JAN 25: The Astros have announced the deal, per Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle (via Twitter).
JAN 21: The Astros have reached a two-year, $32MM agreement with free-agent outfielder Michael Brantley, Mark Berman of Fox 26 reports. Brantley is a client of Excel Sports Management. It’s a done deal, Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets.
That Brantley is returning to Houston is stunning, as just hours ago it appeared he would join friend and former Astros outfielder George Springer in Toronto. However, in the wake of reports suggesting Brantley would head north, a Toronto official shot down the notion that the club had a deal with him. The Blue Jays did indeed have interest in the 33-year-old Brantley, but they couldn’t close the deal for reasons that aren’t yet known. As a result, it appears Brantley will spend a third consecutive season with the Astros.
This is the second straight two-year, $32MM contract Brantley, formerly with Cleveland, has inked with Houston. The previous deal worked out for both sides, as Brantley earned his fourth All-Star nod in 2019 and has combined for a stellar .309/.370/.497 line with 27 home runs over 824 plate appearances during his run with the Astros. Thanks to his continued success, MLBTR ranked Brantley as the game’s 13th-best free agent at the beginning of the offseason and predicted he would land a two-year, $28MM pact.
With Brantley staying in Houston, the team has addressed a key need in its outfield, where it opened the offseason with major questions. The Astros were at risk of losing all of Brantley, Springer and Josh Reddick on the open market (Reddick is still a free agent). Now, though, they have two corner spots spoken for with Brantley and Kyle Tucker. It’s not yet clear who will replace Springer in center, and it’s certainly worth noting that Brantley may not be an optimal solution as an everyday outfielder anymore. Brantley has dealt with serious injuries in the past, and he missed time last year with a quad issue. When healthy, Brantley appeared in left field in just 19 of 46 games, spending the rest of his season at designated hitter. That spot won’t be available to Brantley on a regular basis in 2021 if offensive standout Yordan Alvarez returns to health after undergoing surgeries on both knees last August.
Losing out on Brantley may be a significant disappointment for the Blue Jays, but they’re not devoid of talent in the outfield and at DH. Springer, Teoscar Hernandez, Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Randal Grichuk give the team a strong outfield quartet on paper, though adding Brantley obviously would have made the Jays even more formidable after they earned a playoff berth in 2020.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
YESSS! So glad the ‘Stros could bring him back.
Guess he decided blue birds in Canada aren’t his thing after all
Maybe the money wasn’t that great in Toronto…
My how the turntables have…
Just poppin in to say HAHAHHA Jays fans deserve this
IMO, not signing Brantley is better for them than having them sign a #4 OF.
A #4 OF? Have you not seen how good Brantley has been throughout his career and especially the last 2 seasons in Houston. He’s not a 4th OFer.
You’re right. He isn’t a OF at all. He is a DH
Um, Brantley had a +11 DRS and 3.4 UZR/150 in LF in 2019 for the Astros. He’s a very adequate OFer.
Anyone can play left there bro. That bs short porch makes every LF Look good there.
Canada > USAint
why???
Because we eat vinegar with our fries and have better ketchup and poutine. You’ll clearly see in 2 years.
Oh yeah? Well…ok, so I can’t refute any of those points. Vinegar with fries is the best unless those fries are poutine.
Garlic Fries, Curly Fries, Animal style fries > vinegar fries..
I was joking about the ketchup, it’s nasty ah but curling and hockey can take its place. Whatver happened to the ore ida kettle chips!? That’s all you Americans had to even sniff us, maybe grand junction fries too. You can keep Jim carray PLEASE!
I like your beer, but your french fries & food are painfully abysmal.
I was in TO when I had just started for a new company. The CFO happened to be there, and took a few of us out. I order my usual bacon cheeseburger with everything, and asked for it rare.
When they brought the food, the burger was well-done. I told the waitress I had ordered it rare. She tells me that they are not allowed to serve it rare.
So, okay, if those are the rules, I can’t expect them to break the rules. But maybe you could’ve given me a heads-up, instead of serving ground shoe leather???
And what kind of government dictates how your food should be served? Nice country, but I never got over that.
Rare burger is playing with fire my friend, just asking for a foodbourne illness.. Now a big ol porter house on the other hand eh!
Your sports in Canada sucks period. No real Football, Hockey hasn’t won a Stanley Cup since 1993 and you have one bad baseball team. Enjoy the ride!!!!!
