Cole and Shaw gone

Wednesday, December 02 2020 @ 08:15 PM EST

Contributed by: John Northey

The Jays non-tendered two players today - AJ Cole and Travis Shaw.

Shaw was expected as he was exactly replacement level last year (0.0 bWAR) and entering his age 31 season was unlikely to improve. Over the last 2 years his OPS+ is 65. Ugh. His expected salary would've been roughly $4 mil.

A bigger surprise was AJ Cole who was reasonably effective in the pen last year (3.09 ERA, 3.5 BB/9 7.7 K/9) if unspectacular. He was probably not going to get more than double the ML minimum so net savings are in the $500k range (expected to get around $1 mil in arbitration).

Another rumor that is new is the Jays being interested in Jean Segura who is a 2B/3B/SS for the Phillies who is a bit overpaid I suspect ($14.85 mil in 2021 and 2022 with a $17 mil option for 2023 with a $1 mil buyout). Lifetime 98 OPS+. Had a great year in 2016 with 6.4 bWAR. Lifetime 12.2 UZR/150 at 3B (180 innings last year only), -0.1 at 2B, -2.1 at SS (over 1000 innings at both 2B and SS). He is entering his age 31 season. ZIPS sees him as a 1-2 WAR player for the next 2 years. A meh guy who has some potential for a 'wow' season given his history, but I'd put him as a backup option after quite a few other guys.

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