.
Also, power forward Evan Mobley signed a five-year, $224 deal and center Jarrett Allen signed a three-year, $91 million extension.
GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Canada’s Marina Stakusic fell 6-4, 6-3 to Poland’s Magdalena Frech in the quarterfinals of the Guadalajara Open tennis tournament on Friday.
The 19-year-old from Mississauga, Ont., won 61 per cent of her first-serve points and broke on just one of her six opportunities.
Stakusic had upset top-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (0) on Thursday night to advance.
In the opening round, Stakusic defeated Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-4 on Tuesday.
The fifth-seeded Frech won 62 per cent of her first-serve points and converted on three of her nine break point opportunities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Alejandro Kirk’s long single with the bases loaded provided the Toronto Blue Jays with a walk-off 4-3 win in the 11th inning of their series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday.
With the Cardinals outfield in, Kirk drove a shot off the base of the left-field wall to give the Blue Jays (70-78) their fourth win in 11 outings and halt the Cardinals’ (74-73) two-game win streak before 30,380 at Rogers Centre.
Kirk enjoyed a two-hit, two-RBI outing.
Erik Swanson (2-2) pitched a perfect 11th inning for the win, while Cardinals reliever Ryan Fernandez (1-5) took the loss.
Blue Jays starter Kevin Gausman enjoyed a seven-inning, 104-pitch outing. He surrendered his two runs on nine hits and two walks and fanned only two Cardinals.
He gave way to reliever Genesis Cabrera, who gave up a one-out homer to Thomas Saggese, his first in 2024, that tied the game in the eighth.
The Cardinals started swiftly with four straight singles to open the game. But they exited the first inning with only two runs on an RBI single to centre from Nolan Arendao and a fielder’s choice from Saggese.
Gausman required 28 pitches to escape the first inning but settled down to allow his teammates to snatch the lead in the fourth.
He also deftly pitched out of threats from the visitors in the fifth, sixth and seventh thanks to some solid defence, including Will Wagner’s diving stop, which led to a double play to end the fifth inning.
George Springer led off with a walk and stole second base. He advanced to third on Nathan Lukes’s single and scored when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. knocked in his 95th run with a double off the left-field wall.
Lukes scored on a sacrifice fly to left field from Spencer Horwitz. Guerrero touched home on Kirk’s two-out single to right.
In the ninth, Guerrero made a critical diving catch on an Arenado grounder to throw out the Cardinals’ infielder, with reliever Tommy Nance covering first. The defensive gem ended the inning with a runner on second base.
St. Louis starter Erick Fedde faced the minimum night batters in the first three innings thanks to a pair of double plays. He lasted five innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts.
ON DECK
Toronto ace Jose Berrios (15-9) will start the second of the three-game series on Saturday. He has a six-game win streak.
The Cardinals will counter with righty Kyle Gibson (8-6).
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
