Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos indicated yesterday that recently acquired Josh Thole will begin the season with Triple-A Buffalo while another former Met, Henry Blanco, will serve as J.P. Arencibia‘s backup. Blanco, 41, was recently signed to a non-guaranteed, one-year deal,
“Blanco has not been guaranteed the job at all,” Anthopoulos explained. “That’s why he’s on a non-guaranteed contract. But again, if it works out that Blanco’s the backup and Thole ends up being optioned down here, organizationally that means things are going well. Blanco was good enough to be the backup and now we’ve got tremendous depth.”
Blanco caught seven of Dickey’s starts in 2010 when they were teammates with the Mets. If Arencibia suffers an injury, Thole would be at the ready to handle the majority of the starts behind the plate.
The Blue Jays and Thole avoided arbitration yesterday by agreeing to a two-year, $2.5 million contract with a club option for 2015, so this came as a bit of a surprise. But it could be they want to get Thole back on track offensively after a disappointing season in which he batted just .234/.294/.290.
