Camila Sosa
The newly acquired third baseman of the Toronto Blue Jays, Matt Chapman, has already confirmed his commitment to the Canadian franchise at least until the 2023 season, thus he avoids going through the arbitration system in his last years of control by the team through a two-year agreement and $ 25 million dollars between 2022 and the following season.
Just before the start of the wage-setting day, news of the deal was revealed by the media: it consists of a salary of around $9,5M in 2022 with a slight increase at the upcoming event. Toronto is confident that they will be able to regain the level of Chapman that has led it to become an MVP candidate in recent years, specifically in 2019 (where he had a .249/.342/.506 line with 36 home runs, 91 RBIs, 36 doubles and 102 runs scored), by granting him a sizable salary increase totaling $12.5B over the next two seasons.
After having to deal with a hip injury in 2020 that ended his season abruptly, and having a 2021 season where he was not giving his best performance (.210/.314/.403 with 27 balls, 72 RBIs, 15 doubles and 75 scored), Chapman’s power with the bat, and his excellent defensive ability as the third baseman have remained even with his physique being far from his optimal state: he got his third Gold Glove.
It was only a week ago that the Blue Jays announced the acquisition of Chapman from the Oakland Athletics (the only team so far in the right-hander’s career) for a prospect package that included pitchers Gunnar Hoglund, Zach Logue and Kirby Snead in addition to infielder Kevin Smith. Now, Matt will form a duo with star shortstop Bo Bichette, both having responsibility for the right side of the diamond.
With this pact signed, the salary budget of the Canadian organization rises to $ 170M dollars, which will end up being $ 190M after obligations tied to the luxury tax of the MLB. However, they are still far from the limit imposed by the new collective agreement of $230M dollars.
After missing the postseason in 2021, Toronto will once again look to enter the big October party as a venue in one of the tightest and most competitive divisions in all of MLB despite having a 91-71 record.
