The Blue Jays have signed Michael Brantley to a three-year contract (or have they???)

Keep the good times rolling!

After the Blue Jays inked George Springer last night, there was plenty of speculation that Michael Brantley, his former teammate in Houston and close friend, would join him.

According to Hazel Mae, the Blue Jays and Brantley have agreed to a three-year contract…

As I’ve mentioned before, Brantley is a name that Mark Shapiro and Co. are very familiar with. He was one of the players that Cleveland got back from Milwaukee in the CC Sabathia deal back in 2008 and he went on to play 10 seasons with the club.

Brantley has spent his last two seasons as a member of the Houston Astros, where he played a combination of left field, right field, and designated hitter. He slashed a .309/.370/.497 line over 824 plate appearances in Houston with 27 homers and a 94-to-68 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Soooooo… wow! Adding Springer and Brantley to the lineup is one hell of a swing for the Blue Jays. They’ve now added an elite centre fielder and one of the best veteran contact hitters, a lefty to boot, to a lineup that was already in the top third in baseball in terms of production.

The question now is the outfield logjam. Will Brantley play a corner outfield spot? Or will they use him mostly as a DH? Does this mean Lourdes Gurriel or Randal Grichuk or Rowdy Tellez is going to be used in a trade? One to find a pitcher, maybe? Exciting times!

Huh, apparently the deal isn’t finished yet…