The Blue Jays and Colby Rasmus have avoided arbitration by agreeing to a one-year contract worth $2.7MM, report CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman (on Twitter). Toronto acquired the Beverly Hills Sports Council client from the Cardinals at the trade deadline.
Our system forecast a $2.3MM salary for Rasmus next season. In 35 games after the trade, the 25-year-old hit just .173/.201/.316 with three homers while battling a wrist sprain. He's a .251/.322/.432 career hitter in his three big league seasons, though the various advanced metrics are mixed about his defensive performance.
As our Arbitration Tracker shows, the Blue Jays still have five unsigned arbitration-eligible players: Ben Francisco, Casey Janssen, Kelly Johnson, Brandon Morrow, and Carlos Villanueva.
I wish the Nats had Rasmus. Blue Jays have a good thing going, they should be fun to watch.
Yea like playing for fourth place?
I honestly don’t see the Jays ever doing any better than 3rd in this division. 2nd Wild Card was designed for teams like the Jays.
I wish the Cardinals still had Rasmus but I guess the trade really helped the cardinals win the WS. Best of luck colby.
hoping that spring training does the same for him as it did for escobar
As a Braves fan I’m still bitter about that one. And fellow Braves fans please do not rush over to tell me that he was a “club house cancer”.
Oh my god. I didn’t think I’d ever come across a Braves fan who didn’t think that the Escobar trade worked out in the Bravo’s favor.
There are dozens of us!
Johnson deserves a 2 year/16m deal and Morrow should get a 2 year 10million deal.
id think morrow/johnson would be extension canidates the rest 1 year deals
I think Morrow would be a great extension candidate. His stuff is crazy, and his peripherals are out of this world, they might be able to lock him up for cheap for a few years by signing him now. I mean there’s no way he’s as unlucky as he was last year, seriously he had one double play turned behind him all year.
I doubt it. Morrow is probably reading this page right now. He knows what his periphs are and that he should have had an ERA about 1.5 runs below what it was last year, so I doubt he’d sign for overly cheap.
I dunno. He had the biggest gap between FIP and ERA in the Majors….the last two years in a row. Considierng the gap between FIP and ERA is SUPPOSED to be luck, that means that Morrow has been the unluckiest pitcher in MLB….two years in a row. The odds of that are really, really high. More likely is that Morrow just has a naturally low FIP, even though it doesn’t translate to lower ERA as it usually does. Morrow big problem is pitching with runners on. Check out his splits on that. It’s not pretty.
My point is, I don’t think we can assume that his ERA will eventaully come down to where FIP says it will. Morrow may just the kind of pitcher to have a natural gap between the two.
I definitely agree with you that there are pitchers that never match FIP to ERA and after a certain amount of time you can’t just blame “luck” anymore just look at Matt Cain, Javier Vasquez, and most of Jurjjens career. Still, Morrow is fairly early in his career and the risk is obviously there but the reward, if he could be signed for cheap enough, could be huge.
Jays aren’t interested in Johnson for multiple years.
i would be if i were them, and i believe AA said early in the offseason they’d be open to an extension with johnson. no real good options at 2B in the future unless you are going to pay through the teeth for one of those young, controllable types.
johnson is totally worth a short extension. hes right in the middle of his prime, and even in his off years he still provides value. when hes at his best, hes borderline elite.
Good news. Rasmus is going to ROAR this year. Looking forward to watching Colby and Lawrie for a full big league season. Maybe Kelly Johnson too.
I feel sorry for the jays because if they were in any other division they would compete for a division title but that AL east is BRUTAL. The yanks and red sox have stacked offenses and the rays have an all star rotation. The jays have a nice offense but if they could get a couple decent starters they could compete for the division.
Good thing Rasmus has potential. Or else he wouldnt be very good
Um, yeah, that’s kind of what the definition of “potential” means so…
I bet if Bryce Harper came into the league last year he wouldn’t be very good either, good thing he has potential right
Had the highest OPS for CF’s two years ago
You just got Chris tuckered
Rasmus gonna have a great year, 25hrs,90+ rbis and a .280 ba. I figure OPS around .875-900 would be great….and then getting locked up long term by the jays
Whens the last time jays went to arbitration with a player.. its got to be a record.
Last year?
Who ?
They went to arb with Frasor last year
no they didn’t they signed him to a 1 + 1 option
They didn’t. The signed him to a 1 year deal with an option that the Sox picked up before trading him back.
It was Bill Risley in ’97 I think. The only reason anyone remembers his name…
Your exactly right.
How long before the Blue Jays are back in the playoffs??? I mean Blue Jays fans have been craving all of AA’s moves but are those moves really going to escalate them to the top?