@Dodger-2019 NBA champs but I wouldn’t expect an 11 yr old to know that.
would be nice to see Montreal get a team back… maybe Vancouver to keep Seattle some company…
Second Toronto area team before Vancouver. A third Toronto area team before ever considering Montreal. People conveniently forget how little Montreal cared about their baseball team in the 90’s and 2000’s.
A shiny new stadium and not being Baseball’s farm team would restore fan interest in Montreal
Rsox, good luck with that. There is a reason they couldn’t get a stadium deal done the first time in the mid-90s. Beyond that the city won’t support it. They do not care about baseball. There are at least a dozen cities in US and Canada more worthy of an MLB franchise.
Jays fans deserve to dodge a bullet and use that money for a TOR? You’re finally right for a change!
Better hope it isn’t the beginning of everyone getting what they deserve, considering your comment, & all.
Boom Agent Michael Scarn
Really, how heart breaking could this be for the Blue Jays? They already had a good outfield before they took on Springer. Picking up Brantley was more than unnecessary so Marty’s celebration makes him look petty
Nothing makes me look petty, the Jays and their fanbase have been ruining these comments sections all year – you deserve your mediocre, no titles since 93 team.
Yep. Would have been great to have Brantley, but it seemed a poor allocation of resources after signing Springer. They need a couple of starting pitchers (Bauer and Walker would be swell).
You are petty. You just criticized an entire fanbase as the same. Imagine if you replaced the phrase fanbase with an ethnicity? What would that sound like? Im not calling you a racist but your thinking is the same.
Not even any pennants since then, but I probably shouldn’t talk smack, since it’s also been a while since my team last won it and have won a pennant. Yes, my team is the Yankees, who, despite having a massive payroll does not spend it wisely.
Eatdust: Dude, are we going to get some more SP or what?! I’m getting a bit nervous we’re rolling out Yankees 2020 2.0, which was pretty much Yankees 2019 + Cole, which was Yankees 2018 2.0. Sorry, you can see I’m peeved. Arrrgh.
SalaryCap: Lolz hammers Marty and although I normally don’t condone that style in here, Marty begs for it. So, let him go, it will circle back to him when his comments get blasted by Lolz.
Marty contributes only peripherally to communication so he can generate polarizing political/cultural conversations and act victimized, only to then turn around and insult a whole county of people, the minority of whom he portrays to vehemently protect when he takes comments completely out of context.
Yep, and he’s a Warriors homer on Hoops Rumors.
Glad someone caught the reference
let’s goooo!
Breaking: As Brantley was signing his Blue Jays contract, he heard a faint trash can banging sound in the distance…his call home…
E.T. go HOME! Or Cheater go Home. Same thing.
Because Brantley was on the 2017 squad..? You got him!
I am sure they stopped cheating after they didn’t get caught in 2017.
If you’re sure of that (Sarcasm noted) you should also be sure NO OTHER MLB TEAM cheats (sarcasm)
The rallying cry of cheaters everywhere.
It appears it all originated with the Astros. Cora and others might of taken their skills outside of the organization. Let’s just hope it’s cleaned up now.
Or you could read the numerous articles stating it started in NY with the Yankees and Beltran brought it to Houston, and him and Cora added their own spin to what they had already been doing in other organizations.
I understand that doesn’t fit the narrative though.
I have no narrative. I know the Astros were caught and got a slap on the wrist. I know the Red Sox were caught and got an even lighter slap on the wrist. I havent seen anything about the yankees. I know all the people punished seemed to be with the Astros around the same time. Blame whoever you must
Do you live under a rock? You haven’t seen anything about the Yankees? LOL.
They have legally tried to have MLB documents suppressed so that no one knows about all their cheating. LOL. Come on dude this is public knowledge.
Fine. It was all the yankees fault the Astros cheated. Feel better?
I blame Elston Howard and Whitey Ford
Yes after cheating their way to a title in 2017 they just stopped doing it, that’s believable.
That might be funny if you knew when he played for the Astros
To his credit, I got a chuckle from it regardless.
You really don’t think Altuve knew what pitch was coming?
I suppose you thought he was afraid to have his shirt ripped off because of a Tattoo.
That’s the only proof you have of that? Is him changing shirts 10 minutes after he hit that homer?
No, I think Altuve……like most people that know baseball….knew exactly what pitch was coming because Chapman couldn’t locate his fastball and didn’t want to walk him.
