The Blue Jays are among the clubs with interest in free-agent infielder/outfielder Brock Holt, tweets MassLive.com’s Chris Cotillo. Holt was reported to be of interest to the Reds last week as well.
Toronto has been bringing in some veteran infield depth on minor league pacts in recent weeks, inking both Joe Panik and Ruben Tejada. Holt, however, would surely command a guaranteed deal after a strong finish to his seven-year tenure with the Red Sox. The 31-year-old tallied 662 plate appearances with Boston in 2018-19, hitting at a .286/.366/.407 clip with 10 homers, 32 doubles, four triples and eight stolen bases.
The starting infield in Toronto is full, with Travis Shaw at first base and a trio of second-generation youngsters — second baseman Cavan Biggio, shortstop Bo Bichette and third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. — set to round out the quartet. Holt has ample experience at all four infield spots and across the outfield, though. He could not only capably back up any of that infield bunch, helping to safeguard against injury, but would also give the Jays a veteran fallback in the event that someone from that talented but still relatively inexperienced group takes a step back and finds himself in Triple-A.
At present, the top backup option on the infield is Brandon Drury, though he’s coming off a second consecutive poor showing, having batted just .218/.262/.380 in 447 plate appearances. Holt would give the Jays a left-handed bench option to pair with the right-handed-hitting Drury, thereby presenting manager Charlie Montoyo with defensive and lineup versatility. Toronto currently projects to a $107MM payroll, which is nearly $60MM shy of its franchise-record level of expenditure.
Quaid …. start the reactor.
Steve Holt!
What’s the best guess…
…1 year contract for $6 mil with a team option for $7.5 mil and a $1.5 mil buyout…
…?
Definitely not that.
1/4 straight up
Worth every penny hopefully it can stay healthy. Great addition to anyteam. Would give me another reason besides Bichette/Biggio to watch some Jays games.
It?
Maybe he knows something we don’t.
Brock Holt is Locutus of Borg??!!
Mr McAllister!
He’d be a great pickup for the Jays. Don’t think he’s an option in CF…. but maybe could backup SS in a pinch. Can play everywhere else and is a nice lefty bat.
Must be slow out there. Saw the same story last week with the Reds as the team attached. If he doesn’t sign soon, expect to read this again with the Angels attached. Possibly the Orioles the week after. 😉
One of the most overrated players in the league (who cares about his versatility, his defense is lackluster at every position and he’s a singles hitter. he’s so boring to watch, he made the red sox look so dumb every time), but 1 WAR players probably get 1/3 or 1/4. He aint moving the needle at all wherever he goes, that’s for sure, he’s a “name-only” type, and he will probably decline a lot next year.
Trolling at its best, calling a player who isn’t rated anything by anybody overrated.
Strike Four may be overly strong in his comments, but he is correct…..just because Holt can play multiple positions doesn’t mean he can really excel at playing them all…in fact a pretty average at best player who probably plays his best defense a 2nd….his offense is okay but nobody is buying a ticket to a game to see Brock Holt. He plays when a starter is hurt. The fanaticism the Red Sox show for this guy is overflowing in multiple rumors….last week the Red…this week the Jays…..
because a 366 Obama is horrible
because a 366 Oba is horrible…
Obama was much better of course!
Rocky7, Holt might not be causing people to buy tickets but neither are 75% of the players in the league. Depth matters. You take away the top 25% and you have the Nippon League… so what’s your point? Holt is a servicable, average player who had a 103 wRC+ last season and a 109 wRC+ the year before. It’s not like he’s Sean Rodriguez.
Ya he doesn’t have ceiling, but floor matters.
Blue Jays type player ,
C’mon Mets, get in on the Holt sweepstakes..
I still like him for the Chisox! gritty left-handed hitter with a decent glove
Gritty = white
Did you see the Flyers Mascot, “Gritty” got charged with assault on a child. Kid apparently kept messing with him and hitting his head and the mascot punched him lol. Only Philly
Howie Kendrick is a gritty player. So was Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, Dave Roberts, Roy Campanella, Larry Doby – shall I continue? Gritty equals tough, smart, talented, headstrong, instinctive, etc.
Google gritty baseball players and find the fangraphs article whose featured gritty player is non-white Martin Prado. Great post.
Seems like you have a bit of an inferiority complex going on.
Tony Fernandez was gritty. Ozzie Guillen was gritty. Even Ozzie Smith I’d consider to be a gritty player. None are white.
That comment is way out of line.
The entire starting infield is second generation. Travis Shaw’s father, Jeff, was a two-time All-Star pitcher who played for the Indians, White Sox, Expos, Reds and Dodgers.
