Blue Jays, Randal Grichuk agree on five-year, $52-million extension

[Jonn]

TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays and Randal Grichuk have agreed on a $52-million, five-year contract extension that covers three free-agent seasons, according to two industry sources.

 

Grichuk, 27, was set to earn $5 million in 2019 and the new contract reworks his salary to $7 million this year and adds a $5-million signing bonus.

 

Next year he’ll earn $12 million followed by salaries of $9,333,333 in 2021-23. There are no club options or player opt-outs.

 

The agreement comes hours after Kevin Pillar was traded to the San Francisco Giants and makes Grichuk one of the first cornerstone pieces put in place as the Blue Jays look to set a new core.

 

The only other Blue Jays player with guaranteed money beyond this season is Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

 

 

https://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/blue-jays-randal-grichuk-agree-five-year-52-million-extension/

[jays4life19]

Noice!

[Spanky99]

Sweet!

[Deadpool]

f*** yes, love this!

[Ray]

Five years is a little steep, but good deal all things considered.

[BlueRocky]

Love this deal

[BTS]

I believe this is just the second multi-year extension given out by this FO, after Smoak's 3-year deal.

 

Nice to get Grichuk locked in.

[BlueRocky]

Grichuk had 2.1 fWAR in 2018. If he's going to breakout whatsoever during his prime this deal will be a terrific bargain.

And if he craps the bed, 9.3M/year is not hard to unload and no huge loss

[Terminator]

I'm fine with this but Grichuk does carry some risk IMO. His plate discipline is absolute s*** and it it were to bottom out any more than it already has he's almost unplayable. That said, if he improves it at all then we are looking at a very very good player.

[Spanky99]

Nice deal. I think he's better than 2 WAR. I'm not sure how he got a minus defensive rating last year.

 

Because our defensive metrics, eat dicks. Teams are privy to far better numbers/information.

[Muck Bartinez]

Seems to be a huge trend across MLB this spring. I wonder if the Jays will keep it going with anyone else (Vlad, Stroman)

[Maahfaace]

Randall could easily out play the value on this contract. Nice deal.

[Ray]

Randall could easily out play the value on this contract. Nice deal.

 

8.7 fWAR the last 4 seasons. At $10M/WAR, it’s a bargain even if he stays the way he is.

 

Obviously hoping he’s better than he is.

[Angrioter]

Nice deal

[tazsub3]

8.7 fWAR the last 4 seasons. At $10M/WAR, it’s a bargain even if he stays the way he is.

 

Obviously hoping he’s better than he is.

 

feels so much like the smoak contract.

Worst case situation it is a fair contract, best case it is a steal.

Ok i cursed them earlier and many times before, but this is a good move

[LGBJ29]

1 WAR per season is an extremely reasonable floor for contract value here. Great signing

[Abomination]

Man, step away for a few hours and all sort of stuff happens!

 

I really love this deal.

[sdyment]

Apparently it’s a bit front heavy as well, so if he’s blocking someone or just underwhelming, then he’s still going to be a decent trade chip.

[keggy]

You can't use free market $/WAR valuations because we're buying out his remaining arbitration years. This deal is similar in philosophy to the Aaron Hicks and Kevin Kiermaier deals, although those players were much more valuable at the time of signing.

[Laika]

I am not in love with it. Serious flaws in the offensive profile.

 

Meh.

[glory]

Yeah this actually seems a bit excessive to me. I think Grichuk has potential to be better than he has shown so far, but I wouldn't have dropped $50m on him before he comes close to reaching it. He has a 5% bb rate and a career OBP below .300 and even last year didn't show any signs of deviating from that skill set. Not sure this is a smart move, but I said the same thing about the Smoakster, so prove me wrong again Atkins.

[Captain Adama]

Yeah this actually seems a bit excessive to me. I think Grichuk has potential to be better than he has shown so far, but I wouldn't have dropped $50m on him before he comes close to reaching it. He has a 5% bb rate and a career OBP below .300 and even last year didn't show any signs of deviating from that skill set. Not sure this is a smart move, but I said the same thing about the Smoakster, so prove me wrong again Atkins.

 

The major thing last year was that he cut his K rate from 30% to 26%, so that's kind of a big deal.

[Deadpool]

Stroman and Sanchez next.

[Krylian]

Stroman and Sanchez next.

 

Don't see Sanchez sticking around as long as Boras is in the picture.

[Brownie19]

His floor is an excellent 4th OFer.

 

This is OK - I'll trust them.

[Deadpool]

Don't see Sanchez sticking around as long as Boras is in the picture.

 

Some of his guys have been signing extensions lately. He's not going to get that 9 figure contract any time soon, unless he has a CRAZY good year.

[Grant77]

Further confirmation that our FO is in love with exit velocity.

[Deadpool]

Further confirmation that our FO is in love with exit velocity.

 

Yeah, that's been clear for a while now, they seriously value it a lot.

[Hipfan]

Can't say I'm a fan of this deal; it seems like an overpay especially considering what the FA market has to offer for players of similar value. Not sure why they just didn't wait out his arb years. He's a decent player, but no better than Pillar (Grichuk highest bwar is 3.2, while Pilar has posted 4.9, 3.5 and 3.0 bwar), strikes out too much and can't take a walk.

 

It's not a crippling deal but I hope Shatkins does more with the financial flexibility that they will have in the coming years. Deals like this don't inspire a lot of confidence, though.

[Terminator]

I am not in love with it. Serious flaws in the offensive profile.

 

Meh.

 

Agreed. Seems like the type of extension that is given to players who are viewed as more safe commodities. Grichuk's outcomes seem extremely volatile. Seems like the bottom is more likely to fall out then he is to realize his potential by fixing his offensive flaws.