It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know the slider was coming. Chapman just left it hanging, so Altive being the elite hitter he is went to bangin.
That and the fact they all got caught.
I also think people should lay off Altuve. The Astros have acknowledged they cheated, but to a man have said that Altuve and Tony Kemp didn’t use the system. Why would the players throw themselves under the bus and go out of their way to try to clear Altuve, if he was part of it? They wouldn’t say a single word if he was guilty. There is no reason to try to clear his name unless he was in fact innocent.
Then if you look at the statistics of the bangs, they back up the statements made about Altuve not cheating.
But for some reason everyone hates on Altuve. It’s weird. It’s even more weird when you compare it to the love everyone seems to have for Springer, who admitted cheating and actually used the bangs the most of anyone. Shows how dumb and hypocritical people are.
I think you should worry about your staff selling drugs to players instead of a hanging slider from Chapman. You can ask Rajai Davis, Ahmed Rosario, and Mike Brosseau if they were wearing ‘buzzers’.
You can’t be this dumb. They got caught cheating in 2017. The HR Altuve hit was 2019.
MLB has said they didn’t cheat in 2018 or 2019, especially in the playoffs because they had people in place to monitor the dugouts and TVs. There is ZERO evidence out there that the Astros cheated in 2018, 2019, or 2020. They were just better than the Yankees and that hurts people’s egos.
Halo makes a valid point regarding the shirt. On a side note, the tearing of shirts looks stupid on TV. But Halo’s point is a good one and it presents doubt that things stopped after 2017.
Altuve wore a buzzer for Pete sakes.
There is zero evidence buzzers even exist. Has any player ever come out and said here is a buzzer that players could be wearing, and this is how it works?
You would think we would all have seen them by now. Surely HS and College players would be wearing them too.
But they are like the Bigfoot. Talked about but never proven to exist. Haha
Well except MLB has said it’s impossible for them to have cheated in the playoffs because they had MLB employees in place to prevent it. But sure, let’s ignore MLB.
The only reason that rumor got started was some guy on Twitter said Torres had one the night before. It was a random guy on Twitter. Neither one of them had buzzers
Almost like the buzzing Apple watch that caught Mookie’s attention last year
The Jays have left the chat.
That other reporter.
I guess it wasn’t enough for the Blue Jays to just be interested.
I lost a lot of respect for Brantly. It’s one thing to be part of a cheating organization, it’s another to choose to go back.
Oh, give it a rest.
Give what a rest? I lost a lot of respect for the guy.
He chose to be with the most loathed organization in baseball.
Wonder if you were cheering when Max Stassi hit a homer for the Angels this year, Halo11Fan?
He’s on the Astros not the Yankees or Mets.
It’s a good point. But as I said, it’s one thing to get caught up in a scandal, it’s another thing to choose to go back. I like to give both the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they just got caught up in the cycle of cheating. Buck Weaver for example.
Because Brantley chose to go back, I lost a lot of respect for the guy. You can feel about him anyway you like.
The Astros gained a lot of respect back in 2020. They took HBPs and cra p ll year long. Lost Verlander and Cole and STILL made a solid playoff run.
All year long? They played 60 games.
I’m sure Brantley will loose a lot of sleep over you losing respect for him.
Flags fly forever. Buzzers buzz when warning a pitch.
Timely buzzer pressing helps make those solid runs.
@Halo
Pushing heroin to players that result in death is okay but getting caught up in sign stealing is irredeemable — must be the California in you.
Sadler you’re implying players didn’t have a choice in the matter. I’m sure those deciding to partake in any drug use were willing participants.
The Asstros haven’t gained bullcrap! The only reason it seems that things have calmed down is because the fans aren’t back in the seats yet. Just wait til the regular season, trust me that team is going to hear it.
Oh, by the way, taking a record number of HBPs is not a sign of respect.
@WereAll
I’m not implying anything of the sort.
I’m pointing out the hypocrisy of the intolerance towards one kind of wrong and the acceptance of another kind of wrong.
We all have flimsy morality and sometimes its just fun to point it out.
“Significant reputational injury”
#Opentheletter
You point was a weak one and served no purpose. But thanks.
With a losing record that never should have gotten them to the playoffs anyway. Didn’t Brantley join the team in 2019, after the alleged scandal?
yeah, how dare players go to the White Sox also! they cheated too!
