Right-hander Cody Ponce, AL champion Blue Jays finalize a $30 million, 3-year contract

TORONTO (AP) — Right-hander Cody Ponce and the AL champion Toronto Blue Jays finalized a $30 million, three-year contract on Thursday.

He gets a $3 million signing bonus payable within 30 days of the contract's approval by Major League Baseball and salaries of $5 million next season and $11 million in each of the following two years. The contract specifies Ponce will be a free agent at the end of the agreement.

The 31-year-old was 17-1 with a 1.89 ERA for the Hanwha Eagles in South Korea this year. He set league records with 18 strikeouts in a game against SSG Landers and 252 for the season. He was selected the league's MVP while winning a pitching triple crown.

Ponce was selected by Milwaukee in the second round of the 2015 amateur draft and was dealt to Pittsburgh for right-hander Jordan Lyles ahead of the 2019 trade deadline. He was 1-7 with a 5.86 ERA over five starts and 15 relief appearances for the Pirates in 2020 and '21, then pitched in Japan for the Pacific League's Nippon Ham Fighters (2022-23) and the Rakuten Golden Eagles (2024).

He joins a team with a rotation projected to include newly signed Dylan Cease along with Kevin Gausman, Trey Yesavage, Shane Bieber and Jose Berrios.

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