The Rays have signed free-agent catcher Kevan Smith to a minor league deal with an invitation to Major League Spring Training, per MLBTR owner Tim Dierkes. Smith is represented by Fusion Sports Agency.
Smith, 31, spent the 2019 season with the Angels, appearing in 67 games with the club. He posted a solid .251/.318/.393 batting line, which is especially respectable compared to the collective lack of offense from the catcher position. He slugged five homers in 251 plate appearances, and he owns a career 89 OPS+, not bad for his position group. The Angels non-tendered Smith in December after coming over from the White Sox as a waiver claim in 2018. However, he’s regarded as a below-average defender behind the plate and has consistently graded as a poor framing catcher.
Smith will join a Tampa catching mix that has an established starter in Mike Zunino. The former is in line for the bulk of the playing time, and he’s joined on the 40-man roster by Michael Perez and rising prospect Ronaldo Hernandez. Smith will have to compete with that pair, but even if he’s unable to break camp with the club, Smith can no doubt serve as a solid depth option in the upper minors.
Pretty solid depth. Possibly competitor for backup role?
I hope he sticks with the big club. He played well for the Sox.
If the Rays signed Kevan is because they see that he has potential and he can improve. The Rays are a smart organization. Good signing Rays.
Can we get post about all the verified twitter accounts saying Dakota Hudson, Carlos Martinez, Tyler O’Neill and Matthew Liberatore for Arenado is on the table?
Arenado is amazing, don’t get me wrong, but Cardinals would be giving up a bit too much
Only way I’d give them Hudson too is if they take fowler and cecil!!!! All of arenados contract for oneill,Martinez, and libertore and maybe another lower prospect would be even, arenados contract is very large even though hes great, so not sure how much his excess worth is, also he could opt out in 2 years. Not sure 2 years of a full priced Arenado is worth all that, take away hudson, maybe
I think if the Rockies add one more piece, that’s a fair move. It’s tilted towards the Rockies right now, but this is pretty much what they’re asking for and they set the bar, not the other way around like everyone seems to think.
I’m sure they’d want Buehler for LAD, maybe even straight up, but still. Massive cost but if you’re the Cardinals, you can afford it because you get so many MLB-handouts for being a “small market” team.
Way too much…. It would need to be 3 solid prospects and Fowler.
If he can just last long enough for the robo-ump, he might have a long career.
Right? The robo-ump will make pitch framing irrelevant as it should be. As an umpire I’ve always taken exception to that entire concept. I know if a pitch is a ball or strike before it hits the catchers mitt. Pitch framing assumes that the plate umpire is incompetent.
How in the world is it irrelevant?
Umpires are making the mistakes. Certain catchers are consistently able to force the mistakes at a higher rate. That’s a skill as much as things like swinging-strikes.
If umps didn’t make the mistakes then there would be no way to calculate the stat. But as long as they are able to be tricked into making mistakes, then of course we should be tracking who is forcing the most mistakes (or who is poor at doing it)
Yes, Robi-umps will make Umpires irrelevant. In turn, there will be no way to calculate pitch-framing, as the calls will actually be correct in the first place – but until that time, of course it is a stat which teams should look at when looking at catchers (who wouldn’t want a guy who is better at forcing mistakes, or alternatively, want to think twice on a guy who can’t really fool anyone)
And everyone knows Umpires are “incompetent” (as you put it,) and with modern technology, we are now easily able to track the bad calls being made with zero doubt that they were in fact bad calls. Pitch-framing is merely a stat showing which catchers are best at making Umps make said mistakes that they do make.
better than Zunnio
Bad sign for the rays I told them to pick up Matt Wieters who is a switch hitting catcher and he’s still available
I guess they didn’t want your suggestions
Love his movies.
Would’ve liked him to stay here. Castro and Smith would’ve been a nice tandem.
had a great bat for the Anges WHEN healthy. gl
Dustin Garneau was an even better hitter, was actually a good fielder on top of that (as opposed to how poor Smith was,) and didnt have the injury issues
Still the Angels waved him specifically to keep the often injured, inferior in all regards, and now gone, Smith
Kinda underwhelming with the Angels.
He’s obviously not a great player, but for a backup catcher, he is a good hitter, considering that most backup catchers aren’t too good offensively, including who is the Angels current backup catcher, Max Stassi, he is awful, but has a better career statline than the Yankees current backup catcher, Kyle Higashioka.
Out of all the Rays present catcher options only Michael Perez shows any upside! Zunino is overrated in defense and can’t hit! I wish instead of paying 5 mill to Zunino they paid 8 (16 for 2 yrs) of d’arnaurd. He was exceptional in all important skills a catcher needs and these signings assure we are out on any catcher trades.