8:36am: The Jays are a finalist for Yates but don’t have a deal in place just yet, tweets The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. Heyman further tweets that Yates is “leaning” toward the Blue Jays but has yet to formally agree to anything.
8:28am: Free-agent reliever Kirby Yates has been said to be nearing a decision since earlier this week, and TSN’s Scott Mitchell reports this morning that Yates is “firmly” on the Blue Jays’ radar. Yates is expected to meet with team officials at the organization’s Spring Training complex in Dunedin, Fla., per Mitchell, who adds that he’s told Yates is not “just visiting.” MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that Yates and the Jays are close to a deal.
Yates pitched in just six games this past season before undergoing surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow — a procedure that put an end to the already truncated 2020 season for the former All-Star. The 33-year-old Yates (34 in March) went from waiver claim to dominant reliever in similarly meteoric fashion to former Padres teammate Brad Hand and new White Sox closer Liam Hendriks.
Following a strong first season in San Diego in 2017, Yates added a splitter to his arsenal and saw his career take off; in 2018-19, Yates led all qualified relievers with a 1.67 ERA and ranked third with a 2.14 SIERA over the life of 123 2/3 innings. Along the way, he struck out a whopping 38.7 percent of the hitters he faced, while walking just 6.1 percent of opponents. Among qualified MLB relievers, only Josh Hader and Edwin Diaz topped him in terms of K-BB% during that time.
The Blue Jays received middle-of-the-pack results from their bullpen in 2020 but quietly enjoyed some strong performances from unheralded members of the relief corps. Rookie Jordan Romano, returned after failing to stick with the Rangers after the Rule 5 Draft, allowed just two runs in 14 2/3 innings while striking out 21 of the 57 batters he faced. Former Cubs righty Rafael Dolis, meanwhile, joined the Jays after an impressive run in Japan and yielded just four earned runs in 24 innings while punching out 31 of the 100 hitters he faced. Tom Hatch and Julian Merryweather, acquired in respective trades of David Phelps and Josh Donaldson, both gave the Jays reason for optimism as in their MLB debuts as well.
Encouraging as some of those showings may have been, the Jays lack experienced arms at the back of their bullpen. Ken Giles, who entered the 2020 season as Toronto’s closer, missed nearly the entire year due to Tommy John surgery and is now a free agent. Veteran righty Anthony Bass, one of the team’s most reliable options in 2020, is also a free agent at the moment.
Toronto reportedly agreed to terms with right-hander Tyler Chatwood, another bullpen candidate, just last night. It still seems likely that the Jays, who have been connected to countless free agents this winter as one of the few clubs actually willing to spend significant money, will make further additions in the bullpen even if a deal with Yates ultimately does come together. Notably, starters-turned-relievers Anthony Kay and Ryan Borucki are the only lefties in the Toronto bullpen. While Borucki is likely to make the club due to a lack of minor league options, Kay struggled to an ERA north of 5.00 thanks to a bloated 14 percent walk rate in 2020 and does have minor league options remaining.
My god they actually got someone
Nope,next update says “here’s my number, so call maybe”
bruh there the bluejays they will never be as good as they used to be without dj lemahiue or springer
They’re
Did you just try to grammar shame a dude who started his sentence with “bruh” and used no caps? Good luck. :D
Seriously Kirb was so loved by the Pads and helped build a great chemistry, a team like the dodgers who had “interest” in him was probably a last resort to keep doing what he loves and make some money.. I mean the guy wasn’t successful until his 30s and just now seeing some money.
Good luck Kirby! Get a title, get some money, come back and wave to the fans in Petco someday.
Nope, they’re just being used for more leverage for the team Yates actually wants to play for.
You just made that up. You have no way of knowing if that is true. What about yesterday when you made the moronic post about asian racism, and like 20 people called you out? Yeah, pretty embarrassing. You made a fool of yourself! Go eat something Marty McRibb!
That part is actually true. I was there for it. I called you out on that, Marty. It was pretty bad.
I wish Yates the best as a Padre fan he was awesome until his injury, He deserves a chance.
