Blue Jays re-sign nine players, including Jansen and Romano: report

The Toronto Blue Jays have avoided arbitration with nine players today, reportedly re-signing each of them to one-year contracts.

The list of players is headlined by pitcher Jordan Romano ($4.5375 million), catcher Danny Jansen ($3.5 million), and newcomer Daulton Varsho ($3.05 million).

The Blue Jays also signed relief pitchers Adam Cimber ($3.15 million), Tim Mayza ($2.1 million), Trevor Richards ($1.5 million), and Trent Thornton ($1 million), as well second baseman Santiago Espinal ($2.1 million) and utility man Cavan Biggio ($2.8 million).

The reports are courtesy of Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.

Today’s the day MLB teams & players exchange arbitration filing numbers. We’ll see many agreements on '23 salaries today. Others will exchange numbers instead. All about getting closer to a ’23 figure. Either way, these players are on same teams w/ same timelines to free agency

— Ben Nicholson-Smith (@bnicholsonsmith) January 13, 2023

Romano recorded 36 saves, the fourth-most in Major League Baseball last season, as the Blue Jays’ closer. The 29-year-old from Markham, Ontario had a 2.11 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 73 strikeouts in a career-high 64 innings pitched.

Jansen, 27, posted a career-high in batting average (2.60), OPS (.855), home runs (15), and RBIs (44) last season.

Varsho is a 26-year-old outfielder the Blue Jays picked up in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks for Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and Gabriel Moreno on December 23. He had a .235 batting average, with 27 home runs, 74 RBIs, and a .745 OPS last season with Arizona.

Cimber, 32, posted a 10-6 record as a reliever last season, with a 2.80 ERA, a 1.12 WHIP, and 58 strikeouts.

Biggio, 27, had a down year, with a .202 batting average, .668 OPS, with six home runs and 24 RBIs. Espinal, 28, had a .267 batting average, .692 OPS, with seven home runs and 51 RBIs.

Mayza, 30, posted an 8-1 record, with a 3.14 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP, and 44 strikeouts, while appearing in 63 games, all in relief. Richards, 29, started four games for Toronto last season, and appeared in another 58 games in relief, posting a 5.34 ERA, a 1.44 WHIP, and 82 strikeouts. Thornton, 29, appeared in 32 games in relief, posting a 4.11 ERA, a 1.24 WHIP, and 37 strikeouts.

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