The Toronto Blue Jays found a diamond in the rough when they signed left-handed hurler Robbie Ray last year. After acquiring the starting pitcher in a late-August 2020 trade from Arizona, the Jays re-signed Ray to a one-year, $8 million deal after ending the season with five games in Toronto.
That deal proved to be one of the best contracts, dollar value-wise, in all of baseball through the 2021 season. Ray, 30, enjoyed a career year with the Blue Jays, where he went 13-7 in 32 starts, posting a 2.84 ERA and major-league leading 248 strikeouts in 193.1 innings.
In receiving 29 of a possible 30 first-place votes from the membership of the Baseball Writers Association of America, Ray was deemed the 2021 American League Cy Young Award winner on Wednesday, beating out finalists Gerrit Cole of New York and Lance Lynn of Chicago.
“Being an elite pitcher is always on my mind,” Ray said when asked about his pursuit of the award. “I know that the stuff was there. It was just a matter of putting it all together. The Cy Young was definitely on the radar.”
In being named the Cy Young recipient, Ray became just the fourth player in team history to earn the prestigious award. Incredibly, it was the first Cy Young Award for a Blue Jays pitcher since the late Roy Halladay took the title in 2003. (Pat Hentgen in 1996 and Roger Clemens in both 1997 and 1998).
After putting up the worst statistical season of his MLB career in 2020, Ray rediscovered his game and put together a noteworthy turnaround from what had been a year in which he led the Majors in walks, going 2-5 with a 6.62 ERA.
“It just felt right. It felt like I was in a good, strong position,” Ray said of his new offseason workout regimen. “Going into spring training, I saw the results almost immediately in my bullpen sessions as far as velocity and command. Then I just felt like I hit the ground running and everything kind of fell into place.”
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Signed to just a one-year contract with Toronto, Ray exploded onto the scene, just in time for management to bring in Jose Berrios from Minnesota. After signing the newcomer to a monster seven-year deal, the Blue Jays’ front office will now need to assess its plan for Ray going forward.
“Toronto is still in the conversation. We’re still talking with Toronto on a daily basis,” Ray said of receiving an initial offer from the Jays. “I mean, that’s just kind of where we’re at. But we’re also testing the free agent market.”
As a free agent, the 30-year-old family man remains in control of his destiny. And despite his success in Canada, there are 29 other teams ready to throw money his way.
“This is a fun time,” he added. “This is fun for me and my family to go through this process and we’re really enjoying it.”
Ray joined fellow starter Stephen Matz in officially declining the one-year, $18.4 million qualifying offer from the Blue Jays. That, however, did not officially close the door on re-signing with the team. But should the Cy Young winner opt to go elsewhere, Jays management will surely turn its focus to re-signing fellow free agent Marcus Semien – the 2021 second base gold glover who set an MLB second baseman record with 45 home runs last year.
“The players, the guys in the clubhouse, they’re a great group of guys,” Ray reflected. “We had a lot of fun this year and we enjoyed every minute together in the clubhouse.”
Both Semien and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. are finalists for the American League MVP award alongside Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani. That award will be announced Thursday night.