Mar. 2: Sportsnet Canada’s Ben Nicholson-Smith reports that Buchholz’s deal will be of the MLB variety when complete.
Feb. 28: MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Buchholz deal, if finalized, would pay him “about” $3MM and contain another $3MM worth of incentives. Notably, the agreement is still pending a physical.
Feb. 28: The Blue Jays are set to sign right-hander Clay Buchholz, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (via Twitter). The ISE Baseball client will be the second pickup of the past couple hours for Toronto, as the Jays quite recently agreed to terms with righty Bud Norris on a minor league pact as well.
Buchholz, 34, opened the 2018 season with the Royals’ Triple-A affiliate, and Kansas City’s decision to cut him loose on May 1 proved to be a substantial misstep. The longtime Red Sox hurler caught on with the Diamondbacks, where he was a familiar face for GM Mike Hazen and several Arizona staffers who cut their teeth in the Boston organization. The Royals’ loss was the D-backs’ gain, as Buchholz turned in a masterful 2.01 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 2.0 BB/9, 0.82 HR/9 and a 42.6 percent grounder rate in 98 1/3 innings out of the Arizona rotation.
To be fair, Buchholz benefited from an unsustainable 86.6 percent strand rate and also had good fortune on balls in play (.255 BABIP), but virtually any metric pegged him as a resurgent, MLB-caliber rotation piece in his time with the Snakes (3.47 FIP, 4.01 xFIP, 4.08 SIERA). The veteran hurler looked to be well on his way to positioning himself as a solid candidate for a big league deal this winter, but as has happened to Buchholz on so many occasions in the past, his arm didn’t hold up through season’s end. The Diamondbacks announced in mid-September that a flexor mass strain in Buchholz’s right arm had preemptively ended his season.
Following that injury, it was a quiet offseason for Buchholz. Though he said at the time of the injury that he expected to be ready to pitch in Spring Training, there’s been nary a word on the status of his recovery from that injury. Presumably, the Jays will have an update on Buchholz’s health if and when the reported agreement between the two sides is formally announced by the team. At this juncture of the offseason, a minor league pact seems likely, though one could certainly argue that Buchholz’s 2018 performance merits a guaranteed spot on the 40-man roster.
Buchholz will give the Jays some rotation depth, adding to a group that already features Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, Ryan Borucki, Matt Shoemaker and Clayton Richard. It’s not clear right now whose spot Buchholz would be overtaking were he to crack the Opening Day rotation, though Sanchez and Stroman are locks to occupy spots, health permitting, and Shoemaker seems likely to do so as well.
Nice! Hope he pitches 25 games!
Yes, a good addition.
Craziest deal of the day!
Cistulli is that you??
More trade chips for the deadline. Good pickups for the Jays
Only a sucker would give more than a bag of balls for this useless POS
nice signing for a rebuliding team. could pay off at the deadline.
Nice signing for a 3 war pitcher who only pitched half a season. Was hoping the cards would bring him in after martinez’s injury
Free agency flood gate are now open lol
Claydro!
I bet Clay’s contract doesn’t cover Brylcreem.
he will probably be the best pitcher on the team
Possibly. But unlikely.
Certainly better than Stroman. And arguably longer lasting than Sanchez once his finger implodes after the second month.
The jays are cornering the market on buy low candidates.
I always wonder what this mans career would’ve been like if he avoided the injury bug. At times he has been downright DOMINANT and other times he has looked laughable. Good luck Clay!
The Jays have been working hard to overshadow the Bryce Harper signing.
They signed TWO players yesterday. Take that, Philly!
It’s quantity over quality. The Jays have the answer.
I like it. The presence of a pitcher who has won at the highest level may help shut Stroman’s trap a lil.
Let’s hope something shuts him up. Ideally a trade out of town.
I cant help but agree. If this is “being yourself” id sooner have the puppet who speaks in cliches, thank you.
Agree on every point made here. I think Stroman needs therapy.
Wonder if these things would be said if he was white?
Yes. It would be said if he was white.
Making this a race issue is not a good look, goutseyes.
What?!?…This has to be one of the more ignorant comments I’ve read on here in awhile..And believe me when I say, that is really saying something!!
The color of Stroman’s skin has nothing to do with his own comments, nor the reaction from fans. Believe it or not, sometimes a person’s race has absolutely NOTHING to do with his criticism.
