Toronto Blue Jays: Early Extensions for Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman?
By Tim Haberin
Should the Toronto Blue Jays follow the leads of others and try to sign two of their young starting pitchers to long-term deals?
The Toronto Blue Jays faced some tough decisions this offseason. Taking a peek at the years ahead, those difficult choices aren’t ending anytime soon. While the club watched two of its best sluggers hit free agency simultaneously this winter, a pair of its talented young pitchers will also be eligible to test the market at the same time following the 2020 season. The hurlers in question? Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman.
Obviously, the moment of truth is still a few years away. The Jays are certainly not under any obligation to address the situation now. But Shi Davidi of Sportsnet suggests that the team would be wise to consider nipping things in the bud by exploring potential contract extensions with Sanchez and Stroman sooner rather than later.
He points out that the Cleveland Indians, the previous organization of Jays president Mark Shapiro and general manager Ross Atkins, successfully inked pitchers Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco to long-term deals in April of 2015. The preemptive move is paying off for the Tribe right now. They’re a legitimate World Series contender that doesn’t have to worry about the key members of its rotation leaving anytime soon.
Davidi further illustrates the parallels between the Jays’ and Indians’ scenarios: Stroman is in his first year of arbitration, while Sanchez is a year away. Carrasco and Kluber were the same, respectively. It’s safe to say Cleveland is more than happy with the contracts they ended up with. Kluber signed a five-year, $38.5 million deal with two team options. Carrasco agreed to a four-year, $22 million pact, also with a pair of club options.
The Blue Jays have plenty of reasons to want to keep Sanchez and Stroman in the fold for the long haul. The 24-year-old Sanchez is coming off a breakout season in his young career. He went 15-2 with an AL-best 3.00 ERA, a 1.17 WHIP and 2.56 K/BB ratio. And while Toronto did its best to limit his innings late in the season, he still logged 192 frames and held up well in the process.
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25-year-old Stroman struggled a bit at times in 2016, managing a 4.37 ERA, 1.29 WHIP and 3.07 K/BB. However, there was still a lot to like about his year, especially considering the fact that he was still working his way back from 2015’s ACL surgery. He tossed 204 innings and improved as the season went on, posting a 3.28 ERA over the final two months. Expectations remain high for the right-hander moving forward.
Though the promise of free agency is always tempting for a young player, early financial security has its appeal as well. If Sanchez and Stroman signed extensions similar to the ones given to other young hurlers over the past few years, they would likely be able to test the market around age 30 anyway. And the Jays would obtain some cost certainty through their arbitration years and beyond.
It might be hard to pull off, but the Indians’ blueprint for their current success would make sense for a team like Toronto that would probably like to stay competitive while keeping its payroll in line over the next several years. We have grown accustomed to thinking of the Blue Jays as an offense-first club recently, but their rotation took a major leap forward last season and they will likely need to lean on it more and more.
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Sanchez and Stroman might not be receptive to the idea of early extensions, but it would be in the Jays’ best interest to broach the topic and find out.