Estradabien! Blue Jays and Marco Estrada Agree on Extension

In case you missed all the excitement last night, it appears as if the Blue Jays have extended Marco Estrada for the 2018 season. YAY! Jon Morosi was the first to report this:

It has now been confirmed by the club:

Marco signed a contract extension with the Blue Jays after a career year back in November of 2015 worth $26m over two years ($11m for 2016, $14m for 2017 with a $1m signing bonus). So, this seems to be right in line with what he has been paid over the past two years. I am sure the Jays are thrilled to keep it to one year, and I’m sure Marco is delighted with his $13m.

We all know Marco really wanted to stay with the team, and the front office expressed a significant amount of interested in re-signing him. It’s so lovely when the end result can be what both sides desired.

Marco has had a season that is very similar to that of Kevin Pillar: a really great start, a terrible hole in the middle where the wheels fell off, and a redemptive finish.

Behold:

Apr 3-May 27: 11 starts, 3.15 ERA, opponents hit .226/.276/.406 with a .287 BAbip. Eight out of those 11 starts had three earned runs or less. The remaining three starts had five earned runs, and two were against Tampa Bay.

June 1-July 26: 10 starts, 8.87 ERA, opponents hit .324/.418/.601 with a .370 BAbip. Three of those 11 starts had three earned runs or less (with none being less).

July 31-Sept 16: 10 starts, 3.75 ERA, opponents hit .227/.279/.399 with a .242 BAbip. Eight of those 10 starts had three earned runs or less. The remaining two starts had six earned runs, and one was against Tampa Bay.

So, what happened during that horrible stretch?

Marco explained it himself in an interview with the Toronto Star:

“‘Pitching is one thing,’ Estrada said of his inability to battle through the off-the-field stuff. ‘I’m comfortable out (on the mound) no matter what the situation is, but having someone bring up to you that you’re leaving, it was almost every day I was hearing it from someone new. At first I didn’t care, and as a couple of weeks went by it started getting into my head and the next thing I know I’m struggling.

‘But I had other issues going on that aren’t baseball related. That’s why it all snowballed. It was a tough time. Then you start pitching bad, that makes everything even worse. Once I got over all of that stuff, I’ve done much better and I feel like I’m back to who I was, who I’ve been for this team. In all honesty I feel like it was a month-and-a-half of pitching like someone else.’”

So, needless to stay, it appears as if Marco has figured things out. Maybe we just do our best to keep him away from Tampa Bay?