The 2017 Major League Baseball season isn’t over yet, but we have a good idea of what the 2018 Toronto Blue Jays are going to look like.
On Wednesday, the Jays announced starting pitcher Marco Estrada has signed a one-year contract extension worth $13 million. The 34-year-old is 9-8 this season with a 4.84 ERA and has struck out a career-high 170 batters, a typical Estrada season. His best year was 2015 in which he went 13-8 with a 3.13 earned run average as the Jays made the playoffs for the first time in 22 years.
While Estrada’s stats won’t blow anyone away, he has proved to be an effective part of Toronto’s rotation.
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Barring a trade, the Jays’ rotation will also include ace Marcus Stroman, J.A. Happ and Aaron Sanchez, if he can ever get his blisters and split fingernails figured out. If the Bluebirds want to be better in 2018, those four men must be better.
And it sounds like 2015 MVP Josh Donaldson will not be traded this winter, which all Jays fans should be glad to hear.
There are question marks hovering over Russel Martin and Troy Tulowitzki, injury-riddled players who make $20 million a season.
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Another question Jays brass will have to answer this off-season is how much they should pay closer Roberto Osuna, and whether he should remain the closer. His anxiety issues aside, the 22-year-old has been a saves machine but he’s also blown his fair share of opportunities.
And we all know that Jose Bautista is having his lousiest year in Toronto and will not return in 2018. But before you say goodbye, make sure you take a moment to remember all the good that Joey Bats did. The Blue Jays franchise would look a lot different today if Bautista never landed in Toronto.
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