Seattle Mariners has an agreement in force with James Paxton, by Chad Dey of Sportsnet650 (via Twitter) Ken Rosenthal of Atlético confirm the deal. Paxton will make $ 8.5 million in a one-year bonus contract increasing the potential value to $ 10 million, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan (via Twitter) “Big Maple” will earn an additional $ 750K with 10 games and $ 750K with 20 games, he adds Jon Heyman of MLB Network. Paxton is represented by Boras Corporation.
By signing for just one season, Paxton will have the opportunity to prove his good health and return to the open market. It is no small feat that he will be able to do this in an environment where he feels comfortable, having made T-Mobile Park his home from 2013 to 2018. Assuming good health, Paxton should have no trouble achieving the performance incentives to make this contract a clean $ 10 million.
Health was not always Paxton’s forte, of course. Before losing most of 2020 with a left flexor strain, Paxton spent time on the list of injured people with knee inflammation, left forearm bruises twice, lower back inflammation, a distended pectoral muscle, a bruise on the left elbow, a distended tendon on his middle finger, as well as hitting the shelf twice in 2014 with a strain of the left Latissimus dorsi muscle (read: back). He has only made five appearances for the Yankees this season, after 29, 28, 24 and 20 in the previous four years. Despite the litany of disease, Paxton persevered largely before losing almost 2020.
It is worth mentioning that the Mariners were clear about their intentions to perform a six-player rotation in 2021. Still, a healthy season would make Paxton well beyond the 20 game limit, and the extra time between games would probably help Paxton reach 20 games than hurt. The 32-year-old will fit near the top of the Mariners’ rotation along with other lefties Marco Gonzales, Yusei Kikuchi, and Justus Sheffield. Right-handed Chris Flexen and Justin Dunn are expected to complete the six-man crew.
For Mariners, the business has few disadvantages. Seattle still has a payroll below $ 100 million and its long-term flexibility intact. In the meantime, they manage to return Paxton to the team that recruited him in the fourth round of the 2010 draft. He made 102 matches over six seasons for the Mariners, earning a reputation as a potential front-line starter by 3.58 ERA / 3.13 FIP over 582 1/3 innings up to that point. The Mariners negotiated it with the Yankees after the 2018 season for Bishop Thompson-Williams, Erik Swansonand Sheffield. The Mariners will now enjoy at least a season of Paxton and Sheffield together.
In the diamond, Paxton has the potential to move the needle to the Mariners. Limited to just 20 1/3 inning in 2020, Paxton entered the free agency in the wake of a somewhat inspiring 6.64 ERA. Many of Paxton’s underlying metrics, however, were much more optimistic. He recorded 4.37 FIP / 3.88 SIERA, a typically strong strikeout rate of 28.9 percent and a walk rate of approximately 7.8 percent of the league average. He even achieved a career record at the average speed of a 90.7 mph fastball.
However, a 32.1 percent groundball rate continued a two-year increase in the flyball rate, which led to more home runs allowed in the Bronx. Before joining the Yankees, however, Paxton had a 44.7% ground ball rate. At that price point, betting on a return to the norms of your career is a reasonable bet for M, who continue to position themselves as a potential sleeper in a year when AL West looks more open than ever.