For the first time since R.A. Dickey and Josh Thole arrived for the 2013 season, the Toronto Blue Jays are in need of a traditional, no-strings-attached number two catcher.
Toronto’s catching situation has fluctuated in the four years since. The Blue Jays carried three catchers at times and tested Russell Martin with the knuckleball, but with Dickey and Thole on their way out, the job of Martin’s ‘number two’ has become one that needs to be addressed proactively.
Martin will be 34 years old on opening day next April and is entering the final three years of his contract that come with an annual salary of $20 million.