As expected, the Blue Jays will issue qualifying offers to Marcus Semien and Robbie Ray, according to MLB Network’s Jon Heyman (all Twitter links). The Jays opted against issuing the QO to Steven Matz, however, and Heyman adds that Matz also recently turned down a multi-year contract offer from Toronto.
There was no doubt Semien and Ray would receive qualifying offers, as two of the top members of the 2021-22 free agent class. Semien and Ray will also surely reject the qualifying offer (a one-year, $18.4MM deal) and look to land pricey longer-term contracts on the open market. Toronto has interest in re-signing both players, but if Semien and/or Ray sign elsewhere after turning down the QO, the Jays will now receive compensatory draft picks.
Matz was an interesting borderline QO case, and the Blue Jays front office was reportedly weighing the idea of extending the offer to the left-hander. Unlike the other two Toronto free agents, Matz might have been a candidate to accept, even though he has posted very solid numbers in three of his last four seasons (excepting an injury-plagued down year in 2020). Matz doesn’t quite have the established track record to ensure that he would be a lock for a big multi-year contract on the open market, and thus might have preferred to take that one-year, $18.4MM guarantee now and then test free agency again next year.
However, it seems the Blue Jays might have felt $18.4MM was too much to spend for one season of Matz, even if the Jays are expected to spend more in payroll next year. This doesn’t mean a reunion between Matz and the Jays isn’t possible, except Toronto will now have to compete with other suitors to lock down Matz’s services. With free agency officially opening on Monday, Matz is surely interested in hearing from those other suitors, so it isn’t surprising that he rejected the Jays’ last-minute contract offer.
Good pass on Matz
You can get 3 Alex Wood caliber pitchers if you wait 3 months for the same price
Thought it was crazy they were even considering it
The only one considering a QO to Matz was some Sportsnet talking head. I highly doubt anyone with any clout in the Jays organization seriously considered a QO to Matz. But i do think they are going to try to resign him
Nothing crazy about contemplating placing a qualifying offer on one of the best pitchers in the American League in the second half… Maybe baseball. Guy had like a 2 something era.
I think he’s close enough. Maybe they are hoping to get him for a 3-year deal at a lower AAV.
You were like halfway thru the Chris Fraley Billy Madison bit Mario, love it …..
But you could imagine what it’d be like if they did, right…?
I have my doubts any serious consideration went into it as well Bucs
@Cap & Crunch what in gods name are you talking about ?.. you can’t imagine it, because I doubt you’re a blue Jays fan.. so you don’t watch the games. Americans hear the name “Matz” and think of his useless, Injury prone days with the Mets. He was a great pitcher for us… serious consideration definitely went into it, considering he was, again, one of the best pitchers in the American League in the second half.
They offered him a multi year contract they definitely considered seriously offering him a QO. Not sure why that’s hard to believe.
Only had 4 starts of more than 4 eraned runs. Not a bad year at all
Matz only had 4 starts of more than 4 earned runs because he had 7 starts of less than 5 innings and only one start of 7 innings. It’s easy to not give up runs if you get pulled early.
It wasn’t a bad year, but it was tough on the bullpen and wasn’t $18.4M good.
The only thing with Matz is that with some luck and then some strategy, he was hidden pretty good from top offensive teams this year, he only faced the AL east 6 times verse Ray who faced them 14 times.
Mario, that’s Matz. He’s maddeningly inconsistent and doesn’t have the track record to deserve or command 18 million.
I hear ya, Cosmo2.
I watch lots of Mets games and have seen Matz at his absolute worst. That said, I still believe he’s going to eventually have that one lights-out season like Ray just had. It flies in the face of what I’ve seen from him, though I truly believe it.
Full disclosure: This infatuation with certain pitchers destroyed some otherwise outstanding teams in my Rotisserie Baseball days. I once drafted Pete Smith and Don Carman for one unit apiece at the end of a draft, which probably cost me the championship. Both guys were horrible but I couldn’t replace them and the Braves and Phillies kept sending them out there to get pounded. A couple of years later, I had a rare good pitching week wrecked by a disastrous start by one-unit wonder Todd Von Poppel. He pitched to eight batters and retired one, capping things off by surrendering a grand slam. I gave away my team a few days later.
I had Suarez last year in a league that favored SPs over RPs. Who’d have predicted his finish? He probably won the league for me.
Ha, for a moment I thought you meant Eugenio and not Ranger. I assume you are retaining him.
It’s not a keeper league.
But, FWIW, I have both Suarez on my list. In the four years before 2021, Suarez had a .873 OPS. In 2021, Cincy forgot to check their roster to see if they had a SS, so Suarez had to play SS. My guess is that depressed his hitting, as well as his fans.
