Jays don’t have deal with Brantley, source says

ESPN MLB insider
Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”

While the Toronto Blue Jays remain among the teams interested in free-agent outfielder Michael Brantley, they have not reached an agreement on a contract, a source familiar with the situation told ESPN.

Earlier, ESPN had reported that the Blue Jays and Brantley had struck a deal for him to join former Houston Astros teammate George Springer, who Tuesday agreed to a six-year, $150 million contract with Toronto, sources confirmed.

The demand for Brantley, 33, remains strong because of his high contact rate, low strikeout ratio and polish at the plate. In 46 games with the Astros in 2020, alternating between left field and DH, Brantley hit. 300, with five homers, 22 RBIs and an OPS of .840.

He has hit at least .300 in five seasons since 2014, tied with four others for the most such seasons in baseball in that time span. He also has struck out in just 10.1% of his plate appearances since 2014, third best in baseball in that time span, with a minimum of 2,000 plate appearances.

Injuries have troubled Brantley over his 12-year career with the Cleveland Indians and Astros, in which Brantley has a .297 average, with 114 homers, 640 RBIs and a .794 OPS. He’s been an All-Star four times, and in 2014 he finished third in the MVP voting.

Brantley was playing on a two-year, $32 million contract he signed before the 2019 season.

ESPN Stats & Information contributed to this report.

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