¶Ù´¡³¢³¢´¡³§â€”T³ó±ð Blue Jays have taken the money that would have gone to Jordan Romano and reallocated it to one of his former teammates.
Right-hander Yimi Garcia agreed to a two-year deal with the Jays worth $15 million (U.S.) on Tuesday afternoon. The deal is pending a physical, which is tentatively schedule for Friday, and has yet to be officially announced. It was first reported by Ari Alexander, a reporter for KPRC2 in Houston, and has since been confirmed by the Star.
The signing marks a homecoming of sorts for Garcia, who spent parts of three seasons with the Jays before getting dealt to the Seattle Mariners in July. The 10-year veteran becomes the early favourite to take over the closer’s role from Romano, who was non-tendered by the Jays after being projected to earn $7.75 million through arbitration. Garcia will also face competition from Chad Green.
Health concerns were likely a contributing factor in Romano’s departure. Romano, who signed an $8.5-million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday, was limited to 15 games last season because of an elbow injury. There could be similar issues with Garcia, although the Jays don’t share those concerns.
While Garcia was one of the top relievers in baseball during the first half of this season, his performance tapered off with the Mariners. After getting traded to Seattle, the Dominican appeared in just 10 games while posting a 6.00 ERA. For nine innings of work, the Jays were able to acquire outfielder prospect Jonatan Clase.
The Jays have a healthy budget to work with, just not much time left to put it to good use.
The Jays have a healthy budget to work with, just not much time left to put it to good use.
The 34-year-old last pitched on Aug. 19 before getting shut down with right elbow inflammation. Garcia dealt with a similar issue earlier in the year with the Jays, which cost him a month on the injured list.
When healthy, Garcia has proven to be a reliable late-inning arm. He produced a 2.70 ERA across 30 innings for the Jays in 2024 and earned five saves while filling in for Romano. Dating back to 2022, when Garcia first signed with the Jays, he has 3.58 ERA while averaging 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
The swing-and-miss stuff is particularly appealing to the Jays, whose bullpen struck out the second fewest batters in the majors last season. Garcia rejoins a group that includes Green, Erik Swanson, lefty Brendon Little and right-hander Nick Sandlin, who was acquired alongside second baseman Andrés Giménez in a deal with the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday.
“It’s definitely a priority,” general manager Ross Atkins said of adding strikeouts to his ‘pen without confirming the deal for Garcia. “We definitely want to be able to find guys who miss bats and do it in different ways against different hitters.”
The bullpen was one of the Jays’ biggest areas of need heading into the off-season. It ranked 29th in the majors last season with a 4.82 ERA while converting just 36 of 59 opportunities. Garcia’s return and arrival of Sandlin should help improve those numbers, but the Jays likely aren’t done adding. There’s room for upwards of three more arms, including a long reliever.
“I think there are several different ways to improve our pitching and I don’t want to close ourselves off on a market,” Atkins said. “That potential level of impact of a player like Yimi is one piece of our puzzle.”
It was initially believed the Jays entered the off-season with approximately $40 million to spend. The contracts for Romano and Garcia are essentially a wash while Gimenez is set to earn $10.5 million next season and Sandlin is projected to make approximately $1.6 million through arbitration.
That should leave somewhere in the range of $25-30 million to spend on other upgrades after president Mark Shapiro previously said the Jays will maintain a similar payroll next season. The Jays remain in the market for at least one impact bat — likely an outfielder — plus a starting pitcher and another couple arms for the bullpen.
The annual winter meetings are set to wrap up in Dallas on Wednesday afternoon.
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