{"id":435125,"date":"2026-01-24T20:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435125\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T20:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:20:08","slug":"blue-jays-sign-6-3-catcher-with-unclear-role-to-minor-league-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/435125\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Jays Sign 6-3 Catcher With Unclear Role to Minor League Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t<img width=\"780\" height=\"520\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-2232672747.jpg\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\"   decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; SEPTEMBER 01: Jose A. Ferrer #47 of the Washington Nationals celebrates with C.J. Stubbs #36 after the final out of the game against the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on September 1, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p>The <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/toronto-blue-jays\/\" title=\"Toronto Blue Jays\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"151278\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Toronto Blue Jays<\/a> have not made a high-profile signing across MLB since Kazuma Okamoto earlier this month. While Toronto has one of the most complete rosters in baseball, it missed out on Bo Bichette, who is now with the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/new-york-mets\/\" title=\"New York Mets\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"151279\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New York Mets<\/a>, and Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger, who received better deals with the respective teams they\u2019ve signed with.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Blue Jays did recently sign 6-3 catcher C.J. Stubbs to a minor league contract, according to his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/player\/c-j-stubbs-667690\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB.com transaction page.<\/a> He can also be known as the Phillies\u2019 catcher Garrett Stubbs\u2019 brother. Stubbs has little MLB experience, and the Blue Jays already have a pair of catchers they like, so this move makes Stubbs\u2019 role with Toronto a bit unclear, but it is just a minor league deal, so it can help with organizational depth.<\/p>\n<p>More MLB on Heavy: <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/atlanta-braves\/braves-blue-jays-trade-pitch-sends-131-million-starter-to-atlanta-for-all-star-infielder\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Braves-Blue Jays Trade Pitch Sends $131 Million Starter to Atlanta for All-Star Infielder<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Blue Jays Sign C.J. Stubbs<\/p>\n<p>The Blue Jays have still been very active in MLB\u2019s hot stove season, but most of that noise came on the pitching side of things. Toronto spent over $260 million on Dylan Cease, Cody Ponce, and Tyler Rogers this offseason, so to say they haven\u2019t made additions is just wrong.<\/p>\n<p>Is signing C.J. Stubbs to a minor-league deal that doesn\u2019t include an invite to spring training the news Blue Jays fans want to hear? Probably not.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5732268\" class=\"size-inline wp-image-5732268\" data-lazy-load=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769286008_938_GettyImages-2232672747.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"782\" height=\"521\"  \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5732268\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">GettyWASHINGTON, DC \u2013 SEPTEMBER 01: Jose A. Ferrer #47 of the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/washington-nationals\/\" title=\"Washington Nationals\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"151280\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Nationals<\/a> celebrates with C.J. Stubbs #36 after the final out of the game against the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on September 1, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2026\/01\/blue-jays-sign-cj-stubbs-to-minor-league-contract.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLBTradeRumors.com<\/a> was first on the Stubbs news, and writer Mark Polishuk outlines his career to this point:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 29-year-old Stubbs doesn\u2019t have a ton of experience even at Triple-A, as he has 45 games and 145 plate appearances over parts of three seasons with the Astros\u2019 and Nationals\u2019 top affiliates.\u00a0 He has hit .222\/.366\/.453 with six homers over that small Triple-A sample, and Stubbs has a career minor league slash line of .206\/.315\/.396 over 1854 PA. \u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/new-york-yankees\/yankees-take-flyer-on-former-giants-top-prospect\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More MLB on Heavy: Yankees Take Flyer on Former Giants Top Prospect<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Blue Jays\u2019 Catcher Outlook<\/p>\n<p>As mentioned, the Blue Jays already feel pretty comfortable with Alejandro Kirk as the everyday catcher, and even if Kirk needs a day off or two, Tyler Heineman can take his place. Both Kirk and Heineman provide much more with the bat than Stubbs. However, you can never have enough capable catchers, and the Stubbs \u2018name\u2019 likely kept C.J. around for this long.<\/p>\n<p>Once a 10th-round pick by the <a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/houston-astros\/\" title=\"Houston Astros\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"151281\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Houston Astros<\/a> in 2019, CJ Stubbs was let go by Houston and picked up by the Washington Nationals in 2024.<\/p>\n<p>He has one major-league game under his belt and went 0-for-3.<\/p>\n<p>Stubbs is in a situation where he could potentially get called up if Kirk or Heineman gets injured, but even then, if that were to happen, the Blue Jays may want to acquire another backstop on the external market somehow.<\/p>\n<p>More MLB on Heavy: <a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mets-trade-vidal-brujan-minnesota-twins-cash-considerations\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Mets Trade with Twins for Former <\/a><a class=\"wpil_keyword_link\" href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/atlanta-braves\/\" title=\"Braves\" data-wpil-keyword-link=\"linked\" data-wpil-monitor-id=\"151283\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Braves<\/a>, Marlins Infielder<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Blue Jays\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty WASHINGTON, DC &#8211; SEPTEMBER 01: Jose A. Ferrer #47 of the Washington Nationals celebrates with C.J. Stubbs&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[558],"tags":[64,63,591,85],"class_list":["post-435125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}