Blue Jays reliever Ken Giles will be pitching for his fate as a free agent in 2020. But he says he’s open to staying off of the market entirely, as Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca reports.
That’s not to say that a new contract is a front-burner issue at this point. Giles says he’s “just focused on the season right now,” which is certainly sensible with the sport knee deep in a hurried run-up to competition.
That said, the Toronto closer reiterated his interest in staying with the organization. “If those talks do ever happen,” he said of potential extension chatter, “I’m all ears.”
It could be that this season will require too much of a sprint to allow for the measured development of extension talks. Ongoing economic uncertainty remains a major limiting factor as well. But mid-season chatter is certainly possible and Giles’s willingness to talk opens a potential path for the Jays.
As things stand, the club could have a tough mid-season choice. There’s enough talent on hand to imagine a competitive roster in a short-season format, but it’ll also be tempting to cash in Giles on the trade market. If he makes it through the year on the Toronto roster, the team could consider a qualifying offer and explore further contract talks.
There are still quite a few ways this could all shake out. Giles will have a big say, beginning with his performance on the mound. He acknowledged the importance of this campaign to his career, saying he’ll exercise ample precaution against COVID-19 infection but never considered sitting it out. The 29-year-old has had some ups and downs, but turned in a sparkling 1.87 ERA with 14.1 K/9 and 2.9 BB/9 over 53 frames in 2019.
hope he gets back to Philly in free agency
Yeah, our late inning relievers just can’t stay healthy. Besides, Neris is a little too inconsistent for my liking
He will resign. He likes the look of the team and the direction it’s headed.
Why would he resign if he likes the team so much? (Lol)
You didn’t get it
Goalie: as his agent and career advisor, you may want to retract that statement of fact to maintain negotiating advantage.
Re-sign what you wrote makes no sense.
Definitely something the jays should think about. Not sure how much Giles is going to want but I think Toronto could dish out the money or maybe they just re-up on a one year pillow deal.
Like him. He has been a good piece on the field and the clubhouse for the Jays.
But it does not make sense to spend big bucks on a soon to be 30 yr old closer, especially when the Jays are not there as contenders yet, and the Jays could use more pieces, particularly in the OF.
Jays aren’t too far off of being contenders. Pitching is one aspect of their issues. With that said, I can see Jays letting Giles reach FA so they can use that money to get some pitching help and use lesser options for the pen. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but the likelihood of extending Giles is very small.
It appears you are not aware that the top closers in the game are 32 years of age, what does being a 29 year old closer have to do with anything? a 3 year contract extention puts him at 32 years old which is in line with the Jays window, Henke was 34 in 1992, Ward was 29 in 1993
Ward was basically done at 30. Henke retired in 1995. Those two examples did not help your argument there.
Ward definitely didn’t, but Henke was great. From his age 30 through 37 seasons (when he retired) he converted 234 saves with a 2.44 ERA, throwing at least 50 innings in all but one of those years. Not too shabby!
Absolutely. It still didn’t help Giles’ case by citing the two examples.
Look, if the Blue Jays are serious about winning over the next 4 years they should re-sign Giles. The gamble would be no different than signing BJ Ryan; Damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
To be fair to him with his use of Henke as an example, I think that he just was pointing out that a closer doesn’t need to be particularly young to still be great. When Henke retired as a 37 year old after the 1995 season he was still and elite reliever; in fact he probably had his best season of his career that year.
Better Kenny G – the Blue Jays reliever, or the saxophone player?
The musician’s stuff is a little flat. So I go with Giles.
But Kenny’s hook is sharp.
Battle of the bands:
Kenny G feat Ken Giles
versus
Two vintage 2009 Mariners plus one of their dads performing as The Ken G, Kenji, Ken G’s
Trade him for as much as you can get at the deadline. Then re-sign him as a free agent. Win-win.
Or just re-sign him now if you really want him to stay.
I’m suspicious of the strategy trading a player on his walk year and then resigning him during the off-season. I’ve seen it posted many times but don’t recall a single example of it.
Obviously my memory isn’t without fault so can anyone else name some players where this happened?
I think the most memorable example would be Aroldis Chapman in 2017. It’s a risky proposition that requires a significant amount of mutual trust, but would be optimal if pulled off. On the other hand, trading Giles would preclude the team from issuing a qualifying offer. If Giles were to depart, they’d still at least receive some form of compensation without getting completely spurned. It’s a tricky situation with no easy or obvious answers in my opinion
Yes, Chapman. Should have remembered that one. Can you or anyone else recall anymore?
Rickey Henderson 1993-94. Oakland, traded to Toronto, re-signed with Oakland.
Two examples over the last 27 years. Long odds for a trade and re-sign.
Henderson. Nice one. Chapman I should have remembered but I had no idea Henderson did it too.
Maybe someone will post several examples of this happening but it seems like the vast majority of the time, the trade & resign method doesn’t work. In fact, it might be more reflective to say that it DOESN’T work except for a few outliers.
Cliff Lee with Phillies
Also pat neshek but not as big a name
Chapman a few years ago. that’s how the Yanks got Torres.
Wagner beat you on that one.