The BJ’s are getting a Kirby? That must really suck.
bwhahaha exactly
There not operating in a vacuum
This comment blows
Actually just the opposite
Rgrddy: you missed the entire point and ruined the momentum of the thread. It’s the word association within the sentence itself. Ugh, newbies
Yeah, must be that. It couldn’t also be a continuing word play on vacuums sucking ( diametrically opposite of blowing) or a db that styles Joe D’s nickname from mom’s basement. Very erudite while slurping instant ramen.
Ok Jays making moves. Could be rlly good closer. They need Springer now.
Happy for the Blue Jays fans. More to come, but they got a nice reliever here.
Finally. I was really hoping they managed to bring in one of the ninth inning arms. I like how this deepens the bullpen so Romano and Dolis are in much better roles now that they can bridge the game to the ninth.
Oh god I jumped the gun
I was about to temper your expectations. The headline indicates he’s signing. The story basically says hold your horses
Yikes
If the Kirbster returns to form or close to it, The Jays have a nice piece in the pen.
youtube.com/watch?v=0qgET1Zhpb8.
But in all seriousness though, this could be the start of something. Sincerely hoping that this goes through!
@Paulie…well played
Whitlock nails it again!
Teach us how great it is that you aren’t racist, so we can all pat you on the back! Tell us about Puig again we could all use a big laugh! Or John Candy again and again and again- SO funny Xabial!
Is he going to play 3B?
That’s a good comment! They shouldn’t sign a closer if they need one because he can’t play third!
Damn, there goes one of the guys I wanted the Royals or Brewers to go after. Big arm with experiences in the late innings. Blue Jay’s did good if they get this done IMO.
Even without knowing the dollar figure, this seems to be a great signing for the Jays. Yates is a strong bouceback candidate.
If they pull off a couple of solid moves (their payroll, according to spotrac, was 20th before this move) they should be seen as the frontrunners in the division after the losses the Yanks and Rays have had.
You spelled rual wrong
Hopefully Kirby signs with the Jays.
Hopefully someone better than Chatwood is brought in for all the noise they have made about adding an impact player or two.
Imagine how much life must suck to greet news that your team may be signing a leading closer, with your usual whiney bitchboy comment.
Is it a worse life than trying to demean people to make yourself feel better?
Finally, some signings. As a Jays fan, it has been torture hearing that they are interested in everyone but they’re not getting in anybody. Yates is good but I hope that they will get more bullpen help, like Hand or Colome.
Chatwood is likely going to be in the bullpen. Hopefully his stuff plays up out of the pen.
People got to learn: Among others, never accept Heyman’s word without official confirmation. Guy’s an inventor, a story-teller.
That said, this is good if it comes to pass. Helps with recruitment of other FAs, showing the commitment to improving/winning
Well Rosenthal is also reporting on it so there is that!
Could be a great signing for the Jays, if it happens
Would be poetic if he so deliberately uses the Jays to get a better offer elsewhere.
The ‘whiney little bitchboy’ is strong with this one. LOL!
I think a lot of times people just post things like “he’s a good locker room presence” without anything to really substantiate it.
Teams that are interested in signing Tanaka should take note how he helped Kirby Yates. Yates credits Tanaka for helping him develop his splitter. This is when he threw for the Yanks & was more or less a scrub.
Blue Jay’s are fortifying their pen.
Good moves.
Every contender should be in on the incredible relief market.
he is kirby yates im a dodgers fan ive sceen a lot of him ive also sceen cody bellinger send a hanging splitter to uranus think about what the a.l east will do to him
Uh.
Okay. Cool your a dodgers fan, @garret.
& Bellinger hit a home run off him?
Huh.
As a not dodgers fan I’m still pretty familiar with Bellinger. I guess I’m not really going to discount a pitcher who gave up a jack to him. Dude’s a good hitter.
Relax dodger guys. Y’all still have a great ball club. No reason to get insecure & snippy.
Alright. I’m going grouse hunting. You fellas have a good rest of the morning & afternoon.
Mets hire then fire Beltran before start of season then hire and fire Porter before start of season. Also I thought what he did didn’t matter based off the current and next President.
preach bruh
Kay was only a reliever last year because of the strange season. He is likely to be pitching as a starter in AAA to start the year.
