José Berríos and the Blue Jays allegedly reach a settlement close to $ 140 million

The Bayamon José Berríos apparently will skip his last year of possibility of going to a salary arbitration and will stamp his signature on a new agreement to play baseball for the next seven years.

This is so after various media have reported that the right has reached an agreement to remain as a pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays for the next seven years. TheScore on twitter reports that the deal is for $ 140 million. The Canadian columnist for the Sportnet portal in that country has reported that the pact is for nine million less.

Berríos was not a free agent. He was in his final year of being able to negotiate a deal with his team and resort to salary arbitration if the parties could not find common ground. He would have been a free agent next year.

Apparently at that time he will not be a free agent because the pact seems already agreed although the parties have not confirmed it. And the agreement according to multiple reports is for seven years. The average payment per year would fluctuate between $ 18.7 million and $ 20 million per year, depending on what the deal ultimately is.

Berríos finished the 2021 season pitching for the Blue Jays, who got it through a trade from the Minnesota Twins, with whom he had played his entire career. On the season he had a combined 12-9 record with a 3.52 ERA. He started 32 games and pitched 192 innings. With Toronto specifically, he was 5-4 with a 3.58 ERA. And in his six-season career he has a career record of 60-47 with a 4.04 ERA.

Preliminarily it would be the largest contract signed by a Puerto Rican pitcher in history. So far the biggest was Javier Vázquez for four years and $ 45 million with the New York Yankees in 2004. He paid him an average of $ 11.25 million per year.

Berríos would be the first Puerto Rican pending a new agreement this year to agree to one. And it has, apparently, before the Majors and the Players Association sign a new collective agreement. According to reports, the parties are currently away from an agreement and the current agreement expires on December 1. There are rumors that a lockout could arise then.

Other Puerto Ricans pending new contracts are free agents Eddie Rosario, Carlos Correa and Javier Báez.