The Blue Jays sent catcher Brian Serven outright to Triple-A Buffalo, per the transaction log at MLB.com. Toronto designated him for assignment on Monday when they brought Tyler Heineman back via waivers.
Serven has occupied a 40-man roster spot since the end of Spring Training. He has spent a chunk of the season on optional assignment, hitting .265/.390/.379 with a trio of homers in 40 games for Buffalo. Serven appeared in 28 MLB contests and ran a .179/.243/.222 slash over 71 plate appearances. He’s a career .187/.247/.293 hitter across 101 games split between the Jays and Rockies.
The Arizona State product owns a .244/.325/.435 mark over parts of four seasons in Triple-A. Serven isn’t much of an offensive threat, though he has graded highly by public defensive metrics in 730 career innings. As a player with multiple career outright assignments, he has the ability to elect free agency. Even if he sticks in the Toronto organization for the last week of the season, he’ll be a minor league free agent at the start of the offseason. Serven’s defensive reputation should land him a minor league deal with a Spring Training invite.
If Bowden Francis is less effective on the mound, Jays front office and Schneider should take heat for this. Francis and Serven had chemistry. It’s like if 2015 the Jays pull Dioner Navarro off the team after Marco Estrada suddenly turned things around.
This move was not necessary.
@its_happening
Francis’s success is primarily attributable to him adding a splitter to his pitching mix. A pitch the league hasn’t adjusted to.
Your complaining was not necessary.
There are 9 games left. Francis might pitch twice. The team record doesn’t matter. And neither Servan or Heinemann will be on the team next year.
It’s not like he is a knuckleballer that needs a personal catcher because others can’t handle the pitches.
I’m fairly certain Kirk and the pitching coaches are quite able to use the same sequences that Servan did.
I am with you, why not let Serven catch Francis at least until the end of the year. Typical BlueJays executive decision.
This is one of those transactions that has you searching for answers that aren’t clear. The first is why claim a catcher who profiles as a third catcher that will be out of options next year? Unless they think he’s more of a major league backup?
If they do see Heineman as a major league backup, who is their third catcher? Serven still being optionable and having shown he can manage a game well enough at the major league level seems like a decent third catcher choice. Raposo or Clarke? They haven’t established the floor Serven has. Henry actually made a return after the scary head injury. As a guy with power but not much of a defensive reputation, I wonder if that head injury inspires a position change.
It’s roster minutiae that probably doesn’t matter that much, but it’s hard to make sense of.
How is this an upgrade?