Here’s something weird:
Toronto Blue Jays and Dustin McGowan have agreed to terms on a two-year contract with an option.
— JIM BOWDEN (@JimBowdenESPNxm) March 26, 2012
Um… OK?
Seeing as the last bit of game action Dustin McGowan saw involved his being carted off with plantar fasciitis in his right foot– and seeing as, back in December, Bowden tweeted that the Jays had won the Yu Darvish bidding (he subsequently deleted the tweet)– it’s kind of a weird one.
After news over the weekend of McGowan’s latest injury setback, fans– who were probably expecting too much to begin with– couldn’t have been faulted for readying themselves for life without the engineer of a miraculous nearly-four-year comeback.
Now… he’s extended?
Yes, tweets John Lott of the National Post.
And Shi Davidi confirms the terms.
Blue Jays confirm McGowan contract. $1.5m in 2013 and 2014, option for $4m in 2015
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) March 26, 2012
What the fuck?
Parkes tries to make sense of it at Getting Blanked.
As for me, I understand that the Jays gambled on Jose Bautista’s ability to repeat and it paid off massively. I get that there could be value to taking care of their own and showing their belief in what could be a key piece for them– and perhaps even more value in preventing an Al Leiter situation, where McGowan has a decent season and then bolts as a free agent at the end of 2012.
For that to occur, however, McGowan needs to stay healthy, to pitch extremely well, and to be unwilling to accept anything the Jays might offer him over the course of the next seven months.
