The Blue Jays claimed outfielder Scott Cousins off of waivers from the Marlins, according to Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald (on Twitter).
Cousins, 27, hit .163/.200/.267 in 92 plate appearances for the Marlins this season and is a .183/.231/.291 career hitter in 188 big league plate appearances. He's capable of playing all three outfield spots and is a .288/.345/.457 career hitter at the Triple-A level.
Mike Axisa contributed to this post.
Sure, why not?
Reading Baseball America’s 2012 spring report on him. One of the best athletes in Marlins system. Plus arm that is good enough for right field. Solid tools across the board. Projected to be a bench player.
Guy has one more season of optional assignments. Not bad for a up & down roster filler on the 40-man roster.
I doubt Jays have enough room on the 40 man for him. They will probably try to sneak him off the 40 man later.
A very real possibility. I wondered about the same thing. AA did that with most of his waiver claims during the 2011 off-season.
Here is another scenario. Moises Sierra gets traded?
Why would they trade Sierra just to make space for Cousins?
They would trade him for other reasons and then use Cousins to replace the OF depth.
True.
Jays have a backlog of outfielders, first-basemen and overflow designated hitters all the way to Advanced A ball. At some point, they will have too many good players for their 40-man roster and will lose a good prospect to the Rule 5 draft or waivers (through DFAing).
Maybe, but most of them are not ML ready or have no business even being a back-up OF. You do need some ML ready depth. Also, I think it is pretty optimistic to slate Marisnick as advancing to AAA in 2013. That would be a great sign, but given 2012, it would not be surprising if he needed almost a full season at AA.
Nope. Not to make space for Cousins. My understanding is Sierra only has one season of optional assignments remaining. Plus, when he is major league ready (probably some time in 2013) he will be blocked by Jose Bautista. Baseball America projects Sierra as a Div 2 starter while Cousins just a backup OFer. There might be interest in Sierra. Plus, Kevin Pillar & Jake Marisnick should advance to AAA in 2013 making them available (along with Bailli) as depth OFers in 2014 with three seasons of optional assignments.
I imagine any team interested in Sierra will prefer to acquire him with one season of optional assignments remaining.
Great point.
Because Cousins knows where his sunglasses are and how to use them?
Isn’t this the guy who injured Buster Posey in 2011?
Yes, it is. (google is your friend, btw)
You make it sound as though he went all “Tonya Harding” on Posey’s leg. He was involved in a violent home-plate collision in which Posey was injured. So, “yes”, he is that guy. Ha.
Hmmm coincidentally the Giants are playing the Blue Jays next season in Toronto. I can only imagine how awkward that walk up to Posey would be if Cousins comes up to bat.
Meh, won’t be any more awkward than the position Posey put himself in that fateful day…
Not that he’s any good but how many people are the Marlins losing