How the Drew Storen Trade Affects the Blue Jays Payroll

Though the Toronto Blue Jays went out and acquired an elite relief pitcher in Drew Storen, the impact on their payroll is minimal.

Aside from the trade deadline, where teams regularly acquire rental relief pitchers, it’s not often you see a top relief pitcher traded to a team where he does not drastically alter their payroll.

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Well, unlike the Padres acquisition of Craig Kimbrel last year, or the Red Sox acquisition of, I promise it’s not a typo, Craig Kimbrel, the Blue Jays were able to do just that. By trading Ben Revere for Drew Storen, the Blue Jays will improve their bullpen and keep their precious payroll almost the exact same.

In the Revere-Storen swap, both players were entering the final year of arbitration before entering free agency after the 2016 season, so there years of control are a wash. Salary wise is where things get a bit interesting, though.

According to MLBTradeRumours.com’s arbitration estimates, Storen is projected to make $8.8 million, while Revere is projected to make $6.7 million. But, thanks to the Nationals and their deep pockets, they will cover the difference between Storen and Revere’s salary, which makes this trade a complete wash in both term and salary.

Being able to acquire Storen for Revere was already a good deal on the surface. But being able to seamlessly fit Storen into the Blue Jays budget makes it an even better deal.

So what about the rest of the Blue Jays payroll?

Currently, the Blue Jays appear to have $98.25 million committed to 10 players under contract. If you add the minimum contracts of Stroman, Goins, Osuna, Sanchez, Colabello and Pillar, each at roughly $500,000, the Jays foundation is close to $100 million.

Now add in the arbitration contracts of Josh Donaldson, Brett Cecil, Aaron Loup, Drew Hutchison, Michael Saunders, Jesse Chavez, and now Drew Storen, and you tack on another $35 million. It could be more since MLBTR’s figures are just an estimate, but for the most part, the final figure should hover somewhere near $35 million. Either way, it would put the Blue Jays payroll entering the 2016 season at their budget of $135 million.

Based on some of the Twitter reactions, this is probably where I’m supposed to insert some sort of “Fire Shapiro” comment for even attempting to save money. However, let’s keep in mind this is NOT the final number for the Blue Jays payroll. That number we won’t know until the trade deadline.

Perhaps Rogers will open up the vault and allow the Blue Jays to spend some more money if the team is once again in the thick of things in the American League. But, unfortunately, that comes down to their shareholders, who have a strong say in how the Blue Jays spend their money.

Next: Addition of Drew Storen Gives Blue Jays Options

You’d think after a season that saw a ratings increase, numerous sellouts, and playoff revenue, that ownership would be willing to roll Ace and the Blue Jays a nickel. But with less than a 10 percent increase to the payroll, it appears that’s not the case.