MLB Hot Stove rumors: Blue Jays reportedly interested in Saltalamacchia

Toronto needs a backup catcher, and Jarrod Saltalamacchia is available

By Dayn Perry

Jan 23, 2017 at 4:18 pm ET • 1 min read

Now that the Blue Jays have brought back Jose Bautista, they're moving on to other roster concerns. Among those is finding a capable backup to primary catcher Russell Martin, who's going into his age-34 season and has more than 11,000 career innings behind the plate. On that point ...

The #BlueJays have expressed an interest in free agent Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Could use a backup for Russell Martin.
— Jerry Crasnick (@jcrasnick) January 23, 2017

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, 31, played in 92 games for the Tigers last season. Over that span, he batted .171/.284/.346.

For his career, he owns an OPS+ of 93 across parts of 10 big-league campaigns. Saltalamacchia isn't regarded as a strong defender, but the switch-hitter does have some pop from the right side. For his career, he's slugged .440 against right-handed pitchers and averaged 20 home runs per 162 games played. At present, A.J. Jimenez is likely in line to be Martin's backup in Toronto.