You talking about the 1919 White Sox? Players didn’t choose where they played.
They did in the 1980s under Larussa.
That’s right Darkside! Give it to them!
Oh, you were kidding?
He wasnt there in 2017.
Dumbass … he wasn’t in Houston in 2017
You think they stopped cheating… Give me a break.. They stopped cheating when they got caught, and they only stopped cheating when they got caught.
That’s the only thing that stops cheaters. It certainly isn’t their morality.
If you’re going to hate on the Astros for cheating then you’ll have to hate on a lot of teams in baseball as every team either cheats and/or has a cheater. And if you’re going to deny this then you really don’t know the history of baseball itself.
Except the MLB, who caught them cheating said they had zero proof that they continued. But hey, believe what you want.
And I’m sure no other team cheats
Untrue ped user still using and still getting caught. What’s the point in these suspensions if they reinstate a player who struck out 3 times
No backbone
You think the White Sox just stopped cheating after 1919?! Give me a break. Once a cheater, always a cheater! Amirite?
Halo, Got a question for you. What is the worst sin, cheating or killing someone?
This is just plain wrong. The 1919 White Sox were caught because they intentionally lost games, not including shoeless Joe Jackson. Most of the players, again, not including Joe, had serious gambling debt and choose they easy way out by siding with some big time gamblers in order to pay it all off. They didn’t cheat to win, they cheated to lose. A huge difference to the 2017 Astros. And White Sox were all given life long bans, including Joe. Again, unlike the players on the Astros who were all allowed to walk. The White Sox weren’t even ABLE to cheat again. And again, unlike the 2017 Astros who weren’t even punished. Please, check some facts first.
@Halo11…
You’re wrong. They only stopped cheating using the method they got caught USING.
I doubt they became squeaky clean and stopped all cheating, especially with their lack of contrition
@Halo11Fan
Michael Brantley was an Indian in 2017 and 2018. He signed as a FA with the Astros in December of 2018 for the 2019 season. There were some rumblings about a potential scandal involving the Astros as early as the 2018 season but MLB didn’t even begin an official investigation until November of 2019 over the 2017 sign-stealing.
Astros bench coach Alex Cora, who orchestrated the sign stealing scandal was announced as the new Red Sox manager between the 2017 ALCS and the WS. He formally assumed the Boston manager position after the Word Series, one year and two months before Brantley signed his FA deal with Houston.
Brantley became an Astro two years after the 2017 trash-can scandal. In the meantime, he might have been a victim of another scandal that occurred in your own backyard of Anaheim. Why don’t you get off your high horse, that or fret over your own team’s pine tar cheating that just broke recently if “morality” is such a big concern of yours.
Remember when Bonds was in SF? Screw them!
Seriously, I think Brantley fits very well in Houston, and it was a tremendous signing. This doesn’t make him a bad person by any means, that saga is over. Now the Baker saga has begun and I kinda like it.
I, for one, am extremely happy he’s back. He’s a bat that’s impossible to replace on the free agent market.
@Rangers: It also doesn’t hurt that his average and OPS stay really high while there… kind of a “known certainty” (know what I mean)….
bro, you didn’t even spell his name right. he don’t give a rat’s ass what you say.
Of course he doesn’t care what I think, He also doesn’t care what you think.
Yup
Considering the Angels had a massive drug ring going on in their organization, maybe best if you sit out on the judgement. Plus, he wasn’t on that team so…
No, no, no that doesn’t count because it’s my team. My favorite player/team does everything by the book, while the other 29 teams are up to something.
Jjdoo2: THANK YOU! You must be a fellow Yankee fan and know what it’s like to have a team that does everything right amongst this abject corruption!
Yeah because the Angels are the only MLB team (or sports team for that matter) who have drug problems in the clubhouse. LOL.
As opposed to an organization consistently linked to drug use, including PEDs. It’s fine to still be mad about the Astros cheating, but remember the adage about glass houses.
You don’t think he knew before he signed there the first time?
Did you know prior to the 2019 season about the Astros sign-stealing scheme? No one knew until The Athletic released their investigation on 11/12/19.
I knew the second the suckstros beat the Yankees they cheated. There is no way Altuve knew that pitch was coming (before he was buzzed, radioed, whistled, and Morse coded via garbage can music) and his shirt looked like the back of an entertainment center underneath
“Significant reputational injury”
Nice job MLBTrade Rumors! A few hours ago he’s signing a 3 year deal in Toronto. Now he’s going back to Houston for 2 years. Are you sure that report is right? LOL
You do realize they don’t break stories, they just report on what is out there.