Sign him now. The record for Shapiro/Atkins trading players is not very good. The Jays are very weak in elite pitching. Once you get a guy like this you pull out the stops to keep him.
Uh, you get that Giles was a trade piece himself. He is just as good if not better than Osuna, and they Jays got two prospects as well. One looks done due to injuries but Perez still has a chance. Seems like it was a pretty good trade, especially when you consider they had to trade him.
Will you assess the Donaldson trade next, Ducey?
I agree with ClrRogers 100% Trade him then bring him back. Much like Yankees did with Chapman.
Signing relievers for big money is not in Atkins’ playbook. I believe David Phelps’ 1-year $2.5M contract is the largest he’s given a free agent relief pitcher. Or I guess technically Seunghwan Oh’s 1-year $1.75M that turned into 2-years because of a vesting option.
Giles was all but gone at last year’s deadline if not for his elbow woes. I fully expect him to be on the trade block again if he’s healthy and the virus hasn’t torpedoed the season.
It’s probably more likely the Jays will promote from within to fill late inning duties in 2021. Romano, Hatch, Merryweather and Luciano all seem like candidates to be given a shot in a setup or closer role in the coming years. Maybe even SRF if he can ever fix his control issues. And of the course the NRI/minor league deals to vets like Petricka, Axford, Clippard, etc. should remain popular.
This isn’t a criticism of Atkins shopping in the dollar bin either. The Jays have actually done quite well piecing together a pen on the cheap. Big money is no guarantee of production from relievers. Just ask the Rockies how the $100M to Davis, Shaw and McGee has worked out.
I’d agree with this generally.
Giles has been one of the better closers in baseball since he debuted 6 years ago…with 2018 the obvious outlier. But his peripherals were still really good that year.
Still I think this is not the Jays m.o. Lots of risk in big reliever contracts so unless they’re getting him at a below market deal he’s probably gone. They’ll take the comp pick.
But… if there is any year you could get players to re-sign on below market deals… this is probably it. It will be a talking point for the team all year.
This is a tough call.
On one hand, Giles is young and has been successful outside of 2018. Even his 2016 season wasn’t horrendous. Since 2014 he has been quite good.
Also, Blue Jays do not have a viable candidate to fill Giles’ shoes. Before anyone says Jordan Romano, let me remind you he was left unprotected before 2019 season and was picked up in Rule 5. Although he should have been put on the 40-man, he wasn’t.
The other hand, it will take a hefty contract to re-sign Giles and he will want at least 4 years. If the Blue Jays are prepared to win beyond 2020, great. If not, trade him. Keeping him and signing him will be costly and let’s hope the Jays will be rewarded if they re-sign him.
This has to be a difficult decision for the Blue Jays. It really depends on how ready you think the Blue Jays are to compete. If you think it’s this year or next then you resign him.
Fans and even professional MLB analysts aren’t good at knowing when rebuilding teams emerge. Not to many were picking the Astros, Cubs and Braves to win anything when they did.
To me, the Jays placed their bets when they signed Ryu. This said we want to compete so it seems like a bad idea to back off now. Go extend Giles.
Shapiro and Atkins have been pretty clear they expect to contend in 2021…. and they’re hopeful they can contend this year. The shortened season makes that a lot more likely.
Giles would like up with their planned contention window… but big money closers aren’t something this front office is big on I don’t think.
We shall see.
Hmm..Are you sure them not paying a large contract to a closer isn’t more a matter of circumstance? The Blue Jays were last competitive in 2016, which featured Roberto Osuna, an emergent young player who was given the closing roll and excelled at it. Are you sure they didn’t sign a multi year deal for a closer simply because they didn’t have to?
Partly yes, and partly watching the Jays backslide after 2015. Osuna became, prior to the awful incident, a trade piece. And then he was subsequently traded for Giles.
Dont worry front office will not spend for something or anything
They would say we have young talents nananana
The same front office that raised the MiLB salaries before anyone else including MLB? This isn’t Cleveland. We have the richest owner in baseball that finally understands how profitable the playoffs are.
Who cares what they are paying the MiLB players? They only started paying them when it was fashionable to do so. Basically they gave them a raise before succumbing to pressure.
Richest owner in baseball? Yes. Act like it. They haven’t done so in 20 years. Shapiro hasn’t won anything in 20 years either. What Expos said wasn’t that far off.
Same front office that brought on Ryu just last off-season?
He would have been traded at last year’s deadline but there were injury concerns at the 11th hour.
I’d say he’s as good as gone mid-season as soon as he shows he’s still throwing lights out stuff like last year.
He wont get 4 years and it will probably be difficult to get 3 for Rps next offseason-
My max offer would be 2 yrs 22 mill; team option for 12 mill more 3 rd yr or 2 mill buyout
I know its shades below Will Smith and Britton money but its going to be a drastically different market 2021-
If Im an owner im drawing a hard line in the sand with Rps and not crossing it- Nick Anderson was gotten for a song last year, Pagan for a warm body that goes by the name of Manuel Margot-
They can still be spenders and not want to spend on Giles which is what I think will ultimately happen. “Closers” are typically very bad investments as free agents