Some assorted Blue Jays notes for a Thursday afternoon:

i.

Jon Heyman’s latest Inside the AL piece for Fan Rag includes a couple Jays-related tidbits, the first of which is that they’re still apparently sniffing around free agent outfielder Ángel Pagán. Specifically, he says that Pagán “appears to be a consideration for them.”

That’s not exactly a revelation. It was only a couple weeks ago that I wrote a full post on this possibility, and the thing I keep coming back to is, if the Jays really liked Pagán you’d think they’d have maybe figured something out with him by now.

On the other hand, I completely understand the Jays not feeling that they need to meet Pagán’s price, or make him any kind of guarantees. There are no takers, Ángel, my man. Or, at least none that can offer you the opportunity to walk straight into fucking everyday playing time for a legitimate contender if you’re anything even *close* to halfway decent.

Suck it up already! This will be fun!

ii.

Heyman’s piece also mentions Jarrod Saltalamacchia. The Jays’ backup catcher was deemed safe according to Gideon Turk’s reporting on the Melvin Upton release earlier this week at BP Toronto, after his contract was guaranteed, but according to Heyman the Jays are still sniffing around for better backup.

Ol’ Gibbers seems pretty keen on Salty, so I’m not sure how well that would go over, but there are reportedly concerns about his throwing… to go along with the concerns about his overall defence and the fact that he can no longer hit.

Oh, maybe the second half of last year was just an aberration at the plate — in 138 first half plate appearances he had a very respectable 101 wRC+, then he went to absolute shit — but the other concerns are… well… concerning.

iii.

Interesting lineup news out of Tampa this afternoon:

#BlueJays v #Rays Pearce leading off LF, Barney 2B.. pic.twitter.com/32czcSAckM

— Hazel Mae (@thehazelmae) April 6, 2017

First off: Don’t go fretting about Devon Travis just yet. It’s a four game series on turf, and it makes some sense that they’re going to ease him and his balky knee back into the lineup a little.

Granted, reporters are mostly just assuming this right now, but nobody has said anything about there being a problem, so… this is fine. Everything is fine.

Secondly: Sleeve Pearce leading off! I’m not sure that would be the case if a right-hander was on the hill for Tampa, but with left-handed Blake Snell going for the Rays, it makes a lot of sense. Pearce mashes lefties, as they say.