That’s the equivalent of me asking if the backlash Harper is getting from Nats fans would be the same if he was black!?! That is so ignorant, race just plays zero part in this conversation.
Please ask yourself and consider this, if you are always the one bringing race into each and every situation, maybe you are the one that has the racial issue…
BravesFan 100% agreed. This is normal activity on the part of Iver. Cheap attempt to stir the pot.
Here’s hoping. I was really hoping they were going to ship him off to San Diego when there were some rumours about a deal being discussed a month or so ago.
I anticipate he’ll be shipped at the trade deadline in a three way deal that dumps him in a bottom dwelling NL team where he’ll have to choke on his claim about “hiding in another league.”
Gonna be strange watching Clay pitch at Fenway as a visitor
Bet he gets a standing O
He’ll be on the DL
Pretty Kool for all.
OOHH YEAH!!! (Breaks thru a wall)
Interesting play here. I was actually hoping the Angels would take a shot on him as a swingman/long reliever or possible starter.
Would have loved the Dodgers to sign him. I like Maeda as a reliever and doubtful or rotation can stay healthy.
Take a look at his results in Toronto alone at Skydome. Great signing.
Yes but what’s his record at the Rogers Centre?
I prefer Skydome. Wayy more futuristic!!
Same. But the joke was amusing.
I wish the Rangers had done this.
Good pickup for Toronto, I had hoped Os would get him on a minor league deal.
Better hope they don’t bring in the time clock. Slowest worker on the mound since Josh Beckett
Correct me if I’m wrong, but was it Hiroki Kuroda that seemed to take so long to get it to the plate?
Over the last 10 years, the slowest pitcher, in terms of seconds in between pitches, was Rafael Betancourt. Also, generally, relievers have been slower than pitchers.
An interesting fact though is, over the last 10 seasons, Japanese pitchers make up 5 out of the top 10 slowest starting pitchers, and 6 out of the top 12 slowest pitchers.
Tanaka is the slowest taking approx. 25.5 seconds between pitches, Daisuke 25.3, Clay Bucholtz 25.2, Vincent Velasquez 25.2, etc. according to fangraphs…
Kuroda takes 23.1, while his teammate Kenta Maeda takes 25.1 for comparison..
Biggest news of the day. Way to GET THE JOB DONE, toronto! Took forever for you to hash out the details but you did it, you did it!
Both moves are pretty good ones. I have no idea, but what can the guarantees be, maybe 2M each? Possible decent performance (especially Norris, Buck if healthy), automatic trade chips.
Pretty good use of the budget…..Of course THAT team shouldn’t have a budget, but I digress…..Oh Orioles, wherefore art thou?…..
If clays looking to rebuild value he’s not looking to pitch at Camden’s yards. There’s better options than the Rogers Centre but that’s where he wound up. Orioles aren’t giving out a potential 6 million bucks for another starter right now anyway. We added Karns. We’ll be doing this kind of thing next year when cashner’s gone.
Camden** can’t explain the apostrophe on that one….
Ya, that’s why I kind of limited it to 2M; 6M is high for Clay, and I like the guy. But at that price, interest will be narrow for him on July 31, because of the physicals if nothing else.
13 years, $330 million.
This guy should have been signed way earlier than late February.
This is one of the best signings in the history of the franchise. He can really pitch and will not give up. I cant wait to get season tickets
You that same joe who calls in and gets made fun of by every on air personality at the fan590 for suggesting the jays should sign the biggest free agent every offseason?
Wheeew. Now with the Harper matter out of the way, my Blue Jays can finally sign some free agents!!
Good luck Clay you deserve some. Good teammate. Good guy.
For anyone reading these comments about the two recent Blue Jay signings and believing they are sincere… they are not. It is “Innocent and Playful Banter Day” in Canada. We take this holiday seriously.
– From a Blue Jay fan
Buch had a higher WAR last year than Tanaka.
More proof that WAR is at best flawed, or entirely meaningless, as a measure of a player’s worth.
More proof you don’t understand how to use it or what it’s function is.
hopefully buch doesn’t take a roster spot for vlad guerrero jr
I think this is what keeps Vlad down until April.
pitching in baseball must be really thin to sign him
Good luck Clay. Sox traded with the Jays last year but had no MLB path at present. Stay healthy and they or some other contender will snap you up mid-season.
