The Blue Jays and Jason Frasor have agreed to a one-year contract worth $3.5MM according to a press release. The deal also includes a club option for 2012 worth $3.75MM. Frasor accepted arbitration back in November rather than hit the open market as a Type-A free agent reliever.
The 33-year-old right-hander posted a 3.68 ERA with 9.2 K/9 and 3.8 BB/9 in 63 2/3 innings last season, and over the last two years he owns a 3.12 ERA, 9.0 K/9, and 3.2 BB/9. Frasor is the incumbent in a rebuilt Toronto bullpen that lost Scott Downs and Kevin Gregg but added Carlos Villanueva, Octavio Dotel, Jon Rauch, and Frank Francisco.
Our Arbitration Tracker shows that Frasor filed for $3.73MM while the team countered with $3.25MM. The new deal essentially splits the two figures.
Seems like a fair deal, right in the middle of their arbitration numbers.
Good to see, AA getting those club options.
Loving the club options, adds a lot of flexibility at the trade dead line.
deadline bait or declined for Type A/B draft compensation :)
So the option year makes this a multi-year deal so AA can’t be accused of breaking his no-negotiating 1 year deals after numbers are exchanged
Frasor is gone veryyy soon I would think
What are his chances of closing this year?
Slim to none. He melts down in pressure situations.
Who are you? JP Richardi?
He had a bad April, he was solid in the chances he was given to close in the past
No, he wasn’t. At all. You also might want to learn how to spell names if you’re going to reference them. Solid doesn’t really cut it as a closer, at that rate, I guess Gregg was also solid.
how was he not solid in 2009? He was borderline elite.
Yeah, Gregg was solid. Closers are vastly overrated
In 1950, when they didn’t have closer roles for pitchers, the winning percentage for a team leading after 8 innings is the exact same as today. What’s that tell you again how useful they are?
Closers pitch 60 innings a season, their performances are too volatile year to year to really matter, especially if you aren’t going to the playoffs anyways, like the Jays.
Unless you are Mariano Rivera, even the best closers from 2-3 seasons ago (Papelbon, Jenks, Rodriguez, Gagne, Cordero, even Broxton) all lost it in a few years, and not due to age either.
i see you’ve read the posnanski article. it was damn good
Absolutely. Closers are for silly people. I hate the whole notion of holding your best guy in the pen for the last inning. You should be using your most dominant pitcher in the highest leverage situation, be it the 7th, 8th or 9th.
Gregg did a solid job last year (not exceptional but solid). You should stick to chartered accountancy because baseball analysis is clearly not your thing.
Clearly insults aren’t your thing.
More like: Slim to none. Frank Francisco is around.
Frasor isn’t an awful closing option, he is just awful to watch. Makes me sweat.
if you can handle a full year of gregg closing, you can handle frasor
results may be similar but at least gregg doesn’t make you wait for ten minutes between pitches while he circles the mound and adjusts his hat… i guess i just prefer to have my bandaids torn off quickly
I think if Frasor come out next year like he did last year with a fastball around 88mph and a sliderwhich just hangs there like he did last year then there’s no chance he closes. I don’t understand why he scraped his hugely effective changeup which he had developed the previous year that just made him filthy.
I hope Frasor can close, but he has to really turn around his performance from last year.
Its slim to none because of Fransisco. He would have had a shot against Rauch and Dotel, albeit not a very high chance of winning the job.
Frasor gone…i agree
Glad to have you back Jason!
Why do people believe frasor is going to be dealt soon?
why do people want frasor gone that badly? He’s probably the 2nd/3rd best reliever the Jays have right now
4th.
please name the top three
Rauch, Francisco, Camp.
Hes has been consistant and good in the al east, something the rest of the jays relievers haven’t done. Also I would say hes tied for second with Rauch, Dotel isn’t close.
yup. I’d say Francisco is probably #1 with frasor/rauch/ and maybe camp tied for 2nd.
Yeah. Frasor is good reliever and im wondering why so many seem eager to get rid of him. Forgot about camp, if he keeps it up he is definitely up there and he could still improve if he gets his K’s up.
Camp used to be so crap when he was with the Rays… what a turnaround for the guy
Here’s what I believe is the thinking behind this contract. If Frasor comes out of the gates at a high level, he’s likely to be dealt before the deadline… in this case a club option would be of benefit and a selling point to a new club. If Frasor doesn’t perform as well and declines to a type B, I would expect him to last the entire season with the team, the option not picked up and offered arbitration. As a B he no longer has signing problems and will likely decline giving the Jays their compensation pick.
Maybe, maybe not. AA has stated he is focusing on the bullpen, and Frasor’s numbers are solid. I don’t see him as a closer though. I agree with what others have said; he doesn’t have the confidence in himself. He fits the setup role perfectly.
Maybe, maybe not. AA has stated he is focusing on the bullpen, and Frasor’s numbers are solid. I don’t see him as a closer though. I agree with what others have said; he doesn’t have the confidence in himself. He fits the setup role perfectly.
Sorry for the double post.
frasors splits home away are night and day – the dude is a beast pitching in rogers dome
He definitly kills it a RC!
Good move for both sides. Frasor is likely going trying to retire as a Blue Jay keep his wifey happy and all that ;)