I think Kay really needs another pitch to make it as a starter. Especially against lefties when he rarely throws his change. His stuff isn’t impressive enough to be a three pitch pitcher.
non of yall relize pitching is not all of it. yes pitching is a need but you can put cy young out there and it would make no difrrence they dont score enough runs
Luckily for them pitching and defense are their biggest needs, not run production.
what
Jays had 8th highest scoring offense in MLB last year. Scoring runs isnt an issue. Read up some first
Also, I understand why the Porter threads are closed. But by doing so, we’re all missing on some absolutely hilarious – albeit a tad low brow – takes.
I wish we could handle responsibility better, fellas.
Cant have nice things for a reason
Note to Blue Jays fans: when Kirby Yates is on his game, he is absolutely lights out. He performed very well for the Padres in 2018-2019 until his 2020 injury sidelined him all year.
I would be a little wary of the Padres not making a serious effort to retain his services. Maybe they know something that other teams don’t.
Let’s see how he recovers from injury last year. If this deal is finalized it makes the Chatwood signing more nonsensical. Before some decide to justify the Chatwood signing just know there were internal options as good or better than Chatwood.
Add Chatwood, Roark, Yamaguchi, Ray and Stripling’s contracts and you are just under $30-mil dollars. Money well wasted.
Money well wasted once an injury or two hit then the Jays will also need the in house depth too. Dependent on the dollars for this deal the Jays are still playing with 110 Mil before the Luxury tax
They have plenty of internal options at league minimum who can produce similar results to Chatwood or Ray or Stripling.
The internal options are injury depth. If you put them on the roster opening day, you have no prayer at surviving the season. Put guys like Chatwood, Ray and Stripling on the opening day roster and you can option the young guys to AAA so they’re ready to keep injuries from torpedoing the season.
I think Stripling is better than you think he is, though.
Stripling sucks. You give him too much credit. You also haven’t seen the depth they already have. Plenty of guys that can be just as wild/crap as Ray, Chatwood and Cy Stripling.
I’m a proponent of an overengineered pen. I think having a fleet of good to elite arms in your pen is a viable cheat code to building a competitive pitching staff.
Chatwood + Yates should be a couple quality pieces. I think it’s good roster construction. Jay’s are better today than they were. That’s the real point of the off-season, uh?
The point is to contend. As of today they aren’t contending. However, I’m remaining patient since much-needed free agents are still available and the Jays have the means/funds to make it happen.
How can a team possibly “contend” in the off-season? Ya know?
I’m sticking with the point of the off-season is to better your club. Which the BJ’s are doing. Obviously, they’re pretty active. They’ve been linked to everyone except for the players they’ve actually signed. I’m pretty lukewarm on the Chatwood signing. But Yates is a good get.
Simple: by filling needs. Still weak at SP, still no 3B, and it’s debatable the team has improved. Boston has improved by the fact they have E-Rod returning.
Like I said, still available FA’s that can change that. But to sign players that aren’t necessarily better than the players you have is a waste of time. Nonetheless I’ll be optimistic.
Still wonder if the Jays and Reds might be able to work out a trade of some sort, especially if the Jays took on some money like the Moustakas contract. Maybe Moustakas and Gray for Roark and prospects.
No, the point is to whine and cry on the internet that you’re aggrieved. LOL! That’s all we see from the likes of you.
Ducky, you’re so cool ice wishes it were you….
“ They’ve been linked to everyone except for the players they’ve actually signed.”
Lol. I needed a good laugh man.
this scenario has been in my head for awhile too. They were in on Moustakas when he was a FA so you know they like him, if they take him on it fills the INF need and takes a big salary from the Reds so the prospect capital to get one of Gray or Castillo should go down a bit I would think
Good for Yates. I’m interested to see the dollar amount and length of the agreement.
also he is one of those pitchers that when they get hit the get banged think about him playing the yanks
Another pitcher not signed by the Angels! That’s just great.
Halo11 is that you?
I decided to change my response out of respect for Halo11:
No, I am not Halo11. While he and I are both Angels fans, our opinions differ on many players and what defines their value.
(I’m working on a kinder and gentler delivery.)
We were ALL leaning toward the Blue Jays until the election was over. Four more years of rump would be unbearable for REAL patriotic Americans.
he also does not throw heat
Doesn’t throw heat, but that doesn’t mean he’s not effective.
Neither does Hendricks but he seems to be fine………
If you have good movement and location on your pitches and can change speeds, you don’t need high velocity. Speed covers for a lot of other mistakes, sure, but it’s not a requirement to be successful, even for a closer.
