There&#8217;s a new catcher joining the Blue Jays — it just isn&#8217;t the one you were probably hoping for.

The Blue Jays announced today that they&#8217;ve optioned Reese McGuire to the Alternate Training Site and that veteran Caleb Joseph has been added to the active roster in his place. In order to fit Joseph on the 40-man roster, Ken Giles has been moved to the 45-day Injured List (which is this year&#8217;s version of the 60-day IL).
It isn&#8217;t too surprising that McGuire got optioned. He&#8217;s having an absolutely putrid season offensively, as he has just three hits over 45 plate appearances. The surprise here is that it isn&#8217;t Alejandro Kirk joining the team.
The Jays added Kirk, one of the organization&#8217;s top prospect, to the Taxi Squad last week, which seemed to indicate that he might soon be joining the team. Given the fact the Jays have gotten virtually zero offence from the catcher position, it seemed that adding Kirk to the mix could give them a boost offensively.
Instead, it&#8217;s the veteran Joseph joining the team. Anybody is an upgrade on McGuire offensively at this point, but Joseph certainly isn&#8217;t known for his bat. He slashed a .211/.250/.263 line over 20 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks last year. His big-league career slash line is .223/.270/.350, most of which came playing in Baltimore.
Of course, as much as we want to see Kirk get called up, it&#8217;s important to remember that he&#8217;s a 21-year-old who hasn&#8217;t played above High-A. Expecting somebody so young to come into this situation in the middle of a playoff push, learn all of the big-league pitchers, and produce offensively is probably a bit much.
And another thing&#8230; This also means that Giles won&#8217;t be available to be activated until Sept. 10. There had been some hope that Giles could be ready for the series against the Yankees that starts on Monday, but we&#8217;ll have to wait a little longer.

There's a new catcher joining the Blue Jays — it just isn't the one you were probably hoping for.



The Blue Jays announced today that they've optioned Reese McGuire to the Alternate Training Site and that veteran Caleb Joseph has been added to the active roster in his place. In order to fit Joseph on the 40-man roster, Ken Giles has been moved to the 45-day Injured List (which is this year's version of the 60-day IL).

It isn't too surprising that McGuire got optioned. He's having an absolutely putrid season offensively, as he has just three hits over 45 plate appearances. The surprise here is that it isn't Alejandro Kirk joining the team.

The Jays added Kirk, one of the organization's top prospect, to the Taxi Squad last week, which seemed to indicate that he might soon be joining the team. Given the fact the Jays have gotten virtually zero offence from the catcher position, it seemed that adding Kirk to the mix could give them a boost offensively.

Instead, it's the veteran Joseph joining the team. Anybody is an upgrade on McGuire offensively at this point, but Joseph certainly isn't known for his bat. He slashed a .211/.250/.263 line over 20 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks last year. His big-league career slash line is .223/.270/.350, most of which came playing in Baltimore.

Of course, as much as we want to see Kirk get called up, it's important to remember that he's a 21-year-old who hasn't played above High-A. Expecting somebody so young to come into this situation in the middle of a playoff push, learn all of the big-league pitchers, and produce offensively is probably a bit much.

And another thing... This also means that Giles won't be available to be activated until Sept. 10. There had been some hope that Giles could be ready for the series against the Yankees that starts on Monday, but we'll have to wait a little longer.

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