The Blue Jays exercised Catcher Rod Barajas' option today. Pursuant to the option, Barajas will be paid $2.5 million for his services next season.
$2.5 milion isn't a lot, but Barajas is 33 and though his power was helpful at times last season, his .249/.294/.410 overall line wasnt very good. When Rod was hot, his power was an asset but when he was cold, he was ice cold.
I've made no secret of my fears that Barajas is not up to the job of starting catcher next season. Arencibia is close, but he's not MLB ready yet, and Jeroloman likely is not offensively ready yet either.
In past season, the Jays have played coy on the catcher market and then signed a veteran once the music stopped, all the other teams already had their starting catcher role filled, and the vet had no leverage. It has sort of worked in the past, and I wouldn't be suprised to see the Jays do the same thing again. I hope it's not Varitek, personally.
In other news, the Mets exercised Carlos Delgado's (actually a mutual I think) $12 option. So if anyone was thinking we could get Delgado to fill the DH spot, it will take a trade now.