Tanner Roark Signs With the Toronto Blue Jays
After a busy week at the Winter Meetings, the Toronto Blue Jays made some noise by signing starting pitcher Tanner Roark. This will be a two-year deal worth $24 million. The news broke earlier today from MLB Insider Jon Heyman.
Roark agreed to Jays deal. 24M, 2 years.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 11, 2019
Who is Tanner Roark
Tanner Roark is a seven-year veteran. Having spent six years with the Washington Nationals, Roark signed with the Cincinnati Reds last off-season. In July, he was traded to the Oakland Athletics. In 2019 Roark had an ERA of 4.35 and a WHIP of 1.345 in 165 innings pitched. The 2019 season was not his best, but hopefully, he will bounce back in 2020. Roark is a 33-year-old right-hander with a career ERA of 3.71. The Blue Jays front office is hoping he can lower his ERA over the next two seasons.
Blue Jays Perspective
As the Blue Jays have been in need of a starting pitcher, it was likely that they would sign one as soon as possible. After making a trade for Milwaukee Brewers starter Chase Anderson the Blue Jays knew they needed to add more pitching. Having traded Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez in 2019, the pressure is on the front office to acquire more starting pitchers. If the Blue Jays 2020 season were to start today, their rotation would look like this.
- Chase Anderson
- Matt Shoemaker
- Tanner Roark
- Trent Thornton
- Ryan Borucki
Whether or not the Blue Jays look into acquiring more starting pitching talent, they hope Roark can be healthy and pitch over 150 innings. While the expectations for Tanner may not be as high as other free agents, the Blue Jays hope he can be a solid middle of the rotation starter similar to J.A. Happ during the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
Having been linked to other pitching free agents, it’s nice to see the Blue Jays have acquired someone like Tanner Roark. The contract seems to be a great value as it allows the Blue Jays to sign other free agents if need be.
