The Blue Jays are expected to pick up the team’s $3MM option over righty Jason Grilli, Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca notes in his breakdown of the team’s upcoming offseason plans. That’s hardly a surprise now, though it probably is one if you backtrack all the way to May 31, when he came to Toronto via trade. As MLBTR’s Steve Adams explained at the time, it was possible to see the potential for a rebound from the veteran, with the Jays only accepting a minimal amount of salary obligations. The 39-year-old ultimately delivered just what Toronto hoped for, contributing 42 innings of 3.64 ERA pitching with 12.4 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9. He’ll enter the 2017 as a key set-up option for the Jays, with his affordable option locking up one bullpen spot at a reasonable price.
Here’s more from the AL East:
- Several notable Blue Jays players may well end up heading to other organizations, of course. As Davidi writes, it appears rather likely that veteran knuckler R.A. Dickey will be among them. Dickey did not commit to continuing his playing career, but says he’ll listen to any opportunities as they arise this winter after taking some time away from the game. He spoke fondly of his four seasons in Toronto, over which he turned in 824 1/3 solid innings but was never quite as dominant as hoped when the club parted with significant talent (including then-prospect Noah Syndergaard) to acquire him after three outstanding years with the Mets.
- David Ortiz’s unbelievable final season with the Red Sox may have been more remarkable than most of us truly realized as it unfolded. As WEEI.com’s Rob Bradford writes, the aging slugger was fighting through lower-leg and foot issues that were far more serious than was known publicly. Widespread problems meant that Ortiz “was essentially playing on stumps,” in the words of coordinator of sports medicine services Dan Dyrek — the man who helped him hang on as long as he did. Boston fans, in particular, will want to read the entirety of this piece, in which Dyrek breaks down the immense challenges faced by Ortiz and the team’s medical staff dating back for several seasons.
- Orioles outfielder Joey Rickard never returned to action after tearing a thumb ligament on July 20, but the hope is he won’t need surgery to address the issue, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com reports. More importantly, highly paid slugger Chris Davis is set for doctors to check out his hand after dealing with discomfort throughout the year. Though Davis battled through the injury all year, he didn’t quite perform as hoped, and the team wants to double check that some kind of offseason procedure isn’t necessary.
As a Boston fan, I’ve admired Ortiz for awhile now. But the simple fact is he walked out on his own terms which to me is the best ending any great player could have.
Big PEDs career is over!! Good luck replacing him.
He failed one non disclosed PED test, also PED tests can be wrong a lot of the time. Many supplements test positive even when they are not banned. Could be a slip up, but still I doubt he used PEDs (if at all) for the majority of his career
There’s not even any tangible evidence he failed ONE test, because the only thing actually known is that :his name is in the sealed report on PEDs to MLB…- and there were about 30 more names than positive tests in said report. So no, there’s not even one failed test. Anyone who says they know…has either the last name of Manfred or Selig.
Yes let’s ask Ryan Braun when he tested positive, fought it, won, got the guy fired and then was suspended for being “linked” to a ped supplier
Where have you been? Arod was cut months ago.
Nice snack hunt
Stay classy. Really, no one thinks you’re just a creepy internet troll.
your username mixed with what you said is a typical Yankee fan
No he’s not a “typical Yankee fan”
The ol’ “Great in the NL, not great in the AL” split claims yet another victim in R.A.
All those free outs in the NL really do pad the stats of pitchers in that league, playing almost all your games facing a DH is the true test of how good a pitcher is.
While the AL is clearly the better league, it also hurt Dickey to move from a pitchers park to an extreme hitter’s park
Dickey had one standout year with NYM when he was 20-6 but other than that, he was the same pitcher. He ate innings, kept his team in the game, etc. The difference, IMO, was more due to the difference in parks ( noted above) and the inconsistency associated with being a knuckleball pitcher.
I’d like to see Grilli be the 7th inning guy as opposed to returning to his 8th inning role from this year. He still has decent stuff and is one of the most likeable players I’ve seen.
I think that is how it will pan out if Benoit returns to form. And Cecil will be used with Grilling sort of as set-up platoon depending on the match-up.
Sorry Grilli not Grilling,stupid autocorrect
That’s if Cecil is even back….
Wow, I still can’t get over how the Detroit mopup guy Grilli and the 10 K/9 setup/closer Grilli are the same human being.
Even more interesting to me is that Grilli was the fourth overall pick in the draft 20 years ago.
Queue the Ortiz steroid trolls….
Yep. I would love for those trolls to defend the their lives. Prove that your not a total and complete loser.
He’s one of the greatest to ever play. I’m not a Red Sox fan, but I always found his late inning at bats to be must see TV.
I bet hearts of Jays fans sink into their stomachs every time they hear the name Noah Syndergaard.
Yup, nice move by Sandy.
Yeah, sucks how that turned out but Syndergaard was an A ball pitcher at the time and the vast majority of A ball prospects flame out well before reaching the majors so I can see the Jays logic in doing that trade. It was rumoured to be the Mets demanding one of Sanchez, Syndergaard, or Stroman at the time. – who knew all 3 would become solid ML pitchers with Sanchez & Syn both being All-Stars and Stroman pushing the Jays into the playoffs in 2015.
Hindsight is 20/20…..Dickie did his job