It’s a single stop site. You can go to other sites, and weed out the news, or you can come here.
I don’t blame them for this.
I think the Jay’s got played.
This site is mostly an aggregator of MLB transactional news. They’re simply telling you what has been reported. They’re not typically breaking news, so the object of your ire is whoever broke the Brantley story, not MLBTR.
As another commenter noted, this is a ‘rumors’ sight.
They do far more than rumors.
You must be confusing MLB trade news with MLB Trade Rumors!
If you don’t like the site, why the bleep are you on it?
I never understood how anyone with even cursory knowledge of the internet, could possibly blame this site (that’s just reporting whats out there), for this kind of misinformation.
If you want to blame someone, blame Hazel Mae and the rest who reported it or even better, the person who gave them the false information.
Blaming this site makes everyone else realize you are very uninformed.
And it was reported by, like, actual sports reporters from whom organizations such as this get their rumors/news. Sooooooo, there’s that.
The Blue Jays signed him for 2023-2025, obviously.
PSYCH! PSYCH PSYCH PSYCH.
Astros Needed this. Now, go get JBJ!
Agree …
Or Handsome Jake!
WTFFFFF!!!! THIS IS THE BIGGEST TROLL JOB EVER!!! GREAT JOB HOUSTON!!!
oof. And I mean OOF.
BREAKING: Expert Sign Stealers Steal Signing.
Nice
borrowing from BlueBirdBanter?
@snowles Nope, I’m J Blauv
Astros fan here. Well done sir. Well done.
sports reporting has been great lately
At least sports reporters know how to type complete sentences.
Cue the ” I didn’t want him anyway” from Jays fans…..
As a Jays fan I was excited to have him as a Blue Jay, the 3 years that was reported lined up with the kids hitting arbitration so his money would have been off the books. Dude’s a great hitter. The thing I wasn’t excited about was trading Gurriel. Grichuk was never going to net much…if anything in a trade, so it was probably Gurriel headed out. His D is better and I think he has the potential to put up Brantley type numbers. So, when I thought about this I wasn’t sure about the signing. Especially with the number of decent arms on the FA market still.
Truth be told…whatevs. He’ll probabily be on the DL more often as he ages. Especially considering his injury history during his time with Cleveland.
“Whatevs” is not a word. Stop talking like a 14 year old girl. Use actual words, it’;s not that hard.
You are correct it’s not, but I feel like the word “whatevs” here shows the lack of caring that the post exclaims. I feel like “Whatever” would have changed the tone of the post. Not disputing your point about using real words, I often get frustrated by this too, but in this case I think it works.
not true at all. Would have loved him on the Jays and it was exciting ‘news’ when I read it this morning. Too bad. The only thing that scared me was it meant an OF was going to have to be traded and I dont want to lose Gurriel or Hernandez
I guess the Blue Jays couldn’t deal with the fact that they weren’t only rumored to be interested in him?
Thank God …
How many teams can he sign with this season
As a Jays fan, Brantley would have been great but I’d rather spend that money on a SP or a 2b/3b. Would have been nice though
The Jays are still in play for Bauer I’m sure.
Wackety smackety doooo
Nice! I love it. One of the best pure hitters in the game.
This feels very…Rafael Furcal
Man, that rattled me as a young braves fan. Chipper even took a pay cut to keep him. Looking back on it Furcal was solid but injured a lot.
Brantley wasn’t with Astros 2017. He signed Dec, 2018.
That’s been addressed, already. Many times.
Whoever reported the earlier Brantley/Blue Jays is going to be answering a lot of questions today…
Why is that?
haha what!?
This makes more sense to me than Brantley with the Jays. 3 years of Teoscar might have gotten them an SP, but most rebuilding teams are looking ahead of that window and fewer contending teams have a glut of starting pitching that they would trade for a corner outfielder (of which many FA are available). Not to mention theyre paying Teoscar almost quarter ofwhat they were reported to pay Bradley.
Odiorizzi, Paxton, and Tanaka would all be cheaper and are probably better uses of money. And who knows, maybe Bauer (obv not cheaper)
Yeah, I didn’t see the fit for Brantley there either. Unless of course it was to have an embarrassment of riches to sink the Yankees with. I like Toronto and I hope they easily win the AL east this year.
