The Blue Jays announced that they have signed right-hander Yimi García to a two-year contract. It’s a $15MM deal, reports Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 (X link). The 34-year-old is represented by the Nova Sports Agency.
The last time García was a free agent, he also signed with the Jays. Going into the 2022 season, he and the Jays agreed to a two-year deal with an $11MM guarantee, with that deal also having a club/vesting option for 2024.
At that time, García had just finished a strong three-year run split between the Dodgers, Marlins and Astros. He tossed 135 innings over the 2019 to 2021 seasons, allowing 3.53 earned runs per nine. He struck out 26.7% of batters faced and limited walks to a 6.8% clip.
His first two years with the Jays saw him continue to pitch in roughly the same manner. He tossed 127 innings over 2022 and 2023 with a 3.61 ERA, 25.9% strikeout rate and 5.9% walk rate. He racked up four saves and 41 holds for the Jays in that time and also vested his $6MM option along the way.
2024 was a bit of a mixed bag. García came out strong with a 0.47 ERA through his 19 innings, punching out 35.3% of batters faced. He even racked up five saves while closer Jordan Romano was battling injuries this year.
But García allowed seven earned runs in his next nine innings and then landed on the injured list in mid-June due to right elbow ulnar neuritis. He was activated from the IL in mid-July and traded to the Mariners shortly thereafter, with outfielder Jonatan Clase and catcher Jacob Sharp coming back the other way. He was only able to toss nine innings for Seattle down the stretch due to inflammation in his throwing elbow.
There’s clearly a bit of injury risk with García not pitching much in the second half of 2024, but the Jays know García well after spending most of the past three years with him. They clearly like the fit and have brought him back, now having received two younger players for the brief few months that they were apart from him.
Remaking the bullpen is a clear priority for the Jays, as the relief group fell apart in 2024 and was a key reason for their rough season. Toronto relievers had a collective 4.82 ERA in 2024, a mark that was worse than all clubs except for the Rockies. They cut ties with their long-time closer when they declined to tender Romano a contract for his final arbitration season and Romano has now signed with the Phillies. They also non-tendered Génesis Cabrera, who then signed a minor league deal with the Mets.
García should jump into the mix for leverage work in the Toronto bullpen alongside guys like Chad Green and Erik Swanson, though the Jays will likely make other bullpen moves before the offseason is done, with several free agents on their radar.
RosterResource lists the club’s competitive balance tax number at $210MM, which is $31MM below the base threshold of the tax. The Jays were over the line for much of the 2024 season but they are believed to have ducked under via their midseason selloff, which included García. President Mark Shapiro has suggested the club should be working with similar financial parameters in 2025 so perhaps they would be willing to cross the tax line again in the coming season. They were heavily involved in the Juan Soto bidding but missed out there and now appear to be pivoting to other targets such as Max Fried and Corbin Burnes.
Bluejays basically chose him over romano
He’s better
Lower ceiling, but lower risk.
Garcia, seemed to be less injury prone…even if Romano had the higher upside.
Romano has the higher upside. Garcia has the higher floor
No issues with that, I liked Romano the same way i like rollercoasters
I know Romano was hurt last yr
BUT they didn’t even wanna offer 1 yr 7mil
For an AS closer
That is the definition of low risk high reward
Huge mistake by toronto
I think romano will have a bounceback
But even if he doesnt, its worth a shot. bluejays straight up gave up on him
Excellent first bullpen signing. Need several more
He Pitched to a 6.00 Era after we traded him. Hes turning 35. We had one of the worst bullpens in baseball. This is not good
That was enough sample size for you with the Mariners to have this concern? Maybe the blue jays are a bit more familiar with him from his time with them and aren’t worried about the 6 era?
He pitched 9 innings with Seattle
Blue Jays stole Jonatan Clase from the Mariners.
Yes they did Chester
Blue Jays have a terrible future. No one wants to play in Toronto, bad farm, fans will demand they pay the overrated Vlad, tough division. If rather have 28+ teams future
Toronto is a fantastic city, and fans support the team. To say no one wants to play there couldn’t be less accurate.