What, like just friends or dating?
I heard on the playground someone passed Holt a note:
Dear Brock,
Do you like me? (check the box)
( ) Yes
( ) No
love Ross
The Blue Jays want to win now, that’s evident. I’d go as far as to say that they are the National League’s Reds; Have some home grown talent and opened the wallet this off-season. Two pretty interesting teams to watch, although I do think they will both fall short. Not by much however, in my opinion.
The Reds have a much better shot than the Jays. Jays have many more holes than the Reds
That and the Reds don’t play in the AL East
Wow, Phillies 2020 guess you don’t see lots of AL East games….the Jays, outside of their influx of Bichette, Vlad Jr. and Biggio are pretty average at best with cobbled together older talent around the diamond based on cost not skill, and their pitching, either starters or relievers do not and will not scare anybody and are probably below average at best…..you’re looking at a team that will not come close to “falling short” as they are far from challenging the Red Sox of today nor a step up to todays Rays, let alone the Yankees for supremacy in the East.
“…cobbled together older talent around the diamond…”
Name me the oldest Jays on the 26 man roster that meet this criteria.
Jays went 8-11 vs NYY, 8-11 vs Bos, 6-13 vs TB last year.
Reds went 11-8 vs Chi, 8-11 vs Mil, 7-12 vs Stl last year.
They could both finish 4th again but both look to have improved their rosters enough to be looking at .500 and 3rd place in their divisions as goals.
89 wins for 2nd WC in NL last year. 84 for 3rd in NLC. Reds had 75.
I’d vote that the Reds can top .500 this year and also pass the Cubs for 3rd place. Falling 5 games short of WC makes for excitement up to late Sept.
96 wins for 2nd WC in AL last year. 84 for 3rd in ALE. Jays had 67.
Gaining 17 games on the Red Sox is a huge challenge, even if the Sox have done virtually nothing this offseason.
The real challenge could be battling .500 for the Jays. Last year I’d guess that nearly half the team ABs went to rookies. Just with experience at the plate and depth on the mound compared to last year, I could definitely see the Jays improving by 10 games to get up to 77 wins.
I could also see the Red Sox slipping a couple games down to .500.
Rays and Yanks slipping would surprise me.
Far from challenging the Red Sox of today? Finish within 5 games of the Red Sox overall with a 9-10 or better record against them is doable.
Jays were 43-67 before August. And 24-28 after.
Redsox were 59-50 before August, and 25-28 after.
These 2 teams will be very close this year.
Really, Travis Shaw is the oldest position player on the 40 man roster and he does not turn 30 until April 16th the next oldest is Grich, so that pretty much covers the starting 9 all of whom will be under 30 on opening day!!! try to keep up there bub LOL
Blue Jays don’t mess around, nothing but true prime time superstars for them.
Rogers Cable covers the entire country of 35 million with Blue Jays games. That’s almost New York and Los Angeles combined.
Travis Shaw IS second generation ALSO ….
1 year 5 mill plus incentives that can make it worth 7 million. No options…he would sign that no?
Yep. His father pitched 12 seasons.
With interest in Holt plus Castellanos still available it is too bad the Jays made a wasted signing in Travis Shaw. Could have had Holt be the utility backup have Castellanos, Grichuk and Teoscar cover DH, RF and CF with whatever combination.
Holt is scrappy. Would not mind having him back up the young kids in the infield. He will probably sign for less than anticipated.
If Jays were to acquire Holt, I could see a meaningful trade after.
I agree. I feel like a potential trade is holding up their next move. Seems like OF options are available and the prices won’t be ridiculous.
I’m so bummed about losing the Brock star.
The thing is, fan favorite status doesn’t really matter in Boston. Every game is going to sell out no matter what. Chaim bloom can dispense with the nostalgia. :/
I’m sure the off-season hasn’t gone as Holt had hoped… my guess is based on where he/his market is at now – he probably wishes he tried harder to get to Sox to give him ANYTHING prior to last season. I know he loved playing in, and being a part of the city of Boston and they for some reason had a disproportionate love for him as well. I’m a Sox fan myself but I never quite got why Sox fans have been so enamoured with Holt — he’s an average, at best player, sure he plays hard and has a good attitude and it’s helped over the course of his career that he could essentially play any position besides P/C but other than that he’s never really been anything all that special. I hope for his sake he gets a solid opportunity somewhere as he truly is a nice guy (his work with the Jimmy Fund and other charities, etc) but I think it’s true in that he’s really not much more than an average player – despite being so beloved for some reason by Sox fans for the past 5 or so years.