Saltalamacchia agrees to one-year deal

The Blue Jays signed 31-year-old backup catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia to a one-year, $1.25-million freeagent contract Tuesday, with incentives that could bring the value to $1.5M.

The contract depends on Saltalamacchia being on the 25-man majorleague roster, first reported by Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi, with the dollar amounts from Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports.

Saltalamacchia was a first-round draft pick of the Braves in 2003. He was traded to Texas as the key part of the Mark Teixeira deal at the trade deadline in 2007 and has since played with the Red Sox, Marlins, Diamondbacks and Tigers. He struggled in Detroit in 2016, batting .171 with 12 homers and 38 RBI.

Saltalamacchia was a starting catcher when he signed a three-year, $21-million contract with the Marlins in 2014. But he was released by Miami in 2015 and has played with Arizona and Detroit since then.

The Blue Jays never seemed to be in any particular hurry to sign their 2017 backup catcher, a role held last year by knuckleball specialist Josh Thole, R.A. Dickey’s personal valet, then, later, by amiable veteran Dioner Navarro. The fact is: there are always competent catchers available on the free-agent market as spring training approaches.

If the Toronto hopes to contend in 2017, they will need a veteran catcher that could fill in at least 40 games for starter Russell Martin. Even though Saltalamacchia’s pitch-framing in the last three seasons has been criticized and he has thrown out just 22 per cent of base stealers, he is a switch-hitter with power and lends a veteran presence to the backup role.

The 33-year-old Martin seemed tired and beat up at the end of 2016. “It wasn’t that I was hurt catching,” he said after the Jays lost to the Indians in the ALCS. “It was that I was catching hurt.”