Blue Jays, the bird not the baseball franchise, are known to be aggressive birds. They’re loving partners and devoted parents but within the blink of an eye, will rob other birds’ nests for a meal. When comparing the real life bird to the baseball franchise bird, there are some striking similarities. Blue Jays have been loving, caring, and devoted parents to it’s younger birds like Cavan Biggio, Lourdes Gurriel Jr, Vlad Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, giving them a chance to grow and spread their wings. On the other hand they have been loving partners with Hyun Jun Ryu, Randal Grichuk and Robbie Ray taking them in and making them feel loved.    

With all that love, there has to be some sort of balance with aggressiveness and boldness. Every so often, the Blue Jay will go out and steal a meal or two from other birds’ nests to feed themselves. In this instance, the Blue Jay needed a meal. So what did the Blue Jay do? He/she went out and stole a nice meal from the 29 other teams. That meal happened to be outfielder George Springer. 

The Blue Jays and Mets seemed to be the only two teams in a competitive race for Springer with the off-season winding down. The Blue Jays prevailed. A source had it that the Mets maxed out their contract at six years in the $120-125 million range and that’s when the Blue Jays said “thank you very much” upped their offer, and now Springer is a Blue Jay. Springer signed a six year deal for $150 million to patrol centerfield and adds a nice complement bat to a young and exuberant Blue Jay squad. The Blue Jays lineup will now look a little something like this:

1. Cavan Biggio
2. Bo Bichette
3. George Springer
4. Vlad Guerrero Jr.
5. Teoscar Hernandez
6. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. 
7. Randal Grichuk
8. Rowdy Tellez
9. Danny Jansen 

That’s a solid lineup if I’ve ever seen one. Grichuk is a potential 30 home run threat as well as someone that you can move around anywhere in the lineup and will be productive. Rowdy Tellez has some legit pop that he will hopefully tap into at some point either this year or next year and become a power threat day in and day out. Danny Jansen is great behind the plate and as long as he can have his average hover around .250 he will be a very useful fit to a loaded Blue Jay lineup.

This is a Blue Jays team that is built for many years to come with their young core being in their prime in the next coming years. Bichette is 22, Gurriel is 27, Biggio is 25 and Vlad is 21. With Springer getting a six year deal, it seems the Blue Jays know their window is within the next six years and plan on going for it. Of course, the Blue Jays happen to be in leagues toughest division, the AL East, and know they cannot survive strictly on home grown talent and finding diamonds in the rough like their counterparts, the GREAT Tampa Bay Rays. The Blue Jays seem to finally be in win now mode and have gone out and got what they want.  

Last year, the Blue Jays went out and got the best starting pitcher available that wasn’t named Gerrit Cole, Hyun Jin Ryu, and signed him to a four year, $80 million contract. They went out and acquired Robbie Ray from the Diamondbacks at the deadline last season to try and add some depth to their rotation that also includes young rising star Nate Pearson, Tanner Roark, and Trent Thornton. It is apparent, if there is one aspect the Blue Jays can improve on is their pitching. They were firmly intrenched in the 17th spot in the league in ERA, 26th in WHIP, as well as being 23rd in opponents average against. There is still work to be done on the pitching side of things. 

 Enough of the talk about how George Springer is going to make them a better team, let’s talk about the contract itself. Six years for $150 million. Seems like a lot and it is, but when looking at it from a perspective of Springer is 31 and has already accomplished quite a bit in his career. three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger winner, as well as a World Series winner and MVP as well. Springer has basically quit running from a stolen base standpoint. He most likely will not surpass 10 stolen bases the rest of his career but still plays a decent defense that will most likely decline with his age. Personally, six years to me is far too much of a commitment for someone who seems to be on the wrong side of 30. Springer is still a legit 30+ home run threat as well as a middle of the order type of player. Springer will still have his fair share of walks but strikes out a little too much for my liking. Last year, Springer had a solid 24/38 K/BB ratio to go along with a .899 OPS. I’m assuming Springer will be very productive these next couple years bringing the Blue Jays to places they haven’t reached in awhile and the only person that will have a big say into his production is the man himself: Father time. In a billion years, Father Time is 1 billion and zero. Undefeated.    

With the Blue Jays signing Springer, it seems they have most likely checked out on Realmuto but as I am writing this, the Blue Jays did just sign former San Diego Padre Kirby Yates. Huge addition for the Jays in their bullpen and hopefully can complement the Springer signing fairly well. Hopefully us baseball fans can get a full 162 game season in this year so we can see how these signing pan out in the gran scheme of things. Only time will tell.