The Royals have acquired catcher Drew Butera from the Angels, Kansas City announced. Infielder Ryan Jackson will head back to the Halos in the deal.
For Kansas City to create roster space, lefty Tim Collins has been moved to the 60-day DL. Butera, who was designated for assignment recently by Los Angeles, will presumably slot in as the club’s backup catcher. He has never done much offensively, but represents an experienced option behind starter Salvador Perez, who is the league’s most heavily relied-upon backstop.
Jackson, 26, saw very brief major league time with the Cardinals but has mostly played at the Triple-A level in recent years. Over parts of four years at the last stop in the minors, he owns a .275/.346/.371 batting line.
Getting much of anything for Butera is pretty amazing… good work JeDi
We got more for him than we did for Hamilton.
That’s actually true, sadly. Jackson was once an all-glove prospect but didn’t ever hit. Maybe he’s insurance at second base.
They have a lot of insurance for 2B…
But it’s all basically not that good, right? Unless you really believe in Giavotella or Grant Green. I’d bet Jackson is just AAA depth, though. I hope the Royals can figure out a way to get some rest for Perez; he really wore down last season.
I have been very impressed w/ Johnny G so far…..I don’t know if he can maintain this but so far he’s been more then I expected…
a lot of royals fans wish he would have gotten a longer look in KC. All the other players loved him and he was a great locker room guy. He had a couple of years of crushing AAA. I really hope he sticks with the Angels.
For years Royals fans wanted him in the lineup; perhaps the change of scenery is helping. His defense is just okay but he’s always hit well in the minors. KC just never really gave him a shot, preferring to run the Chris Getz-types out there. I’d like to see him succeed. His walk rate is a little higher this season; that has always been his biggest problem in the majors. He’s 27 so maybe the Angels will get his prime year seasons. A singles-hitting 2B with a 350 OBP certainly has some value.
Sal is being treated like a rental car. Drive him fast and turn him in before they figure out you smoked the tires every single start. I love the guy but the Royals are ruining his long term career behind the plate with all the playing time.
Yeah, it’s pretty unconscionable how much they’re using him. Yost was a catcher so he should know how much of a grind that takes over the course of a season. Perez was basically useless the last two months of last year; even a day off a week would help, preferably more. Pull him during blowouts, maybe DH him occasionally.
I think they need to have the backup catcher always catch a particular pitcher in order to assure that Sal gets days off.
That’s definitely the easiest way to do it. If rosters were expanded to 26-27 or more players teams could carry 3 catchers again and it would be easier to replace catchers in-game. Right now managers are terrified to remove a starting catcher because of the fear of an injury to the backup, which is probably a bit silly. But without roster expansion, I fear we might see more catchers being overused.
Just saying they could use some more minor league OF depth then INF depth….
Currently hitting .305 in Omaha. Maybe he is one of those AAAA players but at least he has a good glove if he needs to make a few spot starts.
He’s always hit in AAA but even then it’s all empty average. His glove was once considered elite at short, or at least very good.
I am wondering when we will ever get a catcher than can hit for average and play defense. Is there one out there? Ionetta is inconsistent in all areas and his percentage of runners thrown out is simple awful!
I think you can never have enough back up catchers, there was a time, way back in time. This 72 year old brain can’t remember when, but the Angels in one game injured there 2 regular catchers. They brought in the bullpen catcher to finish off the game, and the bullpen coach caught for reliever’s. (Maybe one of you guys can remember when.)
I think Perez is pretty good (so far) he’s already thrown out a couple of potential stealers.