No one isn’t true but it’s not a ideal destination. Many don’t want to live in another country. Many like a warmer climate. My Canadian friends are always complaining about the cost of things especially shipping cost. Most players will go there though if you make it worth their while $$$$$$$
Well the Canadian dollar is weak compared to the American. Idk if blue jays players are paid in cad or usd to be fair tho
They’re paid in USD which makes their money go that much further.
they could live in Toronto, one of the best cities inn North America, or they could choose to live in Pittsburgh, or Milwaukee right? Baseball is played in the summer months and the Dome has a roof on it, and players don’t need to live here year round. The weather is not a concern.
I hardly pay shipping on anything I order ever, Baseball players get paid in american dollars and get to spend canadian dollars in Toronto.
The reason players don’t choose Toronto is because the Jays don’t offer them more money then other teams,, but when they do, they have no issue signing players
The weather is not a problem during baseball season when playing games in a retractable roof stadium. People also complain about the cost of things in America (which will likely worsen in the years ahead). It’s not like Canada is half a world away. It’s a fantastic, modern city that embraces diversity.
Milwaukee is extremely underrated. Spent three days there but would have loved to have been there longer.
The climate isn’t any worse in Toronto than it is in any number of American places with teams such as Minnesota, Chicago. Boston, Detroit etc. Canada has regional variations in weather and climate too and my general understanding is that toronto’s is relatively mild compared to most other parts of the country and no worse than any place I mentioned, possibly better in some aspects.
Hardly any players live in the city they sign in in the off season and it’s a domed stadium, if anything it makes April and may much nicer then being outside in a regular stadium.
MLB, NBA, and NHL contracts pay players in USD with every team.
Toronto’s basically a few degrees F cooler than Detroit and Cleveland. Only ~200 miles away.
Minneapolis is further north and has colder winters than Toronto as the great lakes are a major temperature buffer.
The drafting, player development, philosophy is the problem.
Baseball is played from April to October… the weather is not a factor. They spend ehat a few months total here and travel all the time so it makes no difference. I don’t think players care about a couple bucks and things are expensive here because we have free Healthcare… kind of a big deal.. in the past 2 years most things in the US, especially food is about 30-40% more expensive than Canada as well..
Nope.
“No one wants to play in Toronto”
– Commented on an article after a Toronto signing.
It is called hyperbole. There are only 30 teams
HOF. Overrated? You are the first 1d1ot to ever say this in a sentence. Congratulations.
Multiple il last year?
Shouldn’t it say sign, not re-sign? He was with Seattle to end the year.
Was traded from Toronto to Seattle. It’s still a re sign
It’s usually only counted as a re-sign if the player signs with the last team he played for. The last team he played for was Seattle. The MLBTR headline didn’t say Chapman re-signed with the Yankees after his Cubs stint.
So much for Seattle’s trade deadline acquisitions. They did help us win 85 games and just barely miss the playoffs, so it wasn’t all for nothing…Bye Yimi! #FireDipoto #FireHollander #FireTheMarinersFrontOffice #FansForStantonSellingTheTeamToACompetentOwnerWhoWantsToWin
They tried. I imagine it hurt their farm system though. It was a expensive trade deadline. I really liked the prospects for Randy I remember. If they won the division though and go those home games it would have been worth it.
Bet you pine for the Jack Z era when the farm was poo. Dipotos drafts are going to set the team up for long term success. Dipoto and Hollander aren’t to blame for being handcuffed by the Owners lack of spending. #Getaclue
Tells others to get a clue when Jerry is part of the problem
Yes, get a clue. Please educate us on how Jerry is part of the problem.
Dodgers legend, Yimi Garcia.
A staple here in every bjs thread is whether being in Canada is detrimental to signing FAs. The big problem is the tax environment. Don’t interpret that as support for pro jocks getting a tax subsidy cause it isn’t. It always has been and always will be a problem for this franchise though.
That’s where signing bonuses and maybe even the much maligned deferrals could help even things out. California has a similarly unfavourable tax environment and yet they are home to 4 and half teams, one of which a bunch of fans complain gets all the good players.
This lacks context.
