The Blue Jays officially announced their contract with right-hander Yimi García. To open a 40-man roster spot, catcher Nick Raposo has been designated for assignment, per Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.
Raposo, 27 in June, has only been with the Blue Jays for a few months. He was designated for assignment by the Cardinals when that club acquired Erick Fedde and Tommy Pham ahead of the trade deadline, with the Jays grabbing Raposo off waivers.
The backstop was added to the St. Louis roster in June but never got to make his major league debut. An undrafted free agent in 2020, he signed with the Cards thereafter and has been a depth catcher for them. He has hit .241/.321/.387 in 219 minor league games over the past four years.
Raposo has never really been on the rader of prospect evaluators. He got a roster spot with the Cards while both Willson Contreras and Iván Herrera were on the injured list. The Jays put in a claim to add some depth after trading Danny Jansen to the Red Sox last year. Now that Raposo has been bumped off the 40-man, the Jays will have a week to either trade him or pass him through waivers.
The Jays are now down to just two catchers on the 40-man roster in Alejandro Kirk and Tyler Heineman. They could perhaps add someone later this offseason, though Heineman is out of options. Perhaps they will look to add some non-roster depth by signing veteran to a minor league deal, though Raposo could also provide some of that depth if he clears waivers and is outrighted to Triple-A.
It’s wild to think that just a few years ago, the Jays had one of, if not the most impactful catching duos in Kirk (4.0 bWAR, 127 OPS+) and Jansen (2.9 bWAR, 142 OPS+) and an up and coming Moreno (0.7 bWAR, 112 OPS+)…
and now we’re here.
Kirk is still there, and Moreno is with Arizona, and Jansen is with the Rays now. Blue Jays aren’t taking advantage of their window.
The shadow of Kirk is still there. He hasn’t come close to hitting the way he did that year. Looks like a fluke season at this point. To his credit, he’s worked on his defense, but they really needed the offense.
Perhaps the 3 player competition was making him play harder….always the threat of a demotion to buffalo…
Now?…easy street….show up, collect the pay. Kirk will show up the last year of his contract
@Cunckleball Seriously you are so off in your comments dude, that I have to ask how you came to that conclusion? Kirk is and has been one of the top defenders in the league. He came second in gold glove voting last year and just missed being a finalist this year and in 2022. He actually had a slight dip in defense this past year. So to say “he worked on his defense” is just absurd.
As for Kirk’s offense he managed to maintain more RBIs than Jansen all season in spite of sitting in deference to him most of the year before the trade, not to mention Jansen spent the majority of his time hitting in key RBI spots in the order.. Kirk still finished with 54 RBIs, a stat the Blue Jays lacked in a major way this past year. Maybe if he played more he would have had more. So to say “they really needed his offense” then maybe the Jays should have played him instead of Jansen.
I always thought that Kirk was the one to be traded. He was never touted as a minor leaguer, and only had a short spurt of productivity.
Catchers have to be the most fickle of players offensively. One year they look incredible, next season they barely are a starter.
They traded Moreno for a 5 WAR player in Varsho at least.
Virtually all of that value is with the glove. For an offense as impotent as the Jays, they needed more of that value to be with the bat.
It doesn’t matter. A run saved with the glove is as good as a run scored.
Down by a run, late in the game, his glove can save them from losing 2-nothing instead of losing 1-nothing.
Up by a run, late in the game, because of a defensive play. Based loaded, 2 out. A hitter ain’t gonna run down a ball at the track and make a diving catch.
We can play this all day. Runs are runs. It doesn’t matter if you save one or create one.
The song “Entry of the Gladiators” plays when this front office shows up.