Excellent points. Proven throughout the history of baseball. Location, movement, stuff. Very few can successfully transition from the former to the latter ala CC, John Lester, etc.
Mets fire new GM Porter for sexual harassment. The lesson here is only owner Cohen can be involved in such activity.
Trying to get comments closed here, too?
Help us out: Stay on topic
Has Cohen actually been found guilty of harassment based on evidence? If not, then good for him for having zero tolerance. If he has, then good for him for learning his lesson and having zero tolerance.
Love this stance. It is good IF he’s not a hypocrite; unfortunately, too many times we see these moves for political expediency. But repentance and second chances, everyone deserves in these scenarios.
I’m not really sure I understand this move for the Jays. The back end of the bullpen isn’t an area of need, not with Rafael Dolis and Jordan Romano on the team. Sure, if he’s healthy, Yates is an improvement over either of them, but there have to be better places for the Jays to spend their free agent budget.
You can never have too many good relief arms and currently they aren’t paying a lot for any relievers.
Also, given his age it’s not likely a long term deal probably 2 or 3 at most. And I’m thinking they’re still easily capable of fitting in Springer, Bauer or any other big contract that they’re actually able to convince to come to TO so landing Kirby won’t hamper that.
Plenty more money left to spend(after chatwood the Jays still have 110 Mil left before the luxury tax), meanwhile teams have to grab what is available before there is no one left and signing a player does not mean they are not negotiating with multiple other free agents.
That assumes that the Jays – and Rogers – are willing to spend close to the luxury cap threshold. Since the goal of Rogers is, presumably, to maximize profits, I think it’s unlikely that they would be willing to fork over another $110 million. Even if they were, it would be unwise for the front office to spend all that money, keeping in mind that at some point, Vlad, Bo, and Biggio are all going to start getting paid through either extensions or arbitration.
So then they spend 80 Mil on contracts in 2021 by the time Those kids hit arbitration Ryu’s 20 Mil is gone Grich’s 10 Mil is gone, next offseason Roark’s 12 Mil is gone, Ray’s 8 Mil is gone, Yami’s 3.6 Mil is gone, Chatwood’s 3 Mil is gone. There will be a lot of turn over in contracts and they could use that 50 million plus to extend certain players and that is saying all 3 of the names you put out there are extended which is not a given just yet.
Columnar- your last line is 100% correct. Jays fans justifying the needless moves have not learned from past mistakes. There has only been over 20 years of it.
Yates is fine. But you make a good point as holes on the squad have yet to be adequately filled.
Don’t complain about quality BP arms. It is obviously not the biggest need for the Jays as they currently do not have a third baseman and Grichuk is their starting CF, but Romano could very easily be bad, Dolis could get injured, Shun is bad, Giles is gone, ect.
@ColumnarPower: if healthy, Yates is at the top of bullpen, he’s your closer
Brewer, you’re talking to supposed ‘Jays fans’. They never heard of Yates. They never heard of Chatwood. Their main goal is to troll the internet whining and crying that they have some supposed grievance,. p
Ken Rosenthal wrote a good column in yesterday’s Athletic. He directly said that Toronto fans don’t understand free agency. And that they don’t understand the difficulty in getting anyone to go play in Canada. He basically said they’re stupid.
David Wells wrote a book where he explained why he hated being traded back to Canada. One of the things that he stated, besides the customs border, the currency, the over-taxation, was that the fans “stink”. His word. They know nothing about the game, and think the role of a fan is to show up in their ‘wool hats” (his words) and boo.
They’re not interested in who Chatwood and Yates are. They’re happier whining,
What a pile of complete and utter nonsense!
As a Jays fan, you hit a nerve with me with your comment but then when taking a step back, you are right. There’s a real negative mindset on the Jays forum. I just thought that was every fan base and the internet in general. I like coming on here where you can interact across fan bases. Lots of negativity on here too, but I do like seeing what fans of different teams think of the players they see a lot more than I do.
They keep striking out on their targets. It’s the middle of January. Better to start filling lesser needs than to find yourself in spring training with nothing done yet. You can’t sign players by order of need, you have to sign the ones who are willing to sign while they’re still available.
I wonder if they use Kirby vacuums at the Yates Motel?
