The Blue Jays have acquired catcher Juan Graterol from the Angels for cash considerations, according to an announcement from Los Angeles. Graterol will report to the Blue Jays’ alternate site, Scott Mitchell of TSN tweets.
The 32-year-old Graterol has appeared in the majors with three teams – the Angels, Twins and Reds – dating back to 2016. He has batted .218/.227/.266 without a home run in 129 plate appearances along the way, though he has thrown out an above-average 32 percent of would-be base stealers as a defender.
Graterol hasn’t reached the majors since 2019, and Toronto is likely hoping it won’t have to turn to him this year. But he’ll give the team some veteran depth behind the younger quartet of Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk, Reese McGuire and Riley Adams – who are all on the Jays’ 40-man roster. McGuire’s spot in that group doesn’t look secure, though, as Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet tweeted Wednesday that the club could designate him for assignment.
why do they need more catchers?
Taxi Squad once the minor league season starts.
jansen or mcguire for tradebate
It will obviously be McGuire.
I’m not sure “McGuire” & “bate” should be used in the same sentence…
Vet to work with young pitchers and young catcher. Things you can’t find in WAR.
You never have too many catchers. Just, it’d be nice if any of the Jays’ catchers were league-average.
McGuire is likely to be DFA’d and claimed. If that happens, the Jays have no catchers in the minors with experience above AA. Graterol fills that gap.
Any relation to Brusdar?
Nei.
Good pickup. He works with the minor league pitchers and mentors Riley Adams. Wanted the Jays to get a vet for AAA and they got it. Good move here.
They stacked!
McGuire will be a Pirate.
Why would you wish that on him? That’s the last step before independent ball!
I agree, they have to claim him on principle.
Anyone who is a regular reader [and reads my posts] will know that I condemned the Jays Mgmt for selling Graterol from the Buffalo Bisons to the Angels back in 2017. At the time, I said they should have had him on the major league roster. Unbelievable Jays decision making.
I’m not sure he’s first tier major league material at this point, but he’s solid defensively and the type of guy that won’t hurt you in case of injury. His plate discipline leaves a lot to be desired.
What are you on about? In the FOUR YEARS since Toronto dealt Graterol, he has had 114 PA, accrued -0.1 WAR, and been DFA’d or released numerous times.
Yah he is much better than the 50 war MacGuire or the 65 war Jansen. As I said, the Jays were winning nothing anyways over the past years and these young catchers needed a mentor.
Not wrong about the mentoring but neither Jansen or McGuire are likely to ever achieve anywhere near those “WAR” numbers with or without Graterol’s help.
serious player development issues if this guy ever makes the 40 ahead of the younger prospects and, since nothing on his resume suggests he would have held it, he would have long since been dfa’d by the Jays in your scenario, too
The only real negative about this pick-up is the squeeze it might put on playing time for others in the minors, assuming he can help on the mentoring side
The 2017 backups in Toronto weren’t exactly stellar. The 2017 Bisons rolling the likes of Raffy Lopez and Mike Ohlman gives Jimmer a minor point. Very minor.
Obviously you were wrong. It’s not that he doesn’t have value to a MLB organization, but his value is as a backup a team stores in AAA. He’s being reacquired because the Jays know they’re in danger of losing catching depth so part of Graterol’s value is that he’s in AAA. They properly assessed his value as a fungible AAA catcher.
At the beginning of the season I was hoping the Angels would acquire a catcher from Toronto. This really is backwards.
A pre-trade trade.