Toronto Blue Jays Back-up Catcher Waiver Possibilities
With Danny Jansen being sent down today, it's clear that the Blue Jays will be going into the season with Luke Maile as their back-up catcher. Luke Maile was a sub-replacement level player in 2017. In the past 100 years only 7 players have received as many plate appearances as Maile and produced a worse wrc+ than his 0. In short, he wasn't good in 2017. His performance last year had many hoping the Blue Jays would upgrade the back-up catching situation. The free agent market didn't provide an upgrade and the front office seemed to be focussed elsewhere.
Every year at the start of the season there are a flurry of players placed on waivers as teams have to make decisions on out-of-options players. There are a number of catchers that could be placed on waivers before opening day and some may provide the Blue Jays with an option to upgrade their back-up catching situation.
The Brewers have 3 catchers that are out of options and there is probably a good chance that one of Jett Bandy or Stephen Vogt will be waived. Both are an offensive upgrade over Maile, but a downgrade defensively, especially Vogt. Bandy is still young and was once considered a possible starting catcher for the Brewers. Bandy may offer more upside than Maile if the team views his bat favorably. Vogt is a former starting catcher who has had some success in the past. In addition to being a back-up catcher he would be a decent bat off the bench. As a left handed hitter they could use him in a semi-platoon with Martin where they strategically rest Martin and put Vogt in games he is most likely to succeed.
The Diamondbacks may not have room on their roster for Chris Herrmann and he could be an interesting option as Martin's back-up. Herrmann has been inconsistent with the bat, but as a left handed hitter he would allow the Jays use Herrmann as a semi-platoon partner for Martin, similar to Vogt. John Ryan Murphy was once a well regarded prospect, but has failed to stick in the majors. He will likely become available from the Diamondbacks as well, but isn't likely to be of any interest.
The Red Sox have three out of options catchers: Christian Vazquez, Sandy Leon and Blake Swihart. It's hard to imagine a scenario where they all make the roster. The hard part is predicting who they are most likely to part with. Sandy Leon had a fantastic season in 2016, but struggled to hit last season. Christian Vazquez is the most likely starter due to his excellent defence and a solid season at the plate in 2017. Blake Swihart is a former top prospect who struggled badly last season and may end up the odd man out. If the Red Sox do decide to put Swihart through waivers they will probably have a number of teams interested in him. This would mean it would take a trade for the Blue Jays to land the young catcher. Boston may be hesitant to trade a former top prospect to a division rival so it's hard to see the Blue Jays landing Swihart if he becomes available.
Maile is having a good spring training with a .333 batting average and a .450 OBP. We can't put much weight in such a small sample in spring training, but it's a good sign that Maile has not struck out and is drawing walks. Another positive is that he seems to be driving the ball better. One reason Maile said he struggled so much last season is because of a knee injury that sapped his power. I was at the game today and he hit his first spring home run as well as hitting two more balls to the warning track. He looked like he had more pop than last season. With his defensive skills he doesn't have to hit much to be a solid back-up. His spring performance should at least limit some of the worry Jays fans have about him.
The Blue Jays would probably be hesitant to grab a catcher right as the season starts because it wouldn't give them time to get to know the team's pitchers. For that reason alone I think it's quite doubtful they will grab a catcher off waivers. If they only had 2 catchers on the 40 man roster I could see them taking a chance on someone, but they have 4 backstops on the 40 man and it wouldn't make sense to add another.
If they aren't confident in Maile's chances at a bounce-back they could grab someone off waivers and then try to immediately pass them back through waivers to get them in the system without taking up a roster spot. If there is a way to improve the team's depth they should explore all possibilities. It would be nice to have a veteran catcher in case Maile's bat is still toothless and they don't want to bring up one of the prospects to sit on the bench. Having someone in the minors with major league experience could also be valuable for the development of Danny Jansen.
The most likely scenario is that the team rolls with Maile as the back-up and will turn to one of their minor league catchers in the event that Russell Martin misses time with injury. If they can add a catcher off waivers and pass them back through waivers, it's a path worth exploring. You can never have too much major league calibre catching depth.
