Jays sign closer Kirby Yates (1 year, $5.5m guaranteed/$4.5m in incentives)

[Schad]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2021/01/blue-jays-kirby-yates-agree-to-deal.html

People have asked for separate trade/signing threads in the past, so here's one. In 2018/19, he was the best closer in baseball by fWAR, but missed most of 2020 with bone chips in his elbow. He's basically a fastball/splitter pitcher, which will forever be my favourite closer combination, and in 2018/19 his splitter graded out as the best in baseball among players who threw one regularly.

[Schad]

Obligatory overlay porn:

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[Skin Blues]

This is about as excited as I can get for a pitcher who may not be healthy enough to throw a pitch for the duration of his contract. If he doesn't need TJ after ramping up in March, then it's a great deal. Although the fact that half of the money is tied to incentives is not reassuring.

[Parataxis]

This is about as excited as I can get for a pitcher who may not be healthy enough to throw a pitch for the duration of his contract. If he doesn't need TJ after ramping up in March, then it's a great deal. Although the fact that half of the money is tied to incentives is not reassuring.

Isn't tying half the money to incentives ideal?

If he gets TJ, then he's a 5.5m contract, but we're only paying 10mil if he's an active pitcher for us, no?

[The_Hater]

This is about as excited as I can get for a pitcher who may not be healthy enough to throw a pitch for the duration of his contract. If he doesn't need TJ after ramping up in March, then it's a great deal. Although the fact that half of the money is tied to incentives is not reassuring.

I haven’t seen anything that projects his health as low as you did right here. Of course there’s always a chance or re-injury but all reports seem to indicate that he should bounce back and be solid.

The fact that they only have him signed for 1 season is ideal as well.

[Randle McMurphy]

Hope his elbow is still intact. If so, he'll probably be very good.

[Skin Blues]

This is about as excited as I can get for a pitcher who may not be healthy enough to throw a pitch for the duration of his contract. If he doesn't need TJ after ramping up in March, then it's a great deal. Although the fact that half of the money is tied to incentives is not reassuring.

Isn't tying half the money to incentives ideal?

If he gets TJ, then he's a 5.5m contract, but we're only paying 10mil if he's an active pitcher for us, no?

Oh sure, it's ideal. I'd rather have all $10M be based on incentives. I just think the way they structured it indicates they have major concerns over his health. How many times do we see a guy miss the end of a season with elbow soreness, have some chips removed or some other procedure to alleviate pain, and then ultimately require TJ? Unfortunately, bone chips and TJ go hand in hand. Or elbow in elbow, I guess.

[The_Hater]

This is about as excited as I can get for a pitcher who may not be healthy enough to throw a pitch for the duration of his contract. If he doesn't need TJ after ramping up in March, then it's a great deal. Although the fact that half of the money is tied to incentives is not reassuring.

Isn't tying half the money to incentives ideal?

If he gets TJ, then he's a 5.5m contract, but we're only paying 10mil if he's an active pitcher for us, no?

Oh sure, it's ideal. I'd rather have all $10M be based on incentives. I just think the way they structured it indicates they have major concerns over his health. How many times do we see a guy miss the end of a season with elbow soreness, have some chips removed or some other procedure to alleviate pain, and then ultimately require TJ? Unfortunately, bone chips and TJ go hand in hand. Or elbow in elbow, I guess.

I think there are always concerns with pitchers coming off major surgery, that’s why he signed a 1 year deal here. But there were also (reportedly) quite a few teams trying to land him so obviously everyone wasn’t scared.

It just looks like such a low risk, high reward contract to me. The major concern with contracts is always the length, not the annual salary.

[Kurtz]

Isn't tying half the money to incentives ideal?

If he gets TJ, then he's a 5.5m contract, but we're only paying 10mil if he's an active pitcher for us, no?

Oh sure, it's ideal. I'd rather have all $10M be based on incentives. I just think the way they structured it indicates they have major concerns over his health. How many times do we see a guy miss the end of a season with elbow soreness, have some chips removed or some other procedure to alleviate pain, and then ultimately require TJ? Unfortunately, bone chips and TJ go hand in hand. Or elbow in elbow, I guess.

I think there are always concerns with pitchers coming off major surgery, that’s why he signed a 1 year deal here. But there were also (reportedly) quite a few teams trying to land him so obviously everyone wasn’t scared.