From 7/29 on, he had a .909 OPS. It’s cherry-picking a little, but the stats look like what I’d expect before the season. And I’d expect him to be cheap. Just like the Met fans in here, with Comforto, some folks won’t look any further than his 2021 stats.
Matz should get 13 to 15 mil this year so paying an extra 3 to 5 mil extra to secure a good pitcher on a short term deal could be worth it. It depends on what else transpires this off season. I believe Matz gets 3 @ 42 mil contract.
What was the multi-year offer to Matz worth? I recall they were waffling on whether or not to offer it. Not surprising. You tend to offer it to guys who have no real incentive to take it unless they had a history of superb numbers and could use a pillow bounce back contract after losing a year to injury, as opposed to putting up career numbers they may not be able to replicate even on a one year deal.
Pirates are overrated
Vampires, too
Vampires Suck
Robbie Ray is a keeper. If he didn’t cost so much I could see Bloom going after him. Bloom loves the strikeout pitchers.
Congrats to the BJs. Any time you can get two draft picks, for two guys on one-year contracts, then you’ve done okay.
Hope the Jays can resign Ray.
Not saying it won’t happen, but they do have to sign before a certain date. There have been players not get a contract and sit because the pick was attached
The BJs? Do you want to reconsider that nickname?
BJ Birdy says it’s fine.
Reds…
The two best teams in baseball’s best division went about building their pitching staffs quite a bit differently. The damn Ray’s rode a 6+ deep bullpen to the best record in the AL. While the sox, another “modern” baseball front office went with 4+ above average starting pitchers.
Both proved a successful template.
Cashman seems to have moved on from the Big 3 endgame – that was popularized by the ’15 Royals – towards an emulation of Tampa bay. That seems intentional.
But I think he has kind of stumbled into a rotation similar to last year’s sox team. Which worked pretty well! I hope he keeps building towards that.
If that is indeed something Cash is trying to do, Matz would be an excellent fit. He’s pitched in The City & he is AL East tested. A solid durable above average #3 starter would look great on the Yanks staff without shredding the budget
Cash is clueless. They aren’t winning anything soon except the batter strikeout title and don’t forget the Half the Players on the IL for the entire season. How he keeps his job is beyond anyone not from New York
“Clueless”
In 23 years as the Yankees GM, Brian Cashman has; never presided over a team with a losing record, seen 20 iterations of his club appear in the postseason, won 4 titles (& a couple “spare AL pennants”), & authored the most remarkable rebuild (2016) that any of us has ever seen.
That level of success will keep any GM off the hotseat, no matter the geography. Perhaps you wish to rephrase your erstwhile take, @Yep?
Most remarkable rebuild any of us have ever seen? Yea ok – a ton of homerism on that take.
( I love how Yanks fans make excuses for spending in excess of 2.5 billion since 2009 without a WS appearance let alone a win. In any other realm that’s failure to succeed. )
If you are counting on Matz as your # 3 you are in trouble- He’s projected as a 4 who had a good 2nd half.
The Yanks have done nothing in the past 10 yrs to brag about and their future is far from the brightest in baseball.
Maybe spending 300m in 2022 will get them back to the post season otherwise 3rd at best possible with a slight chance of the basement if the Orioles continue on their curve.
I don’t think so.
It’s a pretty objective take.
Look. In ’15 the Yanks made the Wild Card game. In ’16 Cash rebuilt us in-season. That club had a winning record & hung around the WC2 race well into September. In ’17 they won 100 games & reached game 7 of the LCS.
So, yeah. I am willing to listen on what team or GM can boast about a similar turnaround. But you will not be able to name one.
As far as “nothing” goes, I am willing to bet that this ever so “disappointing” decade of Yankee baseball has been a lot more thrilling & interesting than whomever it is you root for. I am also willing to bet the *next* 10 years will be more of the same, bud.
Care how to explain how a team who “hung around ” the wild card until Sept could be considered a rebuild?
They traded a few relievers, hardly considered a rebuild .
Easy enough to explain: because Cashman did an excellent job. Seems like you are starting to see that. Which is good! Your jealousy is unbecoming, bro.
Traded a lot more than a “few relievers”, bud.
Wow- The brilliance of your assessment is blinding . SMH – 12 years and counting no WS appearance, with that budget an astonishing job .
Even the NY writers know how bad the situation is for the Yanks .
Not even close to a rebuild. How is this a take. He traded rentals lol like every single team that doesn’t have a chance at the postseason does. And even in hindsight, only one of those trades he made looks like a clear win for them. So it definitely wasn’t the most remarkable rebuild any of us have ever seen considering it can’t even be considered a rebuild at all.
You are all over the place with your critique.
Not sure why it bothers you so much that Cash has been successful in all the ways I pointed out. “12 years without a title” is now your issue? The Ray’s have never (& counting, uh) won a title. I guess that means they should fire their GM too.
