The Blue Jays sign Yusei Kikuchi

[TwistedLogic]

 

Per Heyman.

 

[L54]

Awesome. Kikuchi was one of the guys I wanted.

[Sammy225]

12 per year not a bad aav I love it

[Ray]

Perfectly fine 5th starter with upside.

 

Rotation is set now. Let’s get an infielder and go.

[glory]

Not surprised. Lefty who throws mid 90s and misses bats at a solid clip. Give him to Pete Walker and see what happens.

[THANOS]

He throws super hard and has a great K/9.

 

I remember looking at that picture with all his red & blue peripherals and he rated poor in most of them. You just hope Pete can fix the hard contact rates.

 

Tons of upside though, and the contract is decent. He's a could placeholder for that year after Ryu comes off the books. And he's great insurance in-case Ryu is bad or anyone gets injured.

[connorp]

I’ll go on record saying I’m down.

[Stangstag]

Nicee

 

Hopefully turns out better than the Roark deal (same AAV)

[saskjayfan]

We needed a starter. I'm not sure who would have been considered better who's left. Greinke maybe, but we got 3 years and his arm clearly has the most upside of what was left. On to the next part of the plan.

[RobinThicc]

I mean as a fifth starter, sure.

[John_Havok]

Perfect signing. Now trade for J-Ram and it's about as perfect as it can get

[Spanky99]

 

Per Heyman.

 

 

Noice!!!

[connorp]

Nicee

 

Hopefully turns out better than the Roark deal (same AAV)

 

Was bad when the ink dried.

[dineke]

His stats are surprisingly bad. I thought he was a beast cause he always shoved against the Jays.

[Terminator]

His stats are surprisingly bad. I thought he was a beast cause he always shoved against the Jays.

 

Yeah idk his numbers have never been great and were even worse after the foreign substance crackdown. FA usually come with a little sticker shock so I don’t necessarily hate this deal but 3 years for a guy who projects under 2 WAR?

 

This situation kind of reminds me of the Morales signing. A guy they have legit reasons for liking but ultimately overpaid.

[TwistedLogic]

Hate this deal tbh. Really not a fan of Kikuchi and he's not good enough to block Pearson IMO.

 

Oh well, hope Pete Walker can work his magic here.

[jerb]

 

Bob Nightengale

@BNightengale

 

Yusei Kikuchi's 3-year, $36 million contract with the #Bluejays is front-loaded:

$16 million in 2022

$10 million in 2023

$10 million in 2024

[Captain Adama]

I mean ehhh, he's fine as a fifth starter. At least this adds indirectly adds depth to the bullpen.

[Captain Adama]

Yeah idk his numbers have never been great and were even worse after the foreign substance crackdown. FA usually come with a little sticker shock so I don’t necessarily hate this deal but 3 years for a guy who projects under 2 WAR?

 

This situation kind of reminds me of the Morales signing. A guy they have legit reasons for liking but ultimately overpaid.

 

Kind of agree with this take.

[Daniel Labude]

Hate this deal tbh. Really not a fan of Kikuchi and he's not good enough to block Pearson IMO.

 

Oh well, hope Pete Walker can work his magic here.

 

He is better than Ryu probably imo. And Jays will use a 6 man rotation

[Terminator]

 

Bob Nightengale

@BNightengale

 

Yusei Kikuchi's 3-year, $36 million contract with the #Bluejays is front-loaded:

$16 million in 2022

$10 million in 2023

$10 million in 2024

 

That’s pretty neat. Love that the Jays are willing to front load deals. No one else does this.

[Stangstag]

He is better than Ryu probably imo. And Jays will use a 6 man rotation

 

We’re really saying Kikuchi is better than freaking Ryu after he had 1 bad season??

 

Come on guys…

[Deadpool]

This is a decent stability move. I hope Pearson grabs a rotation spot and runs with it, but sadly that's not a given at this point so I like having 5 guys we can run out there that aren't fully JoshTowersesque.

[John_Havok]

Hate this deal tbh. Really not a fan of Kikuchi and he's not good enough to block Pearson IMO.

 

Oh well, hope Pete Walker can work his magic here.

 

THis is no doubt the gamble being taken here. Underlying numbers give lots of reason for optimism if he can be unlocked. His HR rate last year was also off the charts and probably not something to expect as the norm. Even projecting at 2 WAR... if your 5th starter is projecting at 2 WAR with upside... that's not really something to be worried about.

[L54]

If he’s decent in 2022 all he has to be is rosterable the next two seasons @ 10M

 

No shame in paying for depth and flexing a little financial muscle

[glory]

No question that this deal could end up looking bad. Performance hasn't been there for Kikuchi, and a one year deal probably would have been safer, but ultimately he's replacing Matz in the rotation, and a lefty who throws mid 90's and misses bats is something Walker has shown he can work with. There is stuff to like about Kikuchi. I'm guessing this is what the Jays offered Matz, which he turned down obviously, and this was pivot.

[TwistedLogic]

He is better than Ryu probably imo. And Jays will use a 6 man rotation

 

He could be better than Ryu. The problem is that they won't get rid of Ryu and they won't move him out of the rotation either. So now there are potentially two anchors back there instead of one, both making big dollars and likely getting a really long leash in the rotation.

[TwistedLogic]

It's easy to trust this front office after what they've shown they can do, but they aren't bulletproof either.

 

This could easily end up looking like the Roark deal pretty quickly.

 

Hope for the best, though. Glad the deal is front-loaded.

[Daniel Labude]

We’re really saying Kikuchi is better than freaking Ryu after he had 1 bad season??

 

Come on guys…

 

Yes. I think he has hit that age point that he most likely keeps seeing a decline....unless its a 6 man rotation. That would help

[gruber92]

A serviceable starter in a season where the full schedule will be crunched with nine inning double headers and not many days off. Stripling will the depth arm while Pearson gets his shot to start, and you know Pearson's innings will be limited this year.