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Danny Jansen

Blue Jays’ Catchers Drawing Trade Interest

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Pitching is the Blue Jays’ top priority this winter, and Toronto has already made one notable move on that front with its acquisition of Chase Anderson from the Brewers.  It remains to be seen whether the Jays will look to free agency or further trades to upgrade its staff, though in regards to the latter option, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi reports that Toronto’s “catchers have also been drawing interest from other clubs” in preliminary trade discussions.

Danny Jansen handled the bulk of the work behind the plate for the Jays last season, hitting only .207/.279/.360 over 384 plate appearances but displaying some excellent defensive prowess in his first full MLB campaign.  Both StatCorner and Baseball Prospectus cited Jansen as one of the league’s best pitch-framers, with BP also highly praising Jansen’s blocking skills.  The 24-year-old held his own at throwing out baserunners, stopped 19 of 61 stolen base attempts.

It was quite a performance for a player who was more touted for his offensive skill coming up through the farm system, and if Jansen can improve to even average production with the bat, he’ll be a very valuable catcher going forward.  This could also make him an interesting trade chip, though since Jansen is controlled through the 2024 season, the Jays would certainly want a solid return for his services.  It could ultimately make for a tough negotiation since a rival team could rightly argue that Jansen hasn’t yet shown much hitting skill at the big league level.

Ultimately, there’s probably more evidence that the Jays still see Jansen less as a trade chip and more as their catcher of the future, so that could make Reese McGuire more expendable.  An oblique injury sent Luke Maile to the injured list in July and limited him to just three games for the remainder of the season, as McGuire went on a hot streak and more or less entered into a timeshare with Jansen down the stretch.

Selected 14th overall by the Pirates in the 2013 draft, McGuire was rather surprisingly traded to Toronto in a 2016 deadline deal, packaged with fellow prospect Harold Ramirez and veteran lefty Francisco Liriano for right-hander Drew Hutchison.  The trade was mostly about unloading Liriano’s $18MM in remaining salary for the Bucs, leaving the Jays to potentially reap the benefits from a catcher who has hit very well (.297/.343/.539 with seven homers in 138 PA) in his brief Major League career.  McGuire also has above-average blocking and framing grades — something of the opposite of Jansen, McGuire was considered more of a glove-first catcher during his time in the minors.

This leaves Maile looking like a potential non-tender candidate unless the Jays can find a trade partner.  The veteran is projected to earn only $800K in arbitration this winter, though may no longer have a spot on Toronto’s roster if Jansen and McGuire are the new regular duo.  Maile turns 29 in February, and hit a respectable .248/.333/.366 over 231 PA in 2018, though that solid season was sandwiched between two very poor years at the plate in 2017 and 2019.

The Blue Jays could also look to move younger catchers from within their farm system.  Gabriel Moreno (#8), Alejandro Kirk (#12), and Riley Adams (#27) are all ranked within MLB Pipeline’s list of the top 30 Jays prospects.  Adams is the most developed, with 81 games at Double-A last season, while Kirk reached the advanced A-ball level and Moreno spent all of 2019 at Single-A Lansing.

Blue Jays Notes: Smoak, Galvis, Bichette, Catcher

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A day after suggesting that Rowdy Tellez was in line to receive more playing time down than Justin Smoak down the stretch, Blue Jays skipper Charlie Montoyo has walked that assertion back a bit. “Maybe it came out like he’s going to play more than Smoak, but it’s still the same way,” Montoyo told reporters, including Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. “Smoak will DH, play first. I don’t see that much of a difference.” Smoak himself was caught off guard by Montoyo’s initial comments, but the first baseman said Montoyo took him aside in an effort to sort things out. It seems that Smoak and Tellez will share first base/designated hitter duties down the stretch, though Montoyo has no shortage of other players he’ll need to try to work into the mix at DH. Davidi adds that the Blue Jays “seem to have no intention” of placing Smoak on outright waivers in the manner they did with Freddy Galvis, who was claimed by the Reds earlier this week.

