Cards Sign Cecil: 4/$30.5m, with no-trade clause

[Raptor_Guy]

Wow.That is a lot for a guy who does not show up until August.

Right? People forget even in his great 2015 season he didn't really turn it on until after the All Star break.

[Raps in 4]

I read that title quickly and got scared because I thought that we signed him to that contract. That's way too much money for a reliever.

[azorian]

That's alot of money. The sticking point to me is the ntc. Why would they even include that

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[polo007]

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[Skin Blues]

Cecil was a Failed starter turned solid reliever. He came to the Jays the cheap way. Maybe that's the best way to replace him. I mean if this is the market value for a solid reliever, I think we should go the more affordable way.

Well, obviously we are always trying to find great relief pitchers, and that includes trying out failed starters, but it's not an either/or scenario. You can do both; develop them, and acquire them. For 2017 it's not looking like we have anybody ready to step into his shoes. You can't exactly rely on developing a back-end relief arm to replace a guy like Cecil out of thin air. If we want to compete, we will need to have a strong bullpen. And right now, we really don't. One of Grilli or Biagini will probably be good, but unlikely both of them. Osuna will probably be really good. And that's about it. There's no shut-down guy, here. We don't have the quality, so we at least need to add quantity. With how terrible our last man in the bullpen will likely be, adding a top-end guy would provide so much value. I'd really like to see Rogers pay up for Jansen.

[JaysRule15]

Wow.That is a lot for a guy who does not show up until August.

Right? People forget even in his great 2015 season he didn't really turn it on until after the All Star break.

I wonder why that was. I know Cecil had a bit of a weight problem early on in his career, but he's seemed pretty fit the last few seasons. But it still took him months after the season started before he started throwing well.

[TheDoctor]

He looked bulky late last season too.

When he can spot his fastball, he's fantastic. When he can't, he's brutal. It's amazing that his fastball command would disappear for long stretches of the season, then magically reappear and he'd be lights out. I liked him, this is expensive, but the NL and Cards should be good to him. Well, they've already been good to him just offering this deal.

Already looking for a lefty or three.

[StopitLeo]

Wow.That is a lot for a guy who does not show up until August.

Right? People forget even in his great 2015 season he didn't really turn it on until after the All Star break.

I wonder why that was. I know Cecil had a bit of a weight problem early on in his career, but he's seemed pretty fit the last few seasons. But it still took him months after the season started before he started throwing well.

It seems to me that he just takes a long time to get control of both his fastball and curveball at the same time. He might have good fastball command but then he can't spin the curveball enough so it hangs and gets smashed. Or he has a nasty breaking ball but can't throw a fastball for a strike without leaving it over the heart of the plate. But comes August when he gets it together he becomes lights out.

[SharoneWright]

Can anyone comment on whether Borucki or Girodo could serve as a LRP in 2017?

[North_of_Border]

I know Jays need Left handers. ... but it like to see Benoit back. Should be cheap too.

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