Jeff Mathis Becomes A Blue Jay – And That’s (Kinda) Okay
Firstly, I want to apologize for the unintentional rhyme to the headline there.
I honestly didn’t think there’d be a time where I’d be okay with the Blue Jays trading anybody for Jeff Mathis – he who was ranked dead last in WAR among his catching brethren in the MLB – but you know what? I’m okay with the move that sent Brad Mills over to the Angels.
I think.
Partially, the move works out based on need. The Blue Jays don’t have a backup catcher behind JP Arencibia for 2012, and Jeff Mathis is a warm body to fill the gap between here and when we have to cross the Travis d’Arnaud bridge, whenever he is deemed to be MLB ready. That time may very well be 2013, when Mathis will become a free agent – so they bluebirds will essentially get a year’s worth of his services for no strings attached.
Are there better FA options available? Sure, we could go and sign a Kelly Shoppach, Jason Veritek, or Ivan Rodriguez…but why? Like Mathis, they’re all terrible hitters who will have no real offense to add to the lineup, and will wind up costing more money – hell, Shoppach might even get a 2-year contract from somebody for his defense. Considering that JPA is going to catch the bulk of the games in 2012 – 140+ is what I’d anticipate, is there really a point in going after any of those guys? How many more wins would the Blue Jays have with Ivan Rodriguez behind the plate for 20-some games as opposed to Mathis?
We could also look for promoting Brian Jeroloman as the backup, but he’s not exactly an ideal option either. The Jays have a young staff that would benefit from having a veteran presence to help them grow, and Jeroloman has exactly 0 games of MLB experience behind the belt in that respect. Thanks for Mike Scioscia’s undying love for him in his now-past Angel days, Mathis actually has a significant advantage in the experience category over anyone in the Blue Jays’ farm system.
But what about Jeroloman’s bat? Well, he’s compiled a .236/.340 line with a .647 OPS over 111 games in AAA Las Vegas, a hitter’s heaven in a hitter’s league. You know who has better AAA numbers? /That’s right, his name starts with a J and rhymes with Eff Mathis.
Does this mean d’Arnaud is going to be somehow blocked? Nope, but it will afford him some more time to develop as a player, as opposed to having him make the team out of spring training and ride the bench all season. The Blue Jays are gonna have a good problem on their hands when Travis is ready, but having a capable backup behind JPA this season will alleviate the need to find a resolution prematurely. So a no-risk, no strings attached move to bring in Mathis, however terrible he might be at the plate, fills a need without the team having to go out there and spend money on a minimal impact 1-year signing, and gets somebody there with some experience and reasonable defensive capabilities for a couple dozen games.
At the end of the day, it really is an incredibly minor move (to everyone except Mike Scioscia, who I’m sure is weeping softly still), and won’t impact the team’s success and failures very much at all. I personally don’t exactly consider the soft-tossing Brad Mills to be much of an asset (maybe a long reliever in the ‘pen?), and let’s not forget, Jose Molina was a 35-year old career .220 hitter prior to joining the Blue Jays, and we managed to get a draft pick out of his career year in 2011.
Again, Mathis is a guy who might end up catching 30 games, barring some sort of disaster befalling both JPA and Travis d’Arnaud next season. Yeah, he’s terrible at the plate, but we don’t have to worry about him getting too many PAs.
Why did I just write 600+ words on this guy now?
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I think that not keeping Molina means they do not expect to challenge for a playoff spot in 2012.
You might be right there, but I think it’s also matter of getting some value for Molina while they could as well.
Mathis will be a capable 25-30 game backup for 2012, but barring some sort of career year, shouldn’t have much of an impact on the Blue Jays’ successes/failures in the upcoming season. With any luck, there’ll soon be some moves coming out of the winter meetings that’ll make us forget all about this minor blip on the radar!