The Dioner Navarro saga is slowly becoming a boring saga and somewhat annoying. Earlier today The Score reported that Navarro believes that the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Detroit Tigers are interested in him. He also reiterated that he wanted to play every day and not be the backup catcher.
It’s hard to know where to start in this situation. It had been reported earlier in the year that Arizona and Detroit were interested in the catcher. Navarro has also said many times now that he wants to start, he’s been saying this ever since the Blue Jays picked up Russell Martin.
Last season, Navarro had a great year a the plate, and he was a fantastic upgrade over the disaster that was J.P. Arencibia. He helped the starting pitchers and gave people confidence in the rotation and the backstop. Navarro had arguably his best seasons in 2014 achieving career highs in games (139), RBI (69) and total bases (190), while also adding 40 runs, 12 homeruns, a 274/317/395 slash line and 712 OPS. Despite the good numbers the Blue Jays went out and signed Canadian Russell Martin, who is one of the best catchers in baseball.
It isn’t hard to understand why Navarro wants out of Toronto, he will be a free agent at the end of the year, and wants to be in the field to earn a bigger contract next off-season. It’s just unfortunate that he has to constantly remind everyone that he wants to play every day and wants out. If he was to stay in Toronto he would still get a lot of playing time, although it might be a designated hitter, with a bit of catching and maybe some time first base. If Russell Martin can prove to be able to catch R.A. Dickey’s knuckler, then the need for the anemic hitting Josh Thole disappears, and Navarro can get in a good 40 games at the catcher spot alone. He’s a switch hitter, and the Jays really need a left handed bat, so being a big part of the lineup when he isn’t catching is likely. Overall, the team has a lot of potential this year (where have we heard that before) and Navarro adds to that potential and allows the Blue Jays to have more depth.
The Jays know they have a good player which is why he hasn’t been shipped out of Toronto just yet. Alex Anthopoulos is taking his time, making sure he gets a good return for Navarro. Hopefully he is looking for a player that can play right away for the Jays, as opposed to prospects who we’ll only see in a couple of years. The Jays obviously would like to flip him for a bullpen arm or two, or someone who can step in and play second base on an every day basis.
While Anthopoulous looks to make a deal, Navarro should sit back and focus on the Blue Jays instead of telling anyone who will listen that he wants to play every day. Everyone knows now that he wants to play every day. Constantly telling everyone that he wants out, is getting boring and is starting to get irritating, and may become a distraction for the team. If it does become a distraction then something will need to be done soon, to make both sides happy.
A word of advice to Navarro though, enough already, we get it, we all know you want to play every day. Instead of telling everyone, let your play on the field show everyone why you deserve to play every day.
Spring Training Notes:
The Blue Jays could potentially have some hidden depth gems in Jeff Francis, Andrew Albers and newly signed Johan Santana. Yes Francis and Santana are older and aren’t the same as they used to be before they started to get hit with injuries, but if they can stay healthy and show they still have their stuff, the Jays could have depth that no one saw coming and that could make the rotation, or the bullpen much better. As for Albers he’s young and has potential to become a solid pitcher for the Jays, keep an eye out on all three pitchers this spring.
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