Toronto Blue Jays: Justin Smoak gets a two-year extension

The Toronto Blue Jays announced on Saturday that first baseman Justin Smoak has agreed to a two-year extension worth $8.25 million.

First baseman Justin Smoak had a nice day on Saturday. Not only did he hit his 10th home run of the season, but it was announced that Smoak and the Toronto Blue Jays agreed to a two-year extension worth $8.25 million. The contract will pay Smoak $4.125 million per season in the first two years of the deal, with a $6 million club option that can increase to as much as $8 million based on how he performs in 2018-19. There’s also a $250,000 buyout which could push the total deal to $8.5 million.

Smoak would have been a free agent after this season, but told reporters he wanted to stay in the American League East and in Toronto. “We love Toronto, me and my family, and we wanted to stay here as long as we can,” Smoak added. “So we just wanted to get something done.”

Smoak, who is in his seventh year in the majors, was originally drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 2005, but didn’t sign. Three years later, he was selected 11th overall in the 2008 draft by the Texas Rangers. In 2010, he was a part of the Cliff Lee trade that sent Lee to the Rangers. Smoak, Matt Lawson, Blake Beavan and Josh Lueke all went to the Seattle Mariners in the deal.

Smoak is batting .234 with 10 home runs and 24 RBI in 250 plate appearances in 2016. For his career, with Texas, Seattle and Toronto, he’s batting .225/.310/.394 with 102 home runs and 317 runs batted in. Smoak isn’t a superstar by any means and it seems that he’s failed to live up to some of the expectations put upon him when he first made the majors, but he’s a decent player who plays a solid first base and can also be an option for designated hitter.

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He doesn’t have the highest batting average, but hits for power occasionally. One downside to Smoak at the plate is his strike out rate. He’s currently striking out at a rate of 32 percent this season (78 strikeouts in 250 PA). In his five years with the Mariners, he struck out 435 in 1,943 plate appearances and he only walked 200 times during that same span.

Smoak spoke of his unrealized expectations before Toronto’s game against Oakland on Saturday: “I know I can be a better player. It’s all about staying consistent. That’s what you strive for every day and that’s the goal to keep working on to be a more consistent player.”

The move to sign Smoak to an extension surprised some people around baseball because he would have been a free agent at the end of the season and it’s quite possible another team could have take a flyer on him. And he’s still young—he will turn 30 in December.

This extension also seems to have been made to soften the expected blow of losing both Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion to free agency this winter. Jon Heyman reported earlier this week that there is a bit of a gap between what Bautista wants and what the Blue Jays want to offer. There currently seems to be a gap between what Bautista is asking and what the Jays would like to pay, and Encarnacion’s agent told Heyman that his client does not want to negotiate during the season, and that he also wants to test the market.

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Smoak was originally claimed off waivers from Seattle in October 2014 after hitting .202 with seven homers and 30 RBI in 80 games with the Mariners. Toronto then non-tendered Smoak and signed him to a one-year, $1 million deal in December 2014.

He had earned $2.64 million with Seattle the previous season as full-time player and since signing with Toronto, Smoak has accepted being a role player: “I want to play every day, that’s always the goal. But if that’s not the case, that’s not the case. Whatever it takes to help this team win ballgames.”

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