Blue Jays sign Mat Latos to Minor-League deal

According to Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet, the Blue Jays have made yesterday’s rumours official, agreeing to a minor-league deal with Mat Latos. According to John Lott, Latos has the possibility of earning $1.5 million at the major league level.  

I think everything about this move that needed to be said has been said, as Stoeten went into depth about the rumour yesterday when it surfaced. It’s difficult to believe that Latos has anything left in the tank, as his poor 2015 and 2016 seasons and massively declined velocity indicates, but hell, pitching depth is pitching depth. 

Behind their obvious starting rotation of Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada, J.A. Happ, Marcus Stroman, and Francisco Liriano, the Jays have assembled a decent amount of depth for Triple-A Buffalo in the case of disaster. I mean, it isn’t much more than this year’s version of the Brad Penny or Phil Coke signing, but still, it’s better than having guys like Jo-Jo Reyes and Todd Redmond make major league starts, right? Right!?!?