Blue Jays finalize deal with Saunders, show interest in Montero

The Toronto Blue Jays have been busy the last couple days tweaking their lineup in an attempt to strengthen the current squad. Today the Blue Jays finalized a minor league deal to bring Michael Saunders back into the mix and are rumored to be interested in catcher Miguel Montero.

The Michael Saunders experiment in Philadelphia did not go as planned after the Phillies inked the Canadian to a one-year eight million dollar deal that included a one million buyout option for 2018. Saunders struggled mightily in the City of Brotherly Love slashing .205/.257/.360 with six home runs in 61 contests.

The Phillies released Saunders last week opening the door for a reunion with the Blue Jays who signed him to a minor league deal. Saunders will be assigned to Triple-A Buffalo where he will attempt to right the ship and make his way to the majors.

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According to Jon Heyman of the MLB Network, the Blue Jays are interested in former Cubs catcher Miguel Montero. The Cubs promptly released Montero after some ill-timed post game comments about pitcher Jake Arrieta‘s inability to hold runners on that led to seven stolen bases at the hands of the Nationals on Tuesday.

The veteran catcher would be an offensive upgrade over the Blue Jays current backup Luke Maile who provides little to no production with the lumber. The 33-year old was batting .286 with .805 OPS and 4 round trippers in 44 games with Cubs this season. Montero is currently earning 14 million with the Chicago this season in the final year of his contract.

Maile is currently batting .122 with 22 strikeouts in 30 games and even though he is an asset defensively, he is less than desirable offensively and nearly a guaranteed out every time he steps into the box. Montero would be a definite upgrade over Maile as long as Jays pitchers don’t hang him to dry with runners on.

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No shortage of moves or rumors in Blue Jays land as the brain trust tries to compliment the current group with reinforcements.