The Morning Briefing: Breaking Overnight George Springer Signs with Toronto Blue Jays

Breaking overnight: George Springer Signs with Toronto Blue Jays with for a reported 6-year, $150 million deal and other Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball Headlines.

by Richard Wachtel

Updated January 20, 2021

Good Wednesday Morning, Washington Nationals Fans.

Today's Top Story: Breaking News While You were sleeping: George Springer Signs with Toronto Blue Jays to a 6-year, $150M deal.

ESPN has the details "Outfielder George Springer and the Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a six-year, $150 million contract, sources confirmed to ESPN's Jeff Passan on Tuesday. Springer is headed to the Blue Jays' spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida, for a physical. If all goes according to plan, Toronto will get the star it has been looking for all winter."

Keith Law from the Athletic has an interesting reaction to the signing: "The Blue Jays are finally acting like the large-market team that they are. They just landed the best free agent on the market, George Springer, addressing a huge hole on their depth chart, and they managed to do so for less than the top free agent gets in most winters..." [Read the full article subscription required]

Don Sutton, Baseball Hall of Famer and 300-game winner, dies at 75. According to his son, Hall of Fame Pitcher Don Sutton passed away yesterday while sleeping; Sutton was 75 years old. In his 23-year career, Sutton was a four-time All-Star who finished in the top five in Cy Young voting five times, topping out at third. He won an ERA title in 1980 at 2.20, four times led his league in WHIP, and three times led in strikeout-to-walk ratio. He played mostly for the Dodgers and spent time with the Angels, Brewers, Astros, and Athletics.

"Today we lost a great ballplayer, a great broadcaster and, most importantly a great person," said Dodgers President Stan Kasten in a statement. "Don left an indelible mark on the Dodger franchise during his 16 seasons in Los Angeles and many of his records continue to stand to this day. I was privileged to have worked with Don in both Atlanta and Washington, and will always cherish our time spent together. On behalf of the Dodger organization, we send our condolences to the entire Sutton Family, including Don's wife Mary, his son Daron and his daughters Staci and Jacquie."

PODCAST ALERT. Yesterday, Al Galdi, Host of the Al Galdi Show on Team 980 AM, sat down with Richard to discuss the latest moves that the Washington Nationals have made during the offseason.

Lester's most significant contribution may be staying healthy. In an article on District on Deck.com, the case is made that Jon Lester's health might be the most significant contribution. From the article: "A taxed bullpen was part of the reason the 2019 version of the pitching staff imploded, and led directly to overuse on the arms Sean Doolittle and others, causing injury and prolonged visits to the injured list. Lester's performance on the field is important, though the mere fact he is on the field regularly, may be the biggest help he provides. Taking out his rookie season and the pandemic shortened season, Lester has failed to make thirty or more starts just once in his long career." [Click here to read the full article]

An Aging Pitching Rotation? Matt Weyrich from NBC Sports Washington did some research about the starting rotation. He found that Scherzer (36 years old), Strasburg (32), Corbin (31), and Lester (37) anchor their rotation this year. If they each start 30+ games, the Nats will be the first team since the 2004 Red Sox to have four pitchers in their 30s make a full season's worth of starts. We will have more on the Washington Nationals pitching rotation later on the website.

Cubs analyst: Letting Jon Lester go to the Nats is 'embarrassing. NBC Sports Chicago's David Kaplan even went on to call the decision "embarrassing." "The Cubs could've kept Jon Lester; he wanted to be here," Kaplan said in a video posted on Twitter. "He wasn't looking to break the bank. He got $4 million and some incentives from the Nationals. The Cubs' offer wasn't close; that's embarrassing."