The Toronto Blue Jays and starting pitcher Marco Estrada agreed to a two-year, $26 million contract Friday, according to Shi Davidi and Mike Wilner of Sportsnet.
Estrada saw his one-year, $3.9 million deal expire at the end of the 2015 season, per Spotrac, and had the option to accept a one-year, $15.8 million qualifying offer or test free agency, per Davidi and Wilner.
Sportsnet's Greg Brady seemed happy about the deal:
The 32-year-old Estrada had the best season of his career in 2015, going 13-8 with a 3.13 ERA during his first year in Toronto. Only David Price and Marcus Stroman, who made just four starts, had lower ERAs among the starters on the Blue Jays staff.
But with Price testing the free-agent market, the Blue Jays faced the possibility of losing their two best starters. No one else who made at least 25 starts had an ERA lower than 3.81 for Toronto in 2015.
Stroman, one of the brightest young stars on the staff, was excited about the news:
The Blue Jays can now focus on trying to retain Price for next season and further build their staff. On an offensive juggernaut of a team that featured Troy Tulowitzki, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion, pitching largely kept the Blue Jays from securing a World Series berth as they fell to the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series.
If they can find a way to sign Price, though, the Blue Jays would have a good-looking top three for next season.
Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com.
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