Thin behind the plate after Jason Castro's injury, the Astros added a former big league catcher to the organization today. They signed Robinson Cancel to a minor league deal, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). He'll report to minor league camp, according to MLB.com's Brian McTaggart (on Twitter).
The 34-year-old native of Puerto Rico last appeared in the majors in 2009 as a member of the Mets. In 102 career MLB plate appearances, the right-handed hitter has a .213/.260/.287 line. Cancel's minor league resume is extensive, as he has played in 1134 minor league games since the Brewers selected him in the 16th round of the 1994 draft. He has a .263/.327/.376 line in 16 minor league seasons.
LifeLongYankeeFan
Noooooo Robinson Cano is our best player he is our present and future how could this happen I didn’t even know he was a free agent. Oh wait a minute whoops jk lol.
Encarnacion's Parrot
Cancel that.
LifeLongYankeeFan
Oh snap good one lol.
Jarrett Lauderdale
Quintero and J.R. did alright in each of their games today.
wickedkevin
I got my iPhone alert and was just like “WHAT?! CANO?!” Then I saw a unicorn.
Charles
The Astros “solve” their catching problem by signing an AAAA guy? It’s hard to get excited about that.
5_tool_MiLB_fool
way to give him a promotion he can’t even hit in AAA
cseehausen
Probably just be a depth signing
Gumby65
Went to look up “Cancel” on the internet for some back story and be damned if I didn’t get Ch@rli# Sh@4n bombed yet again.
rovert22044
… Seriously? Sometimes I worry for our organization… -_-
Yankee_Baal
Why? Because they signed another catcher for the spring training workload and possible AAA depth? Yeah, it makes anyone worry ¬¬
Steve Smith
Why? Because their starting catcher just went down and the best they could do was a 34 year old named Robinson Cancel! We know the Astros won’t be competitive, but come on. If you are trying to strengthen a position with depth, at least give the fans a glimmer of hope.
rovert22044
Steve Smith basically took the words out of my mouth. If you’re going to sign someone, SIGN SOMEONE WITH POTENTIAL! This guy has spent 16 years in the Minors… He has NO value at all…
TartanElk
Looks like the Astros are already canceling this season.
davengmusic
Hope this is a depth signing. Otherwise, I’ll probably have to Cancel going to the games this year.
…see what I did there?….
Guest 7096
I was looking forward to seeing Castro, hes a nice dude.
Backup_Slider
This basically means that as of today they’re comfortable with either Towles or Corporan backing up Quintero. Cancel is being signed to take the AAA catching place of whichever 1 of those 2 guys gets the back-up gig.
rovert22044
Here is what I say the Astros do.
Since we are not going to compete this season, go ahead and give Towles another chance. If Towles does not exceed our expectations, we can seek a trade IF we are actually looking like we can compete. Get some experience under his belt and see what he can do. Not hurting anyone, just giving him a backbone.