The Blue Jays announced Wednesday that they’ve signed catcher Christian Bethancourt and left-hander Richard Lovelady to minor league contracts. Both players have been invited to major league camp during spring training.
Bethancourt, 33, had a decent showing at the plate as recently as 2022, when he slashed .252/.283/.409 (99 wRC+) with 11 homers in 101 games between the A’s and Rays. His bat has tanked since that time, with a combined .220/.250/.377 between Tampa Bay, Miami and Chicago (Cubs).
Once one of the game’s top-100 prospects, Bethancourt has never really found his footing as a big league regular. He moved on from catching entirely at one point, attempting to reinvent himself as a reliever, but he’s now spent several years back behind the plate. He’s a lifetime .229/.259/.367 hitter in the big leagues.
While that offense (or lack thereof) leaves plenty to be desired, Bethancourt has controlled the running game quite nicely thanks to a rocket arm that received 80 grades (on the 20-80 scale) during his prospect days. As the average caught-stealing rate has dropped to just 20.3% leaguewide following tweaks to the size of the bases and limits on pickoff attempts, Bethancourt has excelled. He thwarted 30% of stolen base attempts against him last year. Dating back to 2022, Bethancourt boasts a gaudy 29.9% caught-stealing rate. Over the past four seasons, only J.T. Realmuto, Patrick Bailey and Gabriel Moreno have contributed more value with their throwing, among catchers, per Statcast.
Bethancourt won’t be in the mix for the starting job in Toronto. That belongs to Alejandro Kirk. But the Jays’ only other catcher on the 40-man roster right now is journeyman Tyler Heineman, who has a .212/.298/.273 slash in 299 career plate appearances in the majors. Bethancourt could very well be in the mix for that spot, though time will tell if the Jays bring in a more established veteran to solidify that critical role. As it stands, an injury to Kirk would leave Toronto with Heineman and one of Bethancourt or fellow non-roster invitee Ali Sanchez as manager John Schneider’s top options behind the dish.
Lovelady, 29, split the 2024 season between the Cubs and Rays, struggling with the former but pitching pretty well for the latter. The southpaw gave Tampa Bay 28 2/3 innings of 3.77 ERA ball, albeit with a sub-par 16.8% strikeout rate. Lovelady’s 7.6% walk rate and 53.5% ground-ball rate were both strong marks, however, and the lefty has long shown an interesting blend of missed bats and grounders to go along with solid command.
Even with a decent showing for Tampa Bay, Lovelady was cut loose in November. The Rays designated him for assignment to open roster space for outfielder Jake Mangum, whom they wanted to protect from the Rule 5 Draft. Lovelady was non-tendered rather than traded or placed on waivers, immediately making him a free agent.
In 99 1/3 big league innings, Lovelady has a 21.1% strikeout rate, 8.4% walk rate and 50.9% grounder rate. He’s still been tagged for a 4.98 earned run average, thanks in large part to a 66% strand rate, but metrics like xFIP (4.27) and SIERA (4.02) have been more bullish than ERA. He’ll now try to catch on in Toronto, where the only lefty relievers on the 40-man roster are the inexperienced trio of Brendon Little, Easton Lucas and Josh Walker. Prospect Adam Macko also throws left-handed, but the Jays hope his future is in the rotation.
Opportunity missed: Lovelady, Dick
Mr Mangum has entered the chat
He has posted on X his name as Dick Lovelady in the past.
Richard has the coolest Dad ever. Surefire ice breaker with the ladies ! Well done.
@GBS
When I read the first paragraph and saw the low comment numbers, I immediately ran to the comments. You beat me to the punch.
Excellent name. He was born to be in skin flicks. And for Dick Lovelady to be a reasonable legal name? OMG. I would absolutely sit in the first row during roll call at high school. Dick…Dick Lovelady. “Present in all my glory ma’am “. The only way it could be better is if he spoke fluently in 3rd person like Ricky (rip) did. “Yawn… sorry, I’m late, coach. Dick tired. Dick was up all night becauseof these girls next door. These girls just don’t leave Dick alone to get some sleep. Dick said it’s hard to get up in the morning if Dick doesn’t get at least 8 hours asleep. But they didn’t listen to anything Dick say.
Ya shame he wasn’t a raptor missed his calling
Phil McGroin has entered the chat.
The Blue Jays are at it again! Leave some players for the rest of the league!
The dastardly Blue Jays have become the world’s new “Evil Empire”.
Ross Atkins.
Sign Mendick while you’re at it!
And Rich Hill and Kris Bubic!
And Doug Fister and Charlie Furbush, who were once traded for one another
Maybe the Sox can trade them Richard Fitts
let’s not forget rusty kuntz
Somebody wants a Rusty Kuntz but nobody wants a Stubby Clapp…
dick pole and pete lacock straight up for charlie glasscock and johnny dickshot
my trade proposal sucks
@dasit: Why? Those are excellent choices.
Lovelady performs his best when he utilizes Roger Beshen’s Football Slider.
No such thing as a bad minor league contract, and these guys might actually be in the mix, so well done.
Other than maybe signing Vlad, thats your 2025 Blue Jays people. No more cap room (unless they go to the owner) due to the wonderful Straw trade.
Now they can try and round up some international signings to spend all their extra signing money on
you say one guy’s name and it sounds like you have a lisp
you say the other guy’s name and people giggle
pitcher and catcher Christian Bethancourt
Chick’s are impressed with Lovelady’s Roger Beshens Football Slider.
They can consider a buy one get one free offer.
The Blue Jays need to learn how to teach the Roger Beshens Football Slider to the whole organization. Then they got their pick, no need to spend a lot of money on them.
Roger Beshens can take an average pitcher turn them into someone exceptional in very little time. His on center grip, throw like a football, stiff wrist. arm angle dictates the break and then the way he shows how to shape that football slider is the key for the metrics to be of any value.
Roger is in North Phoenix teaching 3 Major league pitchers his shaping techniques which they were not aware of before.
Barring another addition Bethancourt more than likely breaks camp as Kirk’s backup
Who thinks Bethancourt will win the backup role over Heineman? I was surprised they let Henry walk at the end of last year (AAA), with no depth to speak of. Now they have a bit, which is good. These both look like pretty nice depth signings.