The Blue Jays and catcher Alejandro Kirk are in settlement on a five-year extension value $58MM, in line with a report from Robert Murray of FanSided. The deal features a signing bonus and no membership choices in line with Murray. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic provides that the signing bonus is value $6MM and there’s no deferred cash within the deal. Murray signifies the deal permits Kirk to hit free company following his age-31 season, which might recommend that the deal begins in 2026 and due to this fact that Kirk’s $4.6MM wage for 2025 stays in place.
Kirk, 26, is getting into the primary season of his profession the place he’ll be the uncontested major catcher for the Blue Jays after years of sharing time with some mixture of Reese McGuire, Gabriel Moreno, and Danny Jansen. Signed out of Tijuana, Mexico in worldwide free company, Kirk made his professional debut again in 2017 and reached the majors in time for a nine-game cup of espresso in 2020 that was then expanded to a 60-game stint because the membership’s third catcher behind McGuire and Jansen. He hit a sturdy .259/.336/.455 in 214 journeys to the plate throughout these 69 video games earlier than lastly incomes a extra common function with the membership in 2022.
He made the many of the alternative, delivering an All-Star marketing campaign and profitable a Silver Slugger award behind the plate. In 541 journeys to the plate that 12 months, Kirk slashed an unbelievable .285/.372/.415 with a wRC+ of 129. Along side his elite framing and blocking skills, Kirk managed to publish a wonderful 4.3 fWAR that tied with Will Smith for the fourth-highest determine of any catcher that season. The sensational efficiency appeared to solidify Kirk’s standing because the membership’s catcher of the long run, and helped immediate them to commerce high prospect Gabriel Moreno to the Diamondbacks alongside Lourdes Gurriel Jr. in change for an elite defensive outfielder in Daulton Varsho.
Sadly, issues haven’t fairly gone in line with plan in that regard. Kirk’s put up comparatively pedestrian numbers on the plate over the previous two seasons, slashing simply .251/.327/.358 with a 95 wRC+. That’s definitely not dangerous for a catcher, and Kirk’s elite defensive numbers have allowed him to stay a two-to-three win participant whilst he’s taken a step again offensively. With that strong flooring established and the tantalizing upside of his 2022 season nonetheless no less than theoretically in attain, the Blue Jays have opted to pounce on the chance to lock Kirk up long-term. In doing so, they’ve given Kirk a deal that barely eclipses the one Royals catcher Salvador Perez signed previous to the 2016 season, which assured him $52.5MM.
In addition to Perez, the one different extension signed throughout the previous decade by a catcher with between 4 and 5 years of MLB service that got here with a assure of even $5MM was that of Smith with the Dodgers final 12 months, which assured Smith $131.45MM in new cash over 9 years. That’s a considerably increased sum than Kirk obtained, though it must be famous that Smith signed for almost twice so long as Kirk and the deferred cash within the deal lowered the online current worth of the deal to round $114.5MM after factoring within the cash Smith was already owed for final season. Given their equally excessive ceilings, it’s not essentially a shock that Kirk’s $11.6MM AAV is in the identical ballpark because the roughly $12.25 AAV Smith obtained on his deal final season whilst Kirk’s volatility lately in comparison with Smith’s extra steadfast manufacturing led Kirk’s deal to be capped at simply 5 seasons. That shortened time period additionally offers Kirk the pliability to probably get a chunk on the free agent apple later in his profession that might show fairly profitable if he manages to rediscover the offensive type he flashed in 2022 over the subsequent few seasons.
For now, nonetheless, the Blue Jays have locked Kirk up as a fixture of the franchise for the remainder of the last decade, a roll he’ll share with offseason additions Andres Gimenez and Anthony Santander. The transfer retains a homegrown expertise within the fold long-term, providing some much-needed continuity for the group forward of a 2025 season that might be the final one each Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette spend in Toronto. Kirk’s robust work behind the plate ought to proceed to profit Jays pitchers, each veterans like Jose Berrios and Kevin Gausman in addition to kids like Bowden Francis and Jake Bloss, for years to come back, and if he can recapture his offensive type from 2022 he’d be a uncommon two-way catcher who can double as a defensive stalwart and middle-of-the-order bat.
