As noted above, their top three looks very solid, but they may opt for more of a sure thing in the fifth spot. The Blue Jays made their big addition in the rotation, but they could look for another lower-tiered option as well. He split last season between the Marlins and the Astros and on a playoff team is probably best served just outside the top three of a pecking order. Yimi García (RHP) is not the same kind of impactful signing as Gausman, but he adds some depth to a Blue Jays bullpen that has intriguing talent but no standout arms.Along with Berríos and Hyun-Jin Ryu, this is a formidable top of Toronto’s rotation with good young arms coming up as well. Gausman will have to prove he can continue to keep the ball in the yard heading back to the AL East from San Francisco and the NL West, but he’s been fantastic for two years in a row, and was showing signs of breaking out before that. In terms of performance in the most recent season, this is a step down from Ray, but their respective track records suggest the actual step back may not be much, if it’s there at all. Kevin Gausman (RHP) was the big pre-lockout addition for the Blue Jays, signing a five-year deal worth $110 million.Take a look at the entire shirt collection from our friends over at BreakingT, including the one pictured above. Even so, in a division as competitive as this, they have more work to do, some of which was indeed done before the lockout. The good news for Toronto is that they are nearly overflowing with young talent at the plate to mitigate the loss of Semien, and last summer they traded for starter José Berríos, who was still under team control for 2022 and has since signed a long-term extension. The Blue Jays certainly lost big-time talent this winter after both Ray and Semien were two of the most valuable players in the American League last season. Corey Dickerson (OF) didn’t spend the whole season in Toronto, but was picked up at the deadline and was perfectly cromulent as a good left-handed bat who can play in the corner outfield.He was connected to the Red Sox early in the offseason but ultimately signed a four-year deal with the St. Steven Matz (LHP) certainly didn’t provide the kind of impact that Ray and Semien did for this team, but he was a steady presence in their rotation and good arm to have as a number four in a playoff rotation.Like Ray, he left Toronto after the season, also heading to the AL West as he signed a seven-year deal with the Texas Rangers. That bet paid off in spades as Semien finished third in MVP voting. Marcus Semien (2B/SS) bet on himself last winter with a one-year deal when he probably could have gotten a modest multi-year contract if he so chose.Ray ended up winning the Cy Young award in the American League, but after the season he went elsewhere, signing a five-year deal with the Seattle Mariners and leaving a hole atop the Jays rotation.
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Robbie Ray (LHP) was one of two short-term free agent signings the Jays made last offseason that paid off in ways that no one could have predicted.Robbie Ray Photo by David Berding/Getty Images Who did they lose before the lockout? Ultimately, though, it was just a bit too little and a bit too late as Toronto finished a game out of the postseason and now look to recharge and officially announce their arrival in 2022. That coincided with a hell of a run in the second half to get right on the cusp of the postseason. COVID had a greater impact on this team than any other in terms of travel as the Blue Jays were nomadic for the first half of the season before finally getting home to Canada. The Blue Jays entered the 2021 season clearly on the upswing, still not completely coming out on the other end of their rebuild but coming off a berth in the expanded postseason of 2020 and starting last season as a trendy pick in the division. We’ll go in reverse order of the 2021 standings, today looking at the Toronto Blue Jays. In the meantime, we’ve been examining the Boston Red Sox from all angles to figure out what lies ahead on the other side of the lockout, but what about the rest of the American League East? For this week, we’ll be looking at where the rest of the division stands this winter, going over what they got done before the lockout, and what questions they have to answer when things pick back up. It’s now been about six weeks that we’ve been in a standstill in this offseason, with the players and owners still seemingly far apart as they try to hammer out a new CBA. Checking in on the AL East: Baltimore Orioles