You can remove Marco Estrada’s name from the free agent market.
The right-hander, 32, re-signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on a two-year deal, which will pay him $26.5 million, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.
#BlueJays announce $26-million, two-year deal for Marco Estrada.
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) November 13, 2015
As Davidi mentions, Estrada will earn $11.5 million in 2016 and $14.5 in 2017. He seemed like a logical candidate to accept the Blue Jays $15.8 million qualifying offer, but chose to basically tack on another year at just over $10 million.
With the potential of Estrada, David Price and Mark Buehrle leaving in free agency, interim general manager Tony LaCava had to do something to address the upcoming holes in the rotation. This is a nice contract for both parties.
As Derek Harvey wrote, Estrada was an excellent buy-low candidate. He was considered mostly to be a non-entity, following his acquisition last offseason from the Milwaukee Brewers in a one-for-one deal for Adam Lind. His profile was a back-end starter who gave up too many home runs, something you’d think wouldn’t play well in the confines of the Rogers Centre.
But Estrada turned out to be an ace for Toronto. He started 28 games (appearing in 34 games total) and went 13-8 with a 3.13 ERA, walking only 55 batters in 181 innings. He was even better in the playoffs, going 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA in three starts and giving the Blue Jays a lift on multiple occasions. His home run problem was still persistent, giving 24 long bombs, and his 4.04 FIP suggested he was getting hit harder than his stats indicated, but Estrada was amazingly consistent.
There are definitely reasons to doubt Estrada can duplicate his 2015 success in the future, but at only two years, the Blue Jays don’t inherit that much risk in the contract. At worst, Estrada is a back of the rotation starter and the contract basically pays him like a high-end one. Estrada probably could have gotten more money on the open market, but chose to stick with the Blue Jays following a very successful season.
It’s a rare win-win.
