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Toronto Blue Jays Avoid Arbitration with Injured Right-Hander Alek Manoah

Manoah, who is scheduled to miss most of the season while returning from Tommy John surgery, knows his salary figure for 2025.

Brady Farkas

Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Alek Manoah (6) pitches against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Fenway Park in 2022.
Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Alek Manoah (6) pitches against the Boston Red Sox during the first inning at Fenway Park in 2022. / Brian Fluharty-Imagn Images
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According to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet, the Toronto Blue Jays and right-handed pitcher Alek Manoah have agreed to a $2.2 million contract for 2025. They avoided a trip to an independent arbitor by settling at that number.

Thursday at 1 p.m. ET was the deadline or teams to avoid arbitration. The Jays also avoided arbitration with outfielder Daulton Varsho and infielder Ernie Clement.

Manoah will be out through at least July as he recovers from Tommy John surgery. He recently said that he hopes to be back on a big-league mound by August.

The 26-year-old Manoah made just five starts in 2024, going 1-2 with a 3.70 ERA. He struck out 26 batters in 24.1 innings, starting to flash some of the stuff that made him one of the better pitchers in baseball in 2022.

Manoah made the All-Star team in that 2022 season, going 16-7 with a 2.24 ERA. He also finished third in the American League Cy Young voting, helping the Jays get to the playoffs.

However, the 2023 season was a horrific one for Manoah, who went just 3-9 with a 5.87 ERA. He was demoted to the minor leagues and finished the year on the injured list.

He was injured in spring training 2024 as well and began the year in Triple-A before getting called back up, and injured again.

He had the internal brace version of Tommy John, which is becoming more common among players now. In his absence, the Blue Jays currently figure to have Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, Bowden Francis, Jose Berrios and Yariel Rodriguez in the starting rotation.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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