The Blue Jays have claimed infielder Breyvic Valera outside of Padres waivers, according to an announcement from both teams. In addition to Valera, the Jays announced that they had added the right Bryan Bakergardener Josh Palacios and infielder / outfielder Patrick Kivlehan his group of 60-man players.
Valera, 28, was included in the Blue Jays’ list for most of the offseason, but lost to the Padres in a waiver claim in February. He spent time with the Jays and Yankees in 2019, although he appeared in just 17 games and had just 52 plate appearances. Overall, Valera has appeared in the majors with five teams but played in just 54 games, hitting .223 / .294 / .298 in 138 trips to the plate.
Lacking a MLB record aside, Valera Switch owns a .302 / .374 / .442 cut in 1550 plate appearances at the Triple-A level. Along with his defensive versatility, he has played second base, third base and all three outfield positions, it is easy to see why so many clubs have been intrigued by his skill set and looked at him briefly. He’s out of the minor league options, though, so the Jays will have to put him on the roster to open the season, or else put him back on exemptions.
As for the three players added to the 60-man group today, it is feasible that any one of the group could emerge as an MLB option. Kivlehan, 30, has recorded 132 major league games and recorded 242 plate appearances, albeit with a mediocre .208 / .302 / .401 cut at the time. Palacios, 25 at the end of this month, spent the 2019 season in Double-A and became a .266 / .371 / .416 bar in a very pitcher-friendly environment. Baker, 25, split last season between the Jays’ Double-A and Triple-A affiliates, shooting a 3.17 ERA with 11.8 K / 9 in 54 innings. However, Baker also averaged six walks for every nine frames and amassed 10 wild pitches, illustrating that control is an issue for him.
Toronto originally announced a group of players with 58 names, so adding these four will put them over the limit. However, as Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi tweets, a team can exceed 60 players if exceptions are necessary due to positive COVID-19 tests. It is likely, then, that the Jays have had additional positives in the organization that will remove some players from the 60-man group or that the additional transactions come today. In particular, the MLB.com transaction page lists Brandon Drury, Elvis Luciano, Hector perez and Jonathan Davis as players who were recently placed on the 10-day disabled list for no given reason, although it is not clear that there is any correlation to today’s movements.
