AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray agrees to five-year, $115 million contract with Mariners

The reigning American League Cy Young Award winner is headed west in free agency.

Free agent pitcher Robbie Ray has agreed to a five year, $115 million deal with the Seattle Mariners, as first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Ray will have the ability to opt out of the deal after the third season.

The Mariners have not been one of the teams linked to heavy spending, so this one comes out of nowhere. It will be welcomed by Mariners fans as the organization has not made the playoffs since 2001, the longest drought in the sport. This is a clear sign that they are interested in changing that.

The 30-year-old Ray is coming off the best season of his career. He went 13-7 with a 2.84 ERA for the Toronto Blue Jays, striking out a league-leading 248 batters in 193.1 innings. He received the AL Cy Young Award for his efforts.

Ray’s departure will be a blow for the Blue Jays, but not an unexpected one. They already appear to have replaced him even before he’d left.