Blue Jays’ Robbie Ray: Remains with Jays on one-year deal

Ray signed a one-year, $8 million contract to remain with the Blue Jays on Saturday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.

The Blue Jays traded for half of a season of Ray at the deadline for quite a cheap return after he opened the season with a 7.84 ERA in seven starts for Arizona. He was better with his new team but was still not close to his previous form, finishing the year with a 6.62 ERA. His strikeout rate fell by over four points to a still-strong 27.1 percent, while his walk rate ballooned to an unsustainably high 17.9 percent and his groundball rate collapsed to a similarly poor 24.3 percent. It’s hard to call last year’s version of Ray a major-league caliber arm, but he’s still just 29 years old, so the Blue Jays evidently believe he can get back to being the guy who posted a 3.72 ERA from 2017 through 2019. If he does indeed bounce back, they will have gotten quite a bargain, as will fantasy players who pick him up for presumably quite cheap in draft season.

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