Would’ve liked to have seen him sign with the Pirates on a 1 year buy low deal until Keller is completely ready. Could’ve just moved Buch or Musgrove to the bullpen for the 2nd half if Keller comes up.
3 possible outcomes here:
– Ryan Borucki goes to Buffalo. I hope not, but Atkins did say he wasn’t guaranteed a spot in the starting rotation. He should be in Toronto
– Clayton Richard goes to the bullpen as the 2nd lefty. That’s what should happen. Richard could flourish as a 1-inning guy, not as a starter in the AL East
– Marcus Stroman will be traded within a week. Albeit Jays have little leverage.
For Blue Jays fans to think Tulo’s comments were awful, yet say absolutely nothing about Stoman’s antics is baffling. Stroman is bordering on clubhouse cancer territory. He talks without thinking and that’s dangerous. When he is a free agent he can sign a long term deal with Tampa or Baltimore to pitch against Boston and New York since it’s what he wants. He won’t do that.
So they’re gonna trade Stroman at a point where they’ll only get lowball offers? Doubtful.
They’ve got other guys on the 40 man they can move before shipping Stro out. Pompey is likely top 2 on the DFA list. Pillar is probably at the top wrt trade value since his bat hasn’t done its annual nosedive yet.
I guess you missed the part of “little leverage”. Hard to deal a selfish dink when he’s coming off a 5.54 ERA season and continues to run his mouth while hurting his own trade value.
Nobody cares about Pompey. He’ll only make the team because he has no options. Otherwise he can leave for Japan.
Bucholz signs for 3 mill, for what? 1 or 2 months of work before he breaks down [again]?
Stroman needs to be a closer. Period. I’d be very surprised if he is more than a weak #3 in the rotation this year,.
If Sanchez can get the curve over and the finger holds, he could get back to his 15 win form. I haven’t heard anything negative about the finger yet.
Ryan Borucki belongs in the majors learning. To suggest he is going down is plain stupidity. When Atkins says he is not guaranteed a spot in the rotation, he is either incompetent and doesn’t know players or he is misleading the fans [again]. He belongs. He has a shot at being a solid #2 starter in 2 years.
Pompey needs to put up or exit. He can be a depth piece in the majors, or if he did put on 20lbs of muscle, he could acutally play in the majors, otherwise cut him.
And for the Vlad Jr fans, his bat is elites, but his third base play won’t travel well to the majors. With his weight issues I promise you he’ll eventually end up at 1B like a Prince Fielder.
Stroman needs to be a closer now? I thought you predicted him or Sanchez were going to break out the other one was going to be injured
I said that One of Sanchez and Stroman would be awesome this year and the other not so much. Never said anything about injury.
Plus I have been calling for at least the three past years to move Stroman into the bullpen as a closer.
Hope that clarifies.
It won’t clarify. Never mind him or his lame attempt at bullying.
The clear choice should be Richard going to the bullpen. He couldn’t get anyone out in San Diego. He’s now in the AL East with many lethal RH bats salivating at the very thought of facing him. Richard should be the 2nd lefty bullpen arm.
We just need to pray for a decent first half from Stroman. He looked like he put on some upper body muscle in the offseason.
That would work too. I haven’t seen Stroman yet this year.
Is Richard going on this 25 man Blue Jays Roster very long? He seems to me to be Mat Latos part 2.
Stroman looks like he gained at least 10 pounds in muscle. He looked bad in the Tulo homerun game, but it was also late-February.
He might be worse than Mat Latos (Richard). All the more reason to put him in the bullpen. They need a second left hander anyway. He’d make sense and I think he can be effective for 1 inning.
I don’t know if he has any options left, but Pannone was my early vote for someone to go. He got a PED lift last year but he has been heavily tested this year and got no such lift.
He make not make the MLB level club.
I think Pannone was destined for AAA the moment Shoemaker and Richard were announced signings. That youth movement the media is touting is a bunch of bull. It hasn’t started. More reason why Atkins is saying “I don’t believe in a full rebuild”. It all makes sense. That is also why I’m taking what he’s saying about Vlad serious.
fyi securely bolt your car rims
Righty tighty.