Gosh Braves… WHERE ARE YALL! DO SOMETHING! A little hope that he didn’t sign with the jays, then boom… gone to the Astros
I’m glad the Jays dodged that bullet. Brantley is not that good and he’s too old for a three year deal, especially with his injury history.
Would you rather Grichuk with the remainder of his contract or Brantley for 2/$32million?
I’d rather have Bauer.
Wasn’t aware that was a choice. Toronto would have had both. Houston would have had neither. I’m wondering what occurred? Did he have problems with the physical, (being metric and all).
Brantley has been around a 4+ WAR player the past 3 seasons (prorating last year to a full season). He’s a very good player.
I’d rather have Grichuk in the outfield the next three years than Brantley. Obviously Brantley is way better at the plate, but the Jays have plenty of bats and not enough gloves.
You realize springer is just a year younger correct? He’s also most streaky hitter in baseball.
Jays got their big fish and have a nice lineup. You’d think signing Jake O or making a trade for a quality starter would be the wiser move anyhow to make its club a bigger force.
Well that was strange. Tbh it was an odd signing for the Blue Jays anyway, I’d rather have Gurriel in left field. Let’s see who they sign instead.
I’m genuinely sad. I would have gave him 3/45 which is a bit lower AAV but I bet he would have took that
LETS GOOOOO
Lol
I was waiting for this, this makes me laugh
In the end its fine for the jays. Brantley was a luxury not a need. Use the money for starting pitching. Thats where they really need the help
I guess the Pirates lost out.
Bait & switch!
Astros deked the Jays by subtlety sliding their contract on top of the Jay’s version on the desk….risky…but effective. Long live Deviants!*
That escalated quickly. We went from Toronto signing Brantley to Astros re-signing Brantley.
Good for Houston. Brantley in LF, Tucker in RF, and a gaping hole in CF for the Astros right now. I wonder now that Brantley is back and Springer is officially gone if they will go for JBJ. The dropoff in offence will be staggering but the defense would be solid
I don’t see the Astros signing JBJ to be honest. I see their new international signing (Leon) in Houston as soon as 2022 so they will get someone serviceable on a 1-2 year deal.
I thought JBJ fit the defn of serviceable, and I can’t see a team giving him more than a 1-2 year contract. Seems like a better fit in Hou than NYM.
I should’ve been more clear, serviceable and cheap. JBJ will be overpaid by someone, I just hope it isn’t Houston.
Don’t see JBJ being all that expensive. He’ll be cheaper than Kiermeier and provide more offense.
LOL!
I like Brantley. This is a shame. Cant root for him anymore, woulda been fun on a lot of other teams-
Surprised he got this much tbh- My guess was 2/26
That’s why if you were a GM, you probably would end up stuck with the minor league free agents, with your negotiation skills.
OUCH… big fail jumping to conclusions with the Blue Jays article. Hopefully nobody gets fired rushing to be the first.
RIP baseball writers who were totally wrong today
I am relieved to hear Brantley isn’t coming to Toronto. Again, like him as a player. His arrival would mean giving up Gurriel or Hernandez, and I’m not certain that makes the team better. Now, would one of them fetch a pitcher in-return? Yes. But I’d rather sign Bauer or Tanaka and deal for a Gray or even David Price. A 3B should also be in the cards before considering Brantley.
Good luck to him and the Astros. Blue Jays have more work to do. Get it done.
Figured another 2yr/$32M contract should get it done. Houston’s lineup needed to retain Brantley.
The blue jays are better off spending 32 million on Odorizzi or another SP.
You see they’re lineup? Good
You see they’re rotation? ________
Ha! Looks like the trash cans were calling to Brantley after all (and spare me the “he wasn’t there in 2017” BS). Well Toronto is going to have to look elsewhere
1-Everyone cheats.
2-The NYY are the poster child for PEDs abuse. If there is one team in BB that shouldn’t be calling the kettle black, it is the NYY.
1. Okay
2. If you say and mean 1., you don’t need 2.
3. It’s not the Yankees calling the kettle black, it is their fans. Though obvious, seems like you missed that memo.
4. It’s not cheating until it’s cheating
5. Not just the Yankees were actually caught using PEDs. Names of players from every team and each year there are non-Yankees caught.
6. Poor take
I will if you spare me that the BS the janks never cheat… The Letter?
