The Blue Jays and newly acquired third baseman Matt Chapman avoided arbitration by accepting a two-year $ 25 MM contract, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reports. The deal will buy out Chapman’s last two arbitration seasons, but does not extend Toronto’s club control of the two-time Platinum Glover. Chapman, a customer of Boras Corporation, will receive a $ 1 million signature bonus. and current salaries of $ 12 million. on the trade, tweets Jon Heyman from MLB Network.
MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz had predicted that Chapman would earn $ 9.5mm next season and he would have earned one more increase in 2023 before reaching free agency in the 2023-24 offseason. Given that $ 9.5MM projection, Chapman’s $ 25MM guarantee effectively puts a $ 14.5MM price on the third time arbitration pay, which works well within the plausible results.
The new contract does not change much in relation to Chapman’s prospects, although it does give him some financial security in the event of a major injury or further downturn on the record. The Jays, meanwhile, will have some wage security, not only for this season, but also in 2023 – and they are also avoiding a need to set aside time or resources for arbitration talks with Chapman next winter.
Acquired last week in a deal that sent prospects Gunnar Hoglund, Kevin Smith, Zach Logue and Kirby Snead to Oakland, and Chapman is heading to Toronto in search of a return to his 2018-19 MVP caliber form on the record. A hip injury in 2020 cut the season short for Chapman and ultimately required surgery. He returned to play a mostly full record of 151 games in 2021, but while Chapman had 27 home runs and played his usual premium defense in the hot corner, his overall production on the record dropped as his strikeout rate increased. . It is certainly possible that the 2019 All-Star was simply not at 100% last season and he will now try to prove that this was the case without having to spend much time dwelling on his contractual status.
Chapman’s new $ 12MM salary raises the Blue Jays’ expected payroll up to about $ 170MM, per. Roster Resource’s Jason Martinez, and it gives them about $ 190MM worth of luxury tax liabilities. It will set a new franchise record in terms of actual salary, even though the Jays are still around $ 40 million. left for the new 230 mill. $ luxury tax limit.