Blue Jays and Marcus Stroman avoid arbitration

Transaction Friday! Boy, it’s been a wild one. Just after it was announced the Blue Jays had pulled the trigger to send Russell Martin to the Dodgers, it also came out that the team had inked Marcus Stroman to a one-year deal worth $7.4 million.

This, of course, means that the Jays and Stroman have avoided arbitration. After last winter’s saga, that’s, uh, a good thing.

Stroman had an unfortunate 2018 season that was derailed due to an injury that plagued him in spring training and a blister that popped up mid-way through the summer. All told, Stroman would produce a career-worst 5.54 ERA over the course of 19 starts. That said, his peripheral numbers were virtually identical to that of his excellent 2017 season, so there’s certainly reason to believe he’ll bounce back.

Stroman’s $7.4 million salary will be a slight increase on the $6.5 million he earned in arbitration last year. He’ll be eligible for arbitration at the end of the 2019 season and then he’ll be able to hit the unrestricted free agent market for the first time after the 2020 season.

The Jays still have a handful of players left to get signed prior to the arbitration deadline on Jan. 31. Kevin Pillar, Ken Giles, Aaron Sanchez, and Randal Grichuk, like Stroman, are Arbitration 2 eligible, while Ryan Tepera and Devon Travis are eligible foe the first time.

Also, Brandon Drury and the Jays settled on a deal earlier today worth $1.3 million and Joe Biagini agreed to a deal worth $900K. Both were arbitration eligible.