Miguel Olivo is drawing "varying levels of interest" from several clubs, including the Rangers, White Sox, and Blue Jays, according to Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Morosi adds that the Red Sox could also be interested if Victor Martinez signs elsewhere.
Olivo is seeking a two-year contract, so it appears likely that he would turn down an arbitration offer from the Jays, who acquired him from the Rockies earlier this month. In that case, perhaps Toronto's interest would dwindle, since they'd earn a supplemental pick if Olivo signed with another team.
With John Buck and Ramon Hernandez already locked up to deals, the catching market behind V-Mart is thinning rapidly. Check out our list of remaining free agent backstops here.
God i hope not.
the White Sox? We got rid of him because our pitchers ddn’t like the game he called
i hate this.
were the pitchers and manager too busy to go over a game-plan? pitchers throw what they want to.
First off, it’s probably more important for the White Sox to have a catcher they trust with pitch selection than it is most teams. Mark Buehrle generally never shakes off the catcher, and his influence has led others to rarely shake off what’s called either (Danks more than anybody).
Pitchers do throw what they want to, but it’s a lot easier for a pitcher to maintain a good rhythm when they can leave the strategy side of the game to their catcher and just focus on execution.
And I would imagine it isn’t just pitch selection that made them uncomfortable with Olivo. He’s got a strong arm, but he’s otherwise not a great receiver. He doesn’t block well, which affects a pitcher’s confidence throwing breaking pitches, and too many passed balls.
but you ignored my point about a pre-game plan. Talking the night before or the morning of about how they’re going to attack certain hitters and what they’ll call given certain situations. Not to mention the conclusions they’d come to on their own on who is swinging away at what by the 3rd or 4th game of a series, 8-15 AB’s in.
If this took place and Olivo is just out to lunch, then point taken, but i have a hard time believing as a catcher he could be that stupid or ignorant or both.
realistically how interested can the Jays be, even in a 1 year deal? They DID decline his option after all.
exactly. AA just putting on a show so people aren’t going bananas that he traded cash for a draft pick.
Exactly. Like how they were interested in retaining John Buck this year and Marco Scutaro last year.
i can’t tell if you’re being serious. they never wanted john buck back on anything more than maybe 1 yr 5 mil.
Scutaro is interesting, but i’m sure the Jays are happy with the picks instead of what he put up, especially considering what Gonzalez turned into.
He’s just stating that even though the Jays said publicly that they were interested in bringing both Scutaro and Buck back that in reality there never was much interest from them. I suspect the same is true for Olivo.
Or he declined his option, so he could resign him to a cheaper deal.
I don’t buy it. They’d have just picked up his very affordable option if they really thought he’d be around next year, or wanted to force the issue of Olivo being around, not risk losing him to save what, maybe $300,000? With what they pay Johnny Mac, you can’t expect any veteran starter to come here and play for less.
declining his option allows him the opportunity to leverage more then 1 year..
A 31 yr old, RH batting .283 lifetime OBP. And this guy is better then AJ? Or Castro for that matter? We let him go 7 years ago. Let it be Kenny.
He may not be better than AJ but Im sure hes cheaper. However, in baseball like in much of life, you usually get what you pay for
wait…isn’t that the exact opposite than what you get in baseball?
If it’s about cheapness then give the job to Flowers. He’ll put up better numbers than Olivo for several million $ less.
I agree. If the choice is Olivo at 3-4 million/yr and maybe have to give 2 years…Id say give Flowers one year and see if he can figure it out although Olivo does have a nice arm.
I’d imagine Buck signing really helped his value (not just in interest but money as well).
I think he could get a 2yr/8-10 type deal.
Am I the only one that watched Buck and Olivo as a KC Royal? They both blew, especially Buck. Buck’s 2010 year was a fluke! He’ll be pop up/strike out fool, just how he was in KC. Im glad he went to the Marlins!
A lot of people suck with Kansas.
Sometimes, you just need a change of scenario.
thats stupid.
people don’t magically turn it on when they leave KC.
Buck changed his approach with Murph and is cashing in WAY over his head.
Cito also benched Aaron Cibia for the betterment of Buck’s next contract.
Obviously that was a joke.
So is Arencibia on waivers or what? because so many things have lead me to believe that he has no future with the Jays.
It’s possible. AA has made it clear that he want’s to have organizational depth. Having depth allows the Jays to have options when it comes to trades and signings.
You never know what combo of players could land you the high ceiling talent we are after, even if its Arencibia.
Such as…?
I doubt AA seems him as the future catcher and I don’t think he is his guy either, that’s probably D’Arnaud but I think they will give him a chance for now and see how good he can be at that position. If he plays solid defensively and brings in the type of offense he has the potential to, then Arencibia would likely stick.
Also, even if the Jays do sign a catcher or re-sign one like Olivo then I still think Arencibia sticks. He’s got solid potential so why trade him now when he is ready and you can give him that time. However, signing a 3rd catcher would limit his time at catcher but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. He could share time with Lind at 1st/DH and learn about the pitchers first before actually catching like Posey did. If he struggles, then he can go back to DHing or 1st base to take some pressure off.
Which is why I think a guy like Russell Martin could help our team.
Oh, dear god, this again? Is Kenny Williams trying to make me stroke out this off-season? No, no and a thousand times NO. Just suck it up and give AJ another 2 years until we can find a viable replacement.