Blue Jays Sign Everts, Almanzar To Minor Pacts

While these guys practice, the front office made a few more moves. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY SportsWith the Major League club getting ready for its first Spring Training match-up on Saturday against the Detroit Tigers, the Toronto Blue Jays’ front office stayed busy on Friday, making a few minor league moves. Baseball America is reporting that the team has come to minor league agreements with right-hander Clint Everts and shortstop Jean Almanzar, while parting ways with left-hander Jared Potts.

The 28-year-old Everts is no stranger to the Blue Jays organization, as he has been shuttling between Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Las Vegas since 2010. The 5th overall pick of the 2002 draft (Montreal Expos), the right-hander has never appeared at the Major League level. Everts owns a 41-44 record over the course of 330 minor league appearances (80 starts), with 4.02 ERA and 8.9 K/9 ratio. He is likely to serve as bullpen depth in Buffalo this summer, but his pedestrian statistics likely mean we won’t be seeing him debut in Toronto this summer unless something drastic happens.

At 24-years-old, Almanzar has spent his entire professional career in the Los Angeles Angels organization. Over the course of six seasons, he has yet to truly wow the powers that be, accumulating just 3 games above high-A. That’s likely more to do with the fact that he is a .239 career hitter with 5 home runs and a .589 OPS in 423 games. Those stats don’t make it sound like Almanzar has much to offer to the club, even for depth purposes, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him released at some point later this spring.

Known to his family and friends as “Boomer”, Potts has been with the Blue Jays since 2008 and got as far as New Hampshire in 2010. The 27-year-old missed all of 2011 before returning to Dunedin in 2012. In 146 career appearances, Potts owns a 14-8 record out of the bullpen, with a 3.96 ERA and 8.8 K/9 ratio.

Stay tuned tomorrow as we return to

real

exhibition baseball and start to talk about more than just minor moves and speculation.