I’m sort of playing a bit of catch-up here, but this move slipped by me over the weekend.
In any case, maybe acquiring Valbuena for cash wasn’t exactly the ideal need-filler for the Blue Jays here, but with Kelly Johnson likely to sign elsewhere, it was a good no-risk move to make. The 26-year old Valbuena stood to see little to no playing time in Cleveland, being stuck behind Jason Kipnis and Astrubal Cabrera in the infield, something that he won’t necessarily have to worry about in Toronto, should we (hopefully not) be left with Mike McCoy as our only option.
The Venezuelan hasn’t seen much success in the big leagues thus far, having hit just .224/283 over the last 3 seasons with the Indians. Considering that he’s still entering the prime age of his career, though, I would say that there is still time. Valbuena’s time in AAA over the last few years has been more fruitful, having put together 3 seasons of .304/.387 ball behind the plate with a .8...
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