& all Yankee fans know this: Sherman is an idiot. Here is how “bad the situation is”. Yanks are coming off a 90+ win season. That is our floor. Cashman *always* brings a better squad to Spring training than he ended the year with. He will do the same this Winter.
So it’ll be another “ho-hum, Yanks in the postseason again” next year. Interested to see how Cash goes about retooling the offense as our pitching is in the best shape it’s been in years.
Anyway: have a blessed & productive Sunday, man.
How is it *not* a rebuild (lol).
Yanks traded (& moved on from) every veteran asset they could. They then proceeded to fill those vacancies with prospects. That’s a rebuild!
Just because it only took one relatively painless season doesn’t make it anything less so. Losing 90-100 games/year for 4-6 seasons to rebuild your roster with prospects & young players isn’t the only way to do so.
I’m sure it pisses you guys off because it was so rapid & fairly successful. Hell, Cash will take yet another iteration of this core to the postseason in ’22 & we all know it.
I’d call it a “retool” but it still is an excellent example of Cashman’s genius. His team never has to rebuild; have ONE off year (and only one) and he turns it around into something most teams couldn’t accomplish in a five year year down.
Again, you quite literally do not know what a rebuild is if that is your definition. Trading rentals is not a rebuild. That’s called selling off when you’re not going to make the playoffs. Again, like every single team does. I’m not pissed off, I’m just telling you that what you said is incorrect.
In baseball & sports, rebuilding is a process when older players are sold off & replaced by younger prospects & players. Yankee fans & baseball experts alike all termed the sell-off in ’16 as the *first step* in a rebuild. That term was used constantly, though Cash preferred “transition”.
The definition –
Rebuild: build something (again) after it has been damaged or destroyed.
So in both a specific baseball context & using Webster’s, what Cash did in ’16 was rebuild. Sure, it didn’t have the usual series of putrid seasons typically associated with that process. But that is my point. It was extremely well orchestrated. Unprecedented.
You should also revisit the meaning of “literally”.
Well, @Cosmo, since I seem to be drawing a line in the sand…
“Retool” doesn’t strike me correct either. From the end of ’15 until the start of ’17 the Yanks churned over more than half their roster. There was no core in place or even identified.
The ’18-’20 offseasons were retools. The roster hasn’t been turned over nearly as aggressively & our core has remained – more or less – intact. So it’s not the same. We will retool this winter again.
Yankee Nation, the NYC press, & the national media all referred to it as rebuilding. Sure. In the end, it only took a couple months. & thanks to a spirited performance by our kids (particularly a young Gary Sanchez) we were fairly competitive in August & September.
But tanking is only one version of rebuilding. People seem to forget that.
I certainly never claimed the Yankees tanked. They did not. Rather they chose to go with the rapid-rebuild-on-the-fly plan. Worked too.
Bucky, I’m really just nit picking. The difference between rebuild and retool is just a matter of Cashman’s ability to accomplish it so quickly. I basically agree with you but I want be clear on how impressive Cashman is. Other teams would have needed a few years to do it.
& I am certainly being a bit staunch, Cosmo.
Just yesterday, there was an article praising Zaidi’s rebuild of the baseball Giants. Like Cash’s 2016 roster, that was an old, high priced, low ceilinged team. Giants went through 2 losing seasons (yet the article praised their “competitiveness” – despite sub .500 finishes – those seasons) & thus far have made one LDS appearance. While Cash is gearing us up for a 6th straight postseason.
I don’t agree with everything Cashman does.
& I feel he has far too much influence.
He is probably not the best GM in baseball. But he is absolutely one of the best big market GM’s there is. His teams are always competitive. Even in a “transition” (Cash’s term) year. They are almost always in the playoffs. He’s won multiple championships. He’s good, man.
It’s surprising he’s managed to stick around so long
Steven Matz is a number 47 starter and dfa candidate jimmer said last year
Robbie Ray doesn’t know where the ball is going. Semein is a spare part jimmer says last year. Remember this when you read his post below.
Matz is my personal favorite for a SP addition. 3/4 SP who can make 30 starts and can possibly be had on a 3 yr deal.
That’s how I see it too, @Winfield.
The only thing our entire pitching staff needs is some rotation stability. Matz is exactly the type of pitcher that can provide that. Bottom line: no more Homer Heaney desperation trades.
& I wouldn’t be embarrassed to start him in a playoff game either. Which hopefully means no more relying on an opener in the postseason.
I’d rather see Cash sign a pitcher like him as opposed to a boom or bust Kluber type addition.
Matz had a career year. A total fluke. He won’t do that again. Most of the time he stinks. Ask any Mets fan. No QO for him.
