We’ll keep tabs on the day’s minor moves in this post …
- The Blue Jays announced that they have released catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. He had been designated for assignment recently. Saltalamacchia opened the year as the team’s reserve catcher, but never got it going offensively. The high-power, high-K switch-hitter did more of the latter, going down on strikeouts 16 times while recording only a single base hit over 26 trips to the plate. Saltalamacchia also struggled last year, though he did hit a dozen long balls in just 292 plate appearances.
- Angels lefty Greg Mahle was outrighted to Triple-A after clearing waivers, per a club announcement. The 24-year-old was working at Salt Lake already, but gave up his 40-man spot when the team had a need for more pitching at the MLB level. Mahle reached the bigs last year, but struggled to a 5.40 ERA with 6.9 K/9 against 4.9 BB/9 in his 18 1/3 innings.
Oh what a surprise, Salty is released. He never should have been on the Jays in the first place. Maile shouldn’t be on the Jays either. There is a reason that TAMPA BAY RAYS cut him loose. Rant over.
He’s too “salty for his shirt”
An object lesson in why not to fall in love with prospects. He was considered untouchable in ATL, traded to TEX as centerpiece of Teixeira deal, and never was worth much in MLB. Certainly hung around quite a long time–credit good representation, and GM fascination with untapped potential.
The fans in ATL were certain he was going to be a superstar, and there was quite a bit of carping over the trade to Texas. But he was a bust with the Rangers, and showed only brief flashes of MLB-level talent across the subsequent years.