It just looks like such a low risk, high reward contract to me. The major concern with contracts is always the length, not the annual salary.

I'm not even sure I'd call it major surgery - just bone chips removed. No ligament stuff.

[polo007]

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[Skin Blues]

Oh sure, it's ideal. I'd rather have all $10M be based on incentives. I just think the way they structured it indicates they have major concerns over his health. How many times do we see a guy miss the end of a season with elbow soreness, have some chips removed or some other procedure to alleviate pain, and then ultimately require TJ? Unfortunately, bone chips and TJ go hand in hand. Or elbow in elbow, I guess.

I think there are always concerns with pitchers coming off major surgery, that’s why he signed a 1 year deal here. But there were also (reportedly) quite a few teams trying to land him so obviously everyone wasn’t scared.

It just looks like such a low risk, high reward contract to me. The major concern with contracts is always the length, not the annual salary.

I'm not even sure I'd call it major surgery - just bone chips removed. No ligament stuff.

Bone spurs/chips are often a symptom, if not cause, of ligament damage.

Anyway yeah, it's low risk, high reward. If not for the bone spurs he'd probably be getting closer to the guaranteed $54M that old friend Liam Hendriks just got.

[polo007]

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[polo007]

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[polo007]

Blue Jays betting on Kirby Yates bouncing back as a dominant force - Sportsnet.ca

TORONTO – Kirby Yates has been through this type of situation before, heading into the new year after a difficult and trying down season, seeking to regain his form on the mound and establish his place on the roster.

The circumstances were different back then, when a waiver claim by the Los Angeles Angels in October 2016 offered him a fresh start after a miserable up-and-down campaign with the New York Yankees. He was 29, onto his fourth organization after 7½ years of pro ball and in need of something to rescue his career.

“Basically, I was abandoning everything that I had done before and starting over is the way I could put it best,” the newest Toronto Blue Jays reliever recalled Friday during an introductory Zoom call. “I got into a workout regimen I hadn't done in the past, was in the weight room five days a week, which wasn't always the case. Introducing a new pitch that I was unsure of and abandoning a pitch I'd been throwing the last five years."

"This year compared to that is different just for the fact I know what I need to do to be successful at the big-league level. It's just about me getting that health and getting back to it.”

The Blue Jays are betting on his ability to do just that after August surgery to remove bone chips from his right elbow, handing him a $5.5-million, one-year deal that includes $4.5 million in performance bonuses. Yates will achieve those if he’s anything like the dominant force he became with the San Diego Padres, who claimed him from the Angels on April 26, 2017, five days after he gave up home runs to Kevin Pillar and Justin Smoak in a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays.

In San Diego, Yates’ transition started coming together, his new splitter steadily developing into a game-changing weapon as he morphed from journeyman reliever to all-star. The transformation touched every aspect of his game, from surrendering winters surfing the waters around his native Kauai, Hawaii., in favour of a more structured routine around the gym, to refining his repertoire. By the midpoint of 2017, he began to sense that his new approach, anchored by the new split, was going to play.

“I’d thrown it enough in a big-league game and faced enough good big-league hitters to where I felt like every time I threw a good one, it worked,” said Yates. “It was just about being able to throw the good ones more consistently. In September (2017), I was just throwing fastballs and splitters and when I saw the results, I started getting comfortable with that."

"I was able to take the results to 2018 and keep progressing with it, and get comfortable to where it was in 2019, where I was able to command it in and out of the zone, being able to really understand how I set it up and do what I need to do.”

[polo007]

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Kirby Yates on signing with Blue Jays, what his time with the Padres meant to him and more

• Jan 22, 2021

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Hear from former Padres closer Kirby Yates on signing with the Blue Jays and what his time in San Diego meant to him and his family.

[Skin Blues]

This is about as excited as I can get for a pitcher who may not be healthy enough to throw a pitch for the duration of his contract. If he doesn't need TJ after ramping up in March, then it's a great deal. Although the fact that half of the money is tied to incentives is not reassuring.

I wish I was wrong, but it's not looking great.

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[Schad]

Yeah, that was the risk we took. And heck, if he pitches the back half of the season, it's probably still a win. But if injuries pile up that becomes a more significant if.

[bluerap23]

More evidence of mismanaged budget...

[dagger]

Well, this sucks the big felota

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[Hottie McShotty]

Not good. Who would you slot in as the closer now?