Thole’s role with Blue Jays at risk following Navarro acquisition

Josh Thole signed a minor-league contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. (Kathy Kmonicek/AP)

TORONTO, Ont. – The Toronto Blue Jays’ Friday-night trade for Dioner Navarro means that a roster crunch is coming. Navarro is scheduled to meet the team Monday when they open up a three-game series in Baltimore and will be placed on the active roster then.

The thought was that with Josh Thole out of options and unable to be sent down (as he was in late August of last season), the Jays would run with three catchers on their 25-man roster for three days in Baltimore, with rosters expanding on Sept. 1, in order to avoid forcing Russell Martin to catch R.A. Dickey’s knuckleballs. Martin ably caught Dickey 20 times last season, but usually emerged with beat up fingers and wrists.

Blue Jays’ General Manager Ross Atkins joined me, Joe Siddall and Jerry Howarth in the broadcast booth Friday to discuss the trade, and when asked what Navarro’s role would be, he said: "Navarro will catch when Russ doesn’t."

With no qualifier of "unless R.A. Dickey is pitching," that sounded like there wasn’t going to be a role for Thole down the stretch, and Atkins addressed that.

"We’ll likely have to make a move (with Thole)," the GM said. "We’re hopeful that Josh can remain in the mix and there is a scenario where that could happen. So, if he’s still here, then Gibby will have his options. We would like to have all three of them here but just can’t guarantee that that’s going to occur."

The scenario in which the Blue Jays could keep their knuckleball catcher, since Thole can’t be optioned, is by giving him his unconditional release and then re-signing him immediately after.

Thole would have to go through release waivers, during which any team in the major leagues could claim him. If one does, it would assume the remainder of Thole’s contract, which has just under $200,000 remaining on it.

The best fit for Thole would be the Blue Jays’ chief rival in the A.L. East, the Boston Red Sox, who have the major leagues’ only other knuckleballer on their staff, Steven Wright.

If every team passes on Thole, which isn’t a terribly unlikely scenario, he would become a free agent.

Should that happen, Thole would re-sign with the Blue Jays and would be able to be back with the team – as part of the expanded roster – for Dickey’s next start, which is scheduled to be Sept. 2 in St. Petersburg in the opener of a weekend series with the Tampa Bay Rays.

The release and re-signing of Thole would allow the Blue Jays to bypass the 10-day option window wherein a player who is sent to the minors has to wait ten days (or until his minor-league season ends, whichever comes first) in order to be recalled.

Whether Thole is picked up by another team or not, the Blue Jays will carry a third catcher in September. A.J. Jimenez and Erik Kratz are possibilities, and Kratz has experience catching the knuckleball, albeit in spring training.

The ideal scenario, says Atkins, is that the Blue Jays’ September roster includes Martin, Navarro and Thole. "We’d like to have all three of those guys here," said Atkins. "There is a way to potentially do that and we will do everything we can, but we recognize the risks there, we recognize that (catching Dickey) may be demanding on Russ, but we think that Russ is up for that challenge (should it come to that)."

The scenario he mentions is the one outlined above, the risk is that Thole is either claimed by or signs with another team. But the likeliest outcome is that Josh Thole gets three days in limbo and then comes back to the Blue Jays to finish out the season as Dickey’s catcher.

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