“Significant reputational injury”
#Opentheletter
Assuming this reportage holds, I will finally have gotten a pick right in the free agent contest (other than Smyly). Woo-hoo!
Me to brother! I’m off the Snide
The Astros gained a lot of respect back in 2020. They took HBPs and cra p ll year long. Lost Verlander and Cole and STILL made a solid playoff run.
Buzzers help
They got off EXTREMELY easy in 2020 with no fans in the stadiums
Whether or not Brantley was on any of the alleged cheating Stros teams, he’s still going to feel the brunt of it. This team will get boo’ed (with how many fans are around) for at least the next 2 years of his contract.
I’m very surprised any FA is signing with Houston.
Houston is a great place to live and the taxes are rock bottom. It’s an easy call really. If you can’t take some flak from drunks in the stands you don’t belong in the big leagues. He will be fine.
No income tax is enticing for sure, but Texas makes up for in other taxes (such as real estate tax, which is the highest in US). I like Brantley and wish him the best, but it’s much more than drunks in the stands. No matter how you slice it, the relations with the media, the fellow MLB players, the fans/kids, etc. will not be the same as if he were with another team (i.e Blue Jays).
The Blue Jays players don’t seem to have a problem they just signed a player who was one of the biggest utilizers of the trashcan banging. For the most part, the players don’t care. They just want to win.
Houston is also ungodly humid. I know people who’ve lived there and said it’s unlivable. Walk from your office to your car and arrive drenched in sweat. Also, not much in the way of downtown restaurants or nightlife. City dies after work. Everyone goes to the suburbs. When an annual conference announces it’s going to be in Houston, everyone groans.
Wow I thought he was going to the Blue Jays. At least I picked Brantley to go to the Astros in the prediction contest, so he’s my third correct pick after Treinen and Smyly.
You would think being a prominent figure in the cheating scandal.That he would be looking for the exit!
Wow you are uninformed
Wow, even when the Blue Jays actually are reported to have signed someone, they still don’t sign him.
Yes after cheating their way to a title in 2017 they just stopped doing it, that’s believable.
Brantley was not with the Astros in 2017!
Yes, he played his entire career with the Indians until 2019.
Bam bam. Bam bam!!!!!!
Too much action. Turn off the stove and the gas line. Who says that $600 check isn’t going to do anything?
I like how some posters are in the ‘haha’ mode that TO didn’t sign him.
Just for the record, that $16M simply buys another player. As a RS fan, I’d have preferred to spend $16M on a #4 OF/DH, than spend the $16M on their rotation. Much like the NYY & RS, scoring runs is not an issue; preventing them is.
Exactly. Brantley plays a position the Jays do not need to address. This is not a loss.
Also, they had plenty of offensive firepower even before they signed Springer.
Can someone show where the free agent contest tracker is? I’m curious to see how it’s going.
mlbtraderumors.com/mlb-free-agent-prediction-conte…
Let’s just say I’m glad I’m not a free agent because my .111 batting average wouldn’t get me much.
Give me 5 brantleys over 1 Springer any day. Heck of a deal for the astros.
Brantley should of gone to the Yankees. Damn Steinbrener saying that they need to be on a budget.
Have to reset that tax sometime.
The old man would have him signed him without a second thought to any budget!
Pain
Ken Rosenthal giving some guy name @honestjaysfan on twitter probably wishes he didn’t. The Athletic, MLB Network…should be interesting what stories come out of this the next day or so.
It was probably pointed out to him that his home/road splits favor MMP.
One of the of the most underrated players in the league, great move again by Stros one of the best pure hitters in the league.
More money left for Toronto to sign Bauer. Springer was the real prize anyways and the bigger need for them.
This is the baseball version of a premature ejaculation!
Dude raked before he came to Houston. Nice signing to keep him.
Makes the 800 comments in the Brantley to the Blue Jays seem like a waste of time.
I was responsible for many of those. My consolation prize was having picked Michael Brantley to re-sign with the Astros in the MLBTR 2020-21 Free Agent Prediction Contest!
I believe this doubles my prescience ability from 1 to 2 after lucking out on Liam Hendriks joining the White Sox last week. lol
So i remeber a few years ago a hockey player was with Montreal was a free agent & he got an offer from dallas, the offer was 7 mil per year. I remember the sports channel said that due to tax difference between canada and not only usa but texas in particular, that a matching offer would have had to be in the 10 mil per yr range for him to take home the same money.