More out of Toronto…

  • The Blue Jays didn’t find much in the way of trade interest for Galvis prior to the trade deadline, writes The Toronto Sun’s Ryan Wolstat, but the arrival (and immediate success) of Bo Bichette prompted the club to give the veteran Galvis an opportunity to be claimed by a club that’d play him every day at his natural position. General manager Ross Atkins said the club and Galvis were open and honest with each other leading up to the move. Montoyo effused praise for Galvis’ professionalism and leadership, and teammates such as Lourdes Gurriel Jr. expressed some sadness in seeing Galvis depart. “He taught me a lot, not just to me, to the rest of the guys and I will always carry that with me,” said Gurriel of Galvis. “Freddy’s a huge mentor for any player.” The Reds will now have the ability to exercise Galvis’ $5.5MM club option for the 2020 season, though they’ll also be on the hook for the $1MM buyout should they not decide to bring him back.
  • While Danny Jansen is still the favorite to serve as the Jays’ primary catcher in 2020, TSN’s Scott Mitchell writes that Reese McGuire will be given an opportunity to show he can be a significant piece of the catching puzzle in the season’s final six weeks. Both Jansen and McGuire drew heaps of praise for their defensive prowess from catching coordinator John Schneider, and Jansen indeed ranks among the game’s best backstops in terms of pitch framing, pitch blocking, Defensive Runs Saved and Baseball Prospectus’ fielding runs above average. Jansen has also salvaged what was shaping up to be a miserable season at the plate, hitting .252/.316/.484 dating back to June 1. As Mitchell points out, the Jays have a number of other catching options coming up through the system, giving them some potential trade commodities to address other holes on the club if the Jansen/McGuire pairing is indeed determined to be the long-term catching tandem.

Blue Jays To Promote Danny Jansen, Sean Reid-Foley

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9:01AM: The Jays have officially announced that Jansen has been promoted (via their team PR Twitter), with Solarte going on the 10-day DL with his right oblique injury.

8:05AM: The Blue Jays are expected to call up top catching prospect Danny Jansen, Sportsnet.ca’s Shi Davidi reports.  Jansen will take the roster spot of Yangervis Solarte, who suffered an oblique injury in yesterday’s game and is very likely headed for the disabled list.  In addition to Jansen, the Jays are also expected to promote right-hander Sean Reid-Foley for his Major League debut on Monday in a start against the Royals.

Jansen, 23, was Toronto’s pick in the 16th round of the 2013 amateur draft.  Thanks in part to a pair of hand injuries, Jansen’s first few pro seasons were fairly uneventful, though he broke out as a prospect to watch after a big 2017 season that saw him rise from high-A ball to Triple-A Buffalo.  Jansen has continued to impress at the Triple-A level this year, hitting .275/.390/.473 with 12 homers over 360 plate appearances, racking up nearly as many walks (44) as strikeouts (49).

This quick development earned Jansen some notice in the prospect charts, with Baseball America’s midseason top-100 prospect ranking placing Jansen 71st, while MLB.com ranked him 73rd in its own top 100.  The scouting reports on both sites give Jansen more credit for his offense than his defense, citing his good contact skills, plate discipline, and power potential (which BA says could lead to 10-15 homers a year at the big league level).  From a defensive standpoint, Jansen has improved to the point that he looks at least solid at many aspects of catching, though in the words of MLB.com’s report, “his catch-and-throw skills may never be better than average.”

The Jays already have Russell Martin and Luke Maile as their regular catching combo, though Martin’s ability to play second and third base will allow him to essentially take over Solarte’s infield duties while Jansen gets regular playing time behind the plate.  This early audition will help the Jays determine if Jansen could be ready for the starting job as early as next season, which could make Maile an expendable piece this winter.  Martin’s $20MM salary for 2019 makes him essentially unmovable in a trade, so unless the Blue Jays are willing to just eat that contract, it is more likely Martin will be kept around as a veteran mentor for the young Jansen.  (Martin’s ability to play a hybrid backup catcher/infielder role could also make Toronto more apt to pass on Solarte’s $5.5MM club option for 2019.)

Reid-Foley was himself a member of top-100 prospect lists prior to the 2017 season (MLB.com 64th, Baseball America 75th, Baseball Prospectus 85th) before his stock fell posting a 5.09 ERA over 132 2/3 Double-A innings last year.  He bounced back this season to pitch much better in Double-A and earned himself a promotion, with the righty then posting a 3.50 ERA, 10.3 K/9, and 3.48 K/BB rate over 82 1/3 frames for Triple-A Buffalo.

Reid-Foley was a second-round pick in the 2014 draft, and the 22-year-old has long been seen as a future member of the Blue Jays rotation prior to his hiccups in 2017.  Davidi notes that the decision to promote Reid-Foley was made “after days of deliberations,” though with the Jays well out of the playoff race and short on reliable starters to eat innings for the rest of the year, it makes sense to give Reid-Foley his first taste of Major League action.  With at least two rotation spots up for grabs in the 2019 rotation, a good showing over the next six weeks will give Reid-Foley a leg up on earning a job next season.

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