Jays won’t make the playoffs until the ownership commits to spending money (not NYY type money, but $120m on payroll type money) on free agents and bringing in some top talent to join a developed nucleus of players. That’s what the Jays did so well in the early 90s when they added guys like Winfield, Jack Morris, David Cone and Paul Molitor and that’s what they’re going to have to do now.
The Yanks just proved that principle with their willingness to not only part with Montero to get a stud pitcher, but also shell out some good short-term money on someone like Kuroda. That’s the kind of move a Jays club that wants to make the playoffs would need to do to get it over the top and I don’t see any signs that the ownership is prepared to do that yet.
Again, as any REAL jays fan would point out, those moves (Cone,Molitor etc..) came when the jays were a solid team with little question marks. This team is good yes but there are far to many questions about what they have to invest the kind of money the free agents want. I mean sure they could spend 25 million a year on a guy like fielder (no i hope they dont) but really is fielder going to make us a legit contender?? NOPE….if we answer some of those questions with the players we have we will invest in the free agent/trade market but until those questions are answered there is no point breaking the bank or the farm
This is the silly argument with Fielder. Is he going to make us a contender in 2012? No. Will he go a long way to making us a contender in 2013 when our guys have another year of growth under their belts and beyond? Absolutely. It’s not like you’d be signing him to a one year deal and he’s only 27
exactly.
not to mention that there is no other impact bats out there next offseason
Josh Hamilton says hello.
True, but for the price and as many question marks as the jays have on the roster right now i dont think fielder is a need. He would be great but not needed. If rasmus finds his way and lawrie stays the real deal then i think the offence is up there with anyone. Paying the type of money he commands is to much when you have potentially a lot of holes to fill if players you count on dont pan out as expected and then fielder does nothing next year to improve our chances
Wow…”real” fan eh??? Here’s a little factoid that might help you understand why this fan isn’t delusional about expectations around contending. Back in 1992/3 the Jays had the #1 payroll in ALL of baseball. Yes they had a great core of players, but they were paying the best as well. 20 YEARS have passed since then and the Yankees and Red Sox have proved one thing since then…they’re willing to buy championship teams.
The Jays can devote lots of time to developing cheap players through their farm system, but until they’re willing to raid their farm system for emerging/established players (hello Latos/Gonzalez and now Pineda) and sign free agents (i.e.SPEND MONEY) they won’t be perennial contenders.
Rogers Communications Inc made over $1.5b in profits last year and I think a real fan would recognize that an ownership group that is committed to the fan base is one that’s willing to provide the resources necessary to compete. Rangers fans wouldn’t complain about that statement in light of their ownership’s total commitment to win it now and neither should Jays fans…..
Of course, you forgot to mention that the Jays didn’t add Winfield, Jack Morris, David Cone and Paul Molitor until after they had won the division 3 times..Free agents then were used as the final pieces and not core building and I expect to see the same thing this time around.
2013 maybe, 2014 for sure.
another year or 2?
Rasmus for Jurrjens and Prado, anyone?
Rasmus, Drabek and Lind/or Encarnacion for Garza, Byrd and Soriano ($$$$$$) ??
No to both, this isn’t fantasy baseball
It isn’t?!?!?! actually, in the end, isn’t Major League Baseballl itself a fantasy? just trying to play along!
Both are terrible trade ideas.
still not sure about Rasmus. like him but am thinking … use him while potential still looms large. Cubs, for sure, are in that market. Byrd is a B+-level beast right now. with just the one year left, so no longterm albatross (but would also want a low-minor outfield upsider, too). Soriano? Cubs absorb most or all of the money and my fantasy is Dwayne Murphy turns him into Bautista 2.0.can see Byrd and Alfonso “Don’t ever let me wear a glove” Sori be the closest/best Jays can do behind Joey Bats without diving into the Prince pool.And also thinking Jurrjens might be a younger Garza, though admit I haven’t seen him as often. Prado, do I want him as much? not really but maybe Colorabbie still does and Jays flip him and get J. Herrera — younger, switcher and more natural D than KJohnson (just cut him loose) — along with one of the Rox’ bevy of arms for the Jays pen
still not sure about Rasmus. like him but am thinking … use him while potential still looms large. Cubs, for sure, are in that market. Byrd is a B+-level beast right now. with just the one year left, so no longterm albatross (but would also want a low-minor outfield upsider, too). Soriano? Cubs absorb most or all of the money and my fantasy is Dwayne Murphy turns him into Bautista 2.0.can see Byrd and Alfonso “Don’t ever let me wear a glove” Sori be the closest/best Jays can do behind Joey Bats without diving into the Prince pool.And also thinking Jurrjens might be a younger Garza, though admit I haven’t seen him as often. Prado, do I want him as much? not really but maybe Colorabbie still does and Jays flip him and get J. Herrera — younger, switcher and more natural D than KJohnson (just cut him loose) — along with one of the Rox’ bevy of arms for the Jays pen