The point being that Brantleys 32 mil deal is 40+ from TOR, I bet Tor made a competitive offer on paper but due to tax differences it was prob equal to 10-12 from the jays
players pay taxes where ever they play. in case of the jay, half at buffalo the rest split by away games.
The Steve Harvey Miss Universe moment of the MLB
Adding Big Maple might help the Blue Jays more than adding Brantley. If Paxton’s velocity is back, he can still give 150 quality innings. Not sure what their interest level is though.
Yea no doubt, i think the jays need a innings eater type. Ray had only pitched over 150 ings 3 times RYU has an injury history and Pearson has only pitched 140 sense he went pro. Quintana would have been a good get, but maybe thats the idea with chatwood. He could stey streched out in the BP
I’m not sure Paxton would be the best choice or really a lock for 150 IP. Previous highs are in 18 and 19 with 160.1 and 150.2 IP.
I hate the Astros…but I like Michael Brantley. The internal strife!
I predicted at the end of the season that the Astros would still be contenders for at least the next 2 years. Now that Brantley is staying there, they could still win that division this year and next year.
Brantely’s agent: Michael, I got you a 3-year deal with the Blue Jays.
Brantley: Awesome. What state are the Blue Jays in again?
Brantley’s agent: Toronto.
Brantley: I travel a lot. What state is that city in?
Brantley’s agent: Uhh, it’s in Canada.
Brantley: Fuk that. Take the second-best offer!
——–
Calm down, Toronto fans. Just kidding. This is weird, though. Love to know the backstory.
That was a massive OVER PAY.
He’s been around a 4 WAR player the last 3 years. Even if he just gives the Astros 2 WAR for the next 2 years the deal is not an overpay.
Astros are no longer relevant.
A little quick on the draw with Brantley. Or; is he still an Astro?
Dusty can talk the panties off a nun!
I am happy he went back to Houston. Why? I am a Yankee fan
Not in the least bit surprised at the misogyny spewing out from some of these comments.
Wow. So much hate for a guy who’s seemly as classy as you could hope for team. I didn’t think he’d come back because he’s an injury risk who needs to DH some. However, the price point is reasonable and I trust the Astros medical staff. They know the player.
I think he should leadoff.
Yea you do, I bet you also trust the players, the scouting department, the front office, the owner & the batboy. Ahahahaha!
(?)
Jays fans now have 2 reasons to boo the Astros
A media reporter getting an incorrect lead isn’t all that interesting. It’ll happen. The more interesting story is what caused it. Was there a verbal agreement? Was it a deal that was 98% done and then the source told the reporter it was a done deal? Did the Astros immediately up their offer after the story broke and before ink hit contract? Was it the agent who used the reporter? Was their ever a second source? My guess? We’ll never know the answers!
This brings into question where do the rumors come from. IMO, it is all a quid pro quo thing.
1-A team wants stir up interest in a player with a plausible rumor that LAD is looking at Castillo. So they leak it.
2-An agent wants to increase interest in their player, so they leak it. That’s my guess here. The agent wanted to push the Astros to firm up their offer.
There are probably a dozen variations of this, like a rumor that the RS were interested in DJLM. It was never going to happen, but maybe it puts 1% more pressure on the NYY.
And the quid pro quo part is that, when real news is about to break, the reporters that issue rumors on your behalf, are also the first ones to know things that are really going to happen.
It doesn’t make much sense for an agent to spread the idea that a deal is done as a means of getting a better offer from another team. You’d want the other team to think they still have a chance, not that the gig is up and it’s too late for them to make a better offer.
Source was likely within the Jays, especially given that Hazel Mae broke the story. To me the only real mystery is whether there was some kind of verbal agreement in place, or if the Jays’ source simply jumped the gun, maybe being a little over-exuberant after they signed Springer and thinking Brantley wanted to join him, as even MLBTR was pushing the idea that they could be an NBA-style package deal that was destined to go to the same team, which I never bought, but it did seem like there was some momentum building between Brantley and the Jays right after Springer signed.
I’m sure we will find out a little more as the days go by.
Meanwhile Ken Rosenthal reported a 1-year deal for Castro when it’s really 2. Second day in a row he’s jumped ahead and made an announcement before deals finalize. First is not always best in sports journalism.
Excellent signing so long as Brantley stays health. Good on money and years.