Glad he’s going to AL instead of Dodgers. Yates is awesome, if healthy the Jays have one of the best. Though it’s a long commute between Toronto and his home in Kauai
Don’t your tease me, MLBTradeRumors…
Jays were in on everybody from A-Z…and waited until we hit the Y’s to finally strike.
Trading for Zimmer next.
Better yet, sign Ryan Zimmerman.
Lol he will never be the same
With today’s starting pitchers seldom completing the 7th, it’s hard to win without a bullpen. Smart teams know this. Teams need multiple options in the pen.
Good signing.
He hasn’t signed and probably won’t. No FA wants to play in Canada in 2021 if they can avoid it.
Good news, then, because they won’t be playing in Canada in 2021.
So, is this just to taunt Toronto fans (for some reason- I don’t really get where anyone has any hate for that particular franchise, but whatever), or has it actually been decided that Blue Jays are again not going to be playing in Toronto this year?
I’ve heard they’re starting off in Dunedin and once the vaccine is more wide spread, they’ll be able to move to Toronto in the middle of the season.
Oh Marty you silly fella. They wont be playing in Toronto in 2021. So nothing to avoid big guy.
I’d rather live in Toronto than Los Angels.
Marty just declares things without actually knowing anything! Teach us about racism Marty, your hot takes are crap!
No Blue Jays starter even made it into the 7th until the last week or so of the season, if I recall.
That’s correct. It was September 24th (game 57) and it was Ryu who pitched 7 scoreless innings against the Yankees. It was also only the second (and last) time that a Jays starter threw 100 pitches that year; Ryu threw an even 100, the other was by Taijuan Walker who threw 104 in an outing,
Last season the Jays had starters pitch 6 or more innings only 11 times. Seven were by Ryu (that 7 inning start being the only start for the team that went beyond 6 innings), and two were by Matt Shoemaker and Walker each.
So, Kirby didn’t get a late text from Jared?
Toronto blue Jays might not even be in Toronto this year. What a bust. Looks like the first half they will be elsewhere. Looks like players don’t want to do that again. After a crazy 2020, went there for 3 weeks and then They get denied. Unfortunately I don’t see jays picking up much high players. Springer don’t see it follow through. Yates eh possibly! But probably over payed. Since no one wants to go there.
Keep going Toronto. Give NYY some competition.
Here we go!!! Filling out that bullpen was definitely a priority. Assuming he signs of course, their bullpen is looking better! I wouldn’t mind one more bullet in the pen to push some names down the depth chart.
Chatwood
Yates
Romano
Dolis
Borucki
Stripling
Merryweather
Yamaguchi
Reid-Foley
Nice work Jays! I put stripling in the pen as I’m confident the Jays are going to get a Starter. The momentum has swung and now the dominoes are falling. Let’s go Jays!
Treylum, love the positive vibes! That’s fandom, brother. I think it suffices to say the BJs need a lot of work but They performed well last year and have a good core of hitters. They have a couple really good up-and-coming arms to work around, but like many teams, their window will be limited, and inconvenient for them.
They gave the Yankees a run for their money last year and with the Yankees lack of movement (missed opportunities), they have a chance to close the gap even more. But they are seemingly destined to just follow the same pattern…..
Nonetheless, Yates is a good signing – hopefully he performs well.
Thank you sir.
They have some of the right pieces in play for sure. Continued development and growth is key for their next step. They need to continue filling in holes and make sure they are supplementing their roster well. Would love to see them bring in Tanaka or Paxton as well.
What’s been up with the young Steinbrenner? The exact opposite when it comes to spending as his Dad. As a life long Jays fan I appreciate it tho!
All the best to your team this year! Except when my Jays play you!!
If Toronto doesn’t sign some guys, they’re going to have change the mascot to Blue Balls.
The Buffalo Blue Balls actually has a nice ring to it.
Minnesota Twins?!
Yes, they’re in Canada as well.
The Mets GM comments section is locked so I’ll drop my reaction in reference to the same ole’ Mets here….
Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Your going to get deleted like my joke did. Das schwarzer humor es verbodden!!!!!
They shouldn’t have fired him over what he sent to that woman. He was just trying to get something straight between them!
Wait, could it finally happen? Might the Jays sign someone at least potentially half decent??? It’s a miracle!