If Ray does the same workout regimen that he did this past offseason, he’ll be a money pitcher, if he doesn’t he goes back to his old ways.
Semien is awesome.
or it could have been some more of that Pete Walker magic. He has had enough success that he should get some of the credit.
Semien is a spare part you said jimmertree?
he also famously said that Bichette is not a major league shortstop, with weak wrists that wouldn’t stand up to a full season…
I’m not sure he’s ever had a good take.
#scoutseyes lol!
How many years do you guys think Matz will get on the open market? I really don’t think he’ll get more than 2
I wouldn’t be surprised to see him get four, to be honest.
$34M/3 is my guess, and I think whoever gets him will be happy. His 2018, 2019, and 2021 seasons were fairly good. He is unlikely to be any better than a #3, but even #3 types get expensive.
he was much better than a #3 this year…
Look at his entire career. Expect him to be better than a #3 for the long term and you will be disappointed. Can’t judge him on one season, apparently bolstered by a strong half. He’s too inconsistent.
they are paid for what they’ve done most recently, though. Matz will get more tham we expect, and gof longer than he should… all in the hope that he has FINALLY turned it around
And maybe he has?
If you sign him to a #2 deal, you’re going to be disappointed. He was in the 4/5/6 assignment all year, which means they put him in against softer competition.
When they acquired Berrios, there was some debate about if Matz or Stripling was going to the pen. They ended up with a bunch of double headers so they did need a 6 man rotation for a few turns, and earned the slot, which he ran with for the rest of the season.
Was the second half the real new Matz, or just a hot streak? 2-3 years and low-teens AAV is pretty reasonable.
he was the third best pitcher on the Jays, maybe 4th. He would have been number 2 on many teams and both the Red Sox and Yankees would have loved to have had him as their pitching was brutal. He pitched phenomenally in the second half as the Jays had the best rotation in the American league after the break.
Definitely the right decision for the jays. Matz would have 100% accepted. That is too much for a 4th starter
I think with the uncertainty for the CBA expiring in December all the borderline QO guys like Matz will not get one.
If a new CBA comes into effect in a month teams may not even get a draft pick for offering a QO. Makes it tough to give it to borderline guys if the rules could change in a month.
The rules will stay for QOd players just won’t happen next year
That’s the way it should work in theory. But who knows what the rules will be. In theory that would be fair.
Yeah in theory that makes sense.
And the Mets gave one to Syndergaard who is another borderline guy because of his injury history…. So maybe I’m wrong here? Or maybe the teams have been told unofficially that QOs won’t be changing this year?
Or maybe the Mets are the only ones going out in this limb?
Syndergaard has a history of staying healthy most of the season until this latest injury. He’s stayed healthier than most pitchers, in terms of games pitched until the latest injury. That he’s injury prone and can’t stay on the field is a complete myth. He’s way better of a bet than Matz, no contest.
2015: Full season after being brought up late for the extra year of control
2016: Full season
2017: missed 5 months (torn lat) with a cup of coffee September return.
2018: missed 1 month (hand foot and mouth disease)
2019: full season
2020: missed the full season – TJ (in March)
2021: cup of coffee return.
He’s basically missed 3 of 7 seasons. While I won’t say he’s injury prone, there’s injury concern.
A QO is perfectly reasonable because he’s been a stud, and being only 29 next year, he might want a show-me season to ink a big deal next year.
If you look at the stats, he’s pitched more and been available more than most pitchers. Before this injury he had one injured season out of five. He pitched 24 after being called up, then 31, 25 and 32 around that injured season in which he pitched 7. That’s actually a pretty good track record these days.
Good. Use the money on quality bull pen arms.
Matz wants To Go Back To NY.
Oh ya, screw stability and go back to a dysfunctional organization.
They’re not dysfunctional, don’t buy into the nonsense narrative. (Got to the WS just a few years back, better than most teams).
They have been all of the following: a good team, a team plagued many injuries to all-star players and an assortment of ownership/management disruptions.
-Bobby Bonilla Day as the embodiment of the long years baggage of Wilpon Financial blunders.
-2020 Manager fired with 0 games played due to cheating scandal
-2021 GM fired 1 month into tenure due to sexual harassment claims
-2021 Inter-GM suspended before the end of season (fired a few days ago).
The Mets should have been even more competitive. They’re a big budget team that has had a lot of great players.
Why would a player care about any of that? And you are one of those who doesn’t get that deferred payments are a part of smart business. The only people who laugh at “Bobby Bonilla day” are ignorant as to normal business practices. Only fans, mostly talk radio types, buy into this. Players aren’t staying away from the Mets if they pay them and what players on the team in recent years have indicated they didn’t want to be there? You are cherry picking no sense and then misunderstanding it.