The Other Guys: A Midseason Look at the Jays’ Pending Free Agents

The never-ending talk of the pending free agency of Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion has at least partially overshadowed the fact that the Blue Jays have a number of players who are hitting the open market at the end of the season. Justin Smoak’s extension may have been shrug worthy, but beyond the two sluggers who combined for roughly eighty home runs and eleventy billion RBIs  are a few important cogs in the Blue Jays machine that may need to be re-upped or replaced. Based on their seasons so far, I’ve organized them into some different categories. Let’s take a look.

Don’t Let The Door Hit You On The Way Out

Franklin Morales, Drew Storen: The Drew Storen experiment has been a failure so far, and barring a drastic turnaround in his performance, it’s hard to picture him with the Blue Jays after this season. Morales has been slightly better in that he has not pitched much, so he has not been given the opportunity to fail. But between the two of them, that’s $8 million that has done nothing for the team. Don’t pay for relievers, friends.

Wait, Maybe Pay for Relievers

Jesse Chavez, Gavin Floyd: Both of these players were acquired with an eye towards competing for a rotation spot, and both began the season in the bullpen. Floyd started out well and tailed off before injuring his shoulder, and Chavez has quietly become a decent middle inning reliever, often relieving a starter when they get in a jam. As the Jays are looking at several open bullpen spots for next year, they may look at bringing one of them back. Floyd would probably come cheaper, given his history, though both he and Chavez may want a chance to earn some of that sweet, sweet starting money. And maybe the Jays will have that chance. More on that later.

Jason Grilli: Grilli has a $3 million option for the 2017 season, and a $250k buyout. If the Jays have liked what they’ve seen so far, they may exercise that option. In his time with the Jays, he has recorded a 2.63 ERA and 23 strikeouts, but also ten hits and six walks over 13.2 innings. He’s become the setup man that the team hoped he would be, so if he keeps it up, he’ll probably get that picked up. If he begins to look more like he did with Atlanta earlier this year, maybe the Jays walk away. But that’s not much money, and as we mentioned previously, the Jays are staring at a lot of open bullpen spots.

Brett Cecil: At the end of last season, there was speculation that Brett Cecil could be looking a contract similar to Andrew Miller, as a player who’d been an excellent reliever for the last three season with the Blue Jays. He has had a bad contract year so far, racking up six losses and a 5.52 ERA in 22 outings with a triceps injury knocking him out for a few weeks. There are several schools of thought with regards to Cecil: if you believe he has simply had a bad stretch, you might try and bring him back on a discount as someone who’s been a reliable mainstay in an otherwise chaotic bullpen for the Jays in the last several years. But as one of the longest serving Jays, he may look to be rewarded for sticking with a team, and still consider himself worthy of top-tier money despite struggling. Given the market, he’ll probably get that from someone.

 The Knuckleballer (And His Caddy)

R.A. Dickey: Dickey had his usual awful April, but has been in ascent ever since, coming into the all-star break with a solid 3.93 ERA, quietly holding up the back-end of Toronto’s rotation. Even as the Jays aren’t quite sure what to make of Dickey from start to start, his reliable production may make this a tougher decision than one might think at first glance. It’s hard to predict what kind of market there would be for Dickey if the Jays let him walk, as there just isn’t a precedent for a forty-something knuckleballer hitting free-agency. This becomes even more complicated when you’d likely have to get his personal catcher, Josh Thole, as well. At this point, my guess has the Jays letting Dickey walk, rather than continue to deal with the variety of headaches his knuckleball causes. It is 200 innings they have to replace, though J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada performing well may make them feel more confident about taking that chance.

The Canadian

Michael Saunders: Coming off a disastrous knee injury that limited Saunders to nine games last year, no one was quite sure what to make of him coming into this season. A trade for Jay Bruce during spring training fell through, and the Jays are delighted it did. Saunders is well on his way to a career season, with a stellar slash line of .296/.372/.547 and 18 home runs after 83 games, giving the Jays a source of left-handed power they sorely needed. As both of the Jays’ corner outfielders are free agents, and they don’t have any other left-handed bats in the regular lineup, they may be interested in extending their native son. They may have some reservations about Saunders’ injury history, or paying him after a career year, but given the other bats that are probably leaving for greener pastures, he’s someone they may move early on if they’re comfortable with his medicals. Could he get $20 million a year over three years? Maybe. Hard to picture the Jays doing it, but if he goes, they have to replace him, and the market is looking bleak right now.

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