Yusei Kikuchi, Blue Jays Reportedly Agree to 3-Year, $36M Contract

Left-handed starting pitcher Yusei Kikuchi and the Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a three-year, $36 million contract, per Jon Heyman of MLB Network and Audacy Sports.

The 30-year-old Kikuchi spent the first three seasons of his MLB career with the Seattle Mariners. He went 7-9 with a 4.41 ERA (4.61 FIP, 1.32 WHIP) and 163 strikeouts in 157 innings last year.

Before arriving in the United States, Kikuchi pitched eight seasons for Nippon Professional Baseball's Saitama Seibu Lions, going 73-46 with a 2.77 ERA.

Kikuchi rounds out a loaded Blue Jays starting rotation on paper, and that's even with losing American League Cy Young winner Robbie Ray in free agency to the M's.

Roster Resource lists the Blue Jays rotation as Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Hyun Jin Ryu, Alek Manoah and Kikuchi, in that order.

The Jays landed Gausman as a free agent with a five-year, $110 million deal.

Per Sportsnet, Toronto has also added left-hander Andrew Vasquez and relief pitcher Yimi Garcia to their pitching staff this year.

As for what's ahead for Toronto, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet gave an idea:

The 2021 Blue Jays went 91-71 and finished one game shy of earning the American League's second wild-card spot.

They took a few hits in free agency with Ray leaving for Seattle and middle infielder Marcus Semien going to the Texas Rangers, but they still have a solid, young core (e.g. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette), some great veteran bats (e.g. George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez) and a solid pitching rotation that Kikuchi now rounds out.