First off, players only pay the applicable tax rate for where they are ‘working’ so they pay their home teams tax for 81 games, and 81 road games are taxes based on the visiting states tax.
Second, the tax rate between Ontario and NY and California is marginal, Ontario being 53.5 which CA is 52.9 and Ny is 49.7.
When you factor getting paid in USD and spending in Canadian + much cheaper private schools and stuff, you probably come out ahead vs those states.
There are definetely reasons players, especially top tier ones don’t want to sign in Toronto, and it’s probably mostly around the actual team. No farm system and their starts aren’t locked up. It has nothing to do with the city, which is mostly fantastic, or the fact that it’s in a different country or the taxes.
Fair enough on the taxes. As for the currency, selling tix in Cdn and paying salaries in
US is a big problem
Yes but Rogers has a sweet deal, they buy a bulk of cash in USD to hedge the exchange rate.
But also, unlike other tv broadcasters they don’t have to pay for their product. So while they probably don’t make what they want with concessions and tickets they save millions + generate millions on the ‘free’ product that they show on their channel.
jays are usually the top or near the top of viewership, so that deal alone saves ownership 50+ mil a year
Just because the tickets are in CAD doesn’t mean they can’t charge enough. Toronto is roughly MLB average.(more than the Mets). Not just average price, but a good Toronto team is a top attendance team.
They should consistently be in the top 10 in payroll.
The Jays are owned by the largest Canadian media company. If you want to watch the Jays on TV, they own the TV station and it isn’t a niche specialty channel it’s one of the major sports channels. That makes it really easy to bandwagon extra viewers when the team is good. They’re also could be your cable provider.
If you want to stream it, they have their own streaming service. They can also be your internet provider.
If you want to listen on the radio, they likely own the radio station it’s being broadcast on.
They’re essentially positioned to capture most of the revenue when the team creates a buzz.
100%… I also love these money discussions when the team just spent $400 million in renovations… they are absolutely loaded
Yimi was a good soldier out of our pen . Good signing…Welcome back Yimi….
Yes, Yimi has been a good soldier but the age is creeping up fast. He’ll have good moments, but that age factor going to implode eventually. Poorly spent money.
This signing definitely increases the chances of the Mariners deadline trade looking really poor in the next few years. Blue Jays basically got Jonatan Clase and Jacob Sharp for nothing. I am not sold on Clase’s bat, but he has the speed and fielding tools already so if he starts hitting he could be a solid player. I don’t know much about Sharp, but it appears he’s still in the lower levels of the minors for now. Time will tell how this trade looks
we got Clase back in the trade for Yimi last year. a high floor speedster who has potential if he can put it together in the show. Yimi, Swanson and Green – there is your mid leverage guys there. the high leverage guys are out there but will be expensive and or risky signs given the age/mileage on a lot of those FA arms. i bet they sign a bunch of bounce back candidates and hope to catch lightning in a bottle. Mayza?
I like Yates as a signing, although he very well may cost a bit more with his play this past season.
Clase is Ben Revere.
Toronto has a great future in its pipeline and once it signs its young stars the table will be set for some great winning seasons. The marketing needs to step it up though. Winning alone won’t fill the stadium and sell the merch. Build the stars.
Haha
Their farm is terrible
Not sure about which pipeline you are looking at. They have one of the worst farm out there.
I didn’t realize the Blue Jays payroll is as high as it is with the $210m.
The Jays basically got Clase and Sharp for free, all they had to do was loan Yimi to Seattle, who basically did zero to get them to the playoffs. It’s not an exciting signing but they did get two free prospects so what’s not to like?
Jimmy.
I still can’t believe we traded away Justin Turner. Why??
Turner, IKF, Garcia, KK….who am I forgetting? Those deals were all about getting under the first CBT threshold
Vogelbach lol …..
Bluejays fans. What would it take to get Luis Robert jr? A couple of their infielders/outfielders?
Barger, Lukes and Bloss?
Trying to understand what an outfield of Robert jr , Varsho and Hernandez would take. Springer DH?
Not really a “re-signing”. He ended the year with Seattle.
Reunion
My 2nd favorite Yimi.
Yiminy Cricket