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The Blue Jays are signing left-handed pitcher Yusei Kikuchi, per Jon Heyman of MLB Community. It’s a three-year, $36MM contract. (Twitter links) The deal is frontloaded, per Bob Nightengale of USA Today, with Kikuchi incomes a wage of $16MM in 2022, adopted by $10MM in every of 2023 and 2024.
Beginning pitching has been a scorching commodity this offseason, with a lot of the high names signing earlier than the lockout. Now that the transactions freeze has thawed, the market has picked up proper the place it left off. The highest two free agent hurlers that lingered in the marketplace by means of the lockout, Clayton Kershaw and Carlos Rodon, signed on the primary full day after the lockout ended. That left Kikuchi and Zack Greinke as the one wholesome starters remaining from MLBTR’s list of Top 50 Free Agents. With the Jays scooping up Kikuchi, that leaves Greinke because the final man standing.
Kikuchi has been one of many harder pitchers to guage since coming over from Japan previous to the 2019 season. In his first MLB season, he made 32 begins for the Mariners, throwing 161 2/3 innings with an ERA of 5.46 and a strikeout charge of simply 16.1%. Within the shortened 2020 marketing campaign, he made 9 begins nonetheless had a excessive ERA of 5.11, however made big strides within the strikeout division, bumping his charge as much as 24.2%.
2021 was a story of two seasons for Kikuchi, as the primary half his season was wonderful. Firstly of July, MLBTR’s Steve Adams wrote about Kikuchi’s season across the halfway level, when Kikuchi had made 15 begins and was sitting on an ERA of three.18, strikeout charge of 25.4%, stroll charge of 8.5% and ground-ball charge of 53.8%. However issues went fully in the wrong way within the second half of the season, as Kikuchi threw 63 2/3 innings from that time on, with a 6.22 ERA, 23.3% strikeout charge, 10.3% stroll charge and 41.7% ground-ball charge.
As a part of the bizarre construction of Kikuchi’s contract, on the finish of the season, the Mariners then needed to determine whether or not or to not execute a sequence of 4 one-year choices valued at $16.5MM every, successfully a four-year, $66MM extension that will cowl the 2022-25 seasons. After they declined, then Kikuchi might have chosen a one-year, $13MM participant possibility for the 2022. Although it appeared there was an opportunity he would settle for that deal after his poor efficiency down the stretch, he finally declined and examined the free agent market. That has now confirmed to be a clever resolution, as he has earned himself a brand new contract at that actual charge however 3 times as lengthy.
The Blue Jays have been evidently inspired sufficient by Kikuchi’s strengths to miss his weaknesses, very similar to they have been with Robbie Ray and Steven Matz. Though these two pitchers had severe flaws on their respective resumes, they each went on to have wonderful campaigns with the Jays in 2021, with Ray incomes the American League Cy Younger award. Though Ray and Matz will each be sporting new uniforms this yr, Kikuchi continues to be going to be becoming a member of a powerful rotation. The membership additionally added Kevin Gausman previous to the lockout, becoming a member of Jose Berrios, Hyun Jin Ryu and Alek Manoah.
Extra to return.
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