Brown inks long-term extension; Davis leaving?
May 10, 2020 11:27:53 GMT -5
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Post by dougiejays on May 10, 2020 11:27:53 GMT -5
Toronto’s ace commits to spending his prime north of the border, but shortstop Eric Davis seems no closer to signing an extension.
Kevin Brown is sticking around.
Always up against it financially, the Blue Jays have a history of letting players walk for money reasons – but they weren’t letting this fish get away.
On Thursday afternoon they announced that Brown has been signed to a 5-year, $46.85M contract extension. But in an intriguing twist, the contract may not be as it appears; before the five-year contract was reported, initial reports had Brown and the Jays agreeing on a 7-year contract worth $65.59M.
Were those reports wrong? Not exactly.
It appears that the two sides did in fact negotiate the longer contract, but when it came time to put ink to paper, Brown’s agent pulled a fast one on Toronto brass by producing a contract which only ran through 1996 (rather than 1998). That shorter contract was ultimately filed, but league commissioner Chris Cosenza has now ruled that the seven-year contract was negotiated in good faith and allowed Toronto to retain the final two years of the initial contract as option years. However, they won’t function as traditional option years, which must be picked up right before the season in question – instead, Toronto will have to make a determination on whether to pick up Brown’s options for the 1997 and 1998 seasons on Jan 1, 1993, the day the rest of the contract kicks in.
It’s a bizarre situation, but one that's not unprecedented, and the league office has typically ruled in favour of teams when players have signed contracts that differed from the deals that were negotiated.
Given Brown’s age (26) and his transcendent performance in his first calendar year with Toronto (17-5 with an ERA just over 2.00), there seems little doubt that Toronto will pick up the option years on the contract. But while the Jays will no doubt be thrilled to have Brown under contract for the foreseeable future, he was still a season away from free agency and the signing does nothing to resolve the question of their most pressing free agent: star shortstop Eric Davis. Despite scuffling to a .688 OPS early on, the 29-year-old Davis has reportedly already turned down a 4-year contract worth $7M per season and sources say he is determined to test the open market in the offseason.
“Frankly, if he hits the open market, he’s good as gone,” said Toronto GM Doug Davis on the off-day Thursday. “I don’t mean to be snide, but that’s just the reality of our financial situation right now. It’s one thing to invest in assets that are already inside our organization, but we can’t compete for high-end talent on the free agent market right now. We need to focus on keeping some of the young players we’ve already got, just as we did today with Kevin.”
Kevin Brown is sticking around.
Always up against it financially, the Blue Jays have a history of letting players walk for money reasons – but they weren’t letting this fish get away.
On Thursday afternoon they announced that Brown has been signed to a 5-year, $46.85M contract extension. But in an intriguing twist, the contract may not be as it appears; before the five-year contract was reported, initial reports had Brown and the Jays agreeing on a 7-year contract worth $65.59M.
Were those reports wrong? Not exactly.
It appears that the two sides did in fact negotiate the longer contract, but when it came time to put ink to paper, Brown’s agent pulled a fast one on Toronto brass by producing a contract which only ran through 1996 (rather than 1998). That shorter contract was ultimately filed, but league commissioner Chris Cosenza has now ruled that the seven-year contract was negotiated in good faith and allowed Toronto to retain the final two years of the initial contract as option years. However, they won’t function as traditional option years, which must be picked up right before the season in question – instead, Toronto will have to make a determination on whether to pick up Brown’s options for the 1997 and 1998 seasons on Jan 1, 1993, the day the rest of the contract kicks in.
It’s a bizarre situation, but one that's not unprecedented, and the league office has typically ruled in favour of teams when players have signed contracts that differed from the deals that were negotiated.
Given Brown’s age (26) and his transcendent performance in his first calendar year with Toronto (17-5 with an ERA just over 2.00), there seems little doubt that Toronto will pick up the option years on the contract. But while the Jays will no doubt be thrilled to have Brown under contract for the foreseeable future, he was still a season away from free agency and the signing does nothing to resolve the question of their most pressing free agent: star shortstop Eric Davis. Despite scuffling to a .688 OPS early on, the 29-year-old Davis has reportedly already turned down a 4-year contract worth $7M per season and sources say he is determined to test the open market in the offseason.
“Frankly, if he hits the open market, he’s good as gone,” said Toronto GM Doug Davis on the off-day Thursday. “I don’t mean to be snide, but that’s just the reality of our financial situation right now. It’s one thing to invest in assets that are already inside our organization, but we can’t compete for high-end talent on the free agent market right now. We need to focus on keeping some of the young players we’ve already got, just as we did today with Kevin.”
