The images are by Julio Aguilar.
According to Jeff Passan, the SeattleMariners have agreed to a five-year, $115 million deal withRobbie Ray.
After the third season, the deal includes an opt-out.
He had his worst season in 2020. He had to settle for a one-year, $8 million deal with Toronto in 2021. The pact was a huge bargain.
In 32 appearances, the southpaw went 13-7 with a 2.84 ERA and 3.69 FIP. He had a personal-best 2.4 walks per nine-innings and had the most strikeouts in baseball.
Ray won the Cy Young Award for the American League.
The best shape of Ray's life was turned into a reality by changing his workout regimen. He went back to the delivery he used earlier in his career in order to find more consistency with his mechanics.
He said that he has been searching for consistency and mechanical changes in his career. I have certain physical signals that I use to make sure that I hit them. They're really easy.
According to Baseball Savant, Ray's four-seam fastball had a put-away percentage of 21.0 percent and a whiff rate of 24.0 percent. The numbers were up from the year before.
Ray changed his approach to limit the use of his curveball.
In 2020, he threw that pitch 16.9 percent of the time, and the opposing hitters had an expected batting average of.353 and an expected slugging percentage of.579.
The percentage of his curveball fell to 6.0 percent in 2021. Hitters had a batting average of.279 and a slugging of.399.
Ray was ranked the second-best pitcher on the market by Bleacher Report in September.
In five years with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he had a 3.96ERA and a 3.92 FIP, despite the fact that he was terrible in the All-Star game in 2020. He had 955 strikeouts in 762 appearances.
Even if Ray can't repeat the production that earned him his first Cy Young, he should still be a solid contributor near the top of the rotation.
The July acquisition of Jose Berrios and his subsequent seven-year, $131 million extension may have been made with Ray in mind. If Ray walked as a free agent, Toronto would still have a No. 1 starter to anchor the staff.
Losing the left-handed pitcher won't help the Blue Jay's quest for the playoffs, but they should still contend.
