Don’t expect to see Jarrod Saltalamacchia in uniform for the Marlins this week — and it’s not because he’s still on paternity leave.
The free-agent bust has been DFA’d by the Fish, who likely are on the hook (pardon the pun) for the bulk of the nearly $14.2 million remaining on his contract: $6,158,470 this year and $8 million next season — assuming a trade can’t be made to move the veteran backstop.
Saltalamacchia arrived in Miami with much fanfare, signing a 3-year, $21M deal in the winter preceding the 2014 season. He was awful last year and lost his job to rookie J.T. Realmuto in the past few weeks.
Bold move by Miami, who will keep Jhonatan Solano as the backup catcher at least until Jeff Mathis returns from a broken hand — which will be sometime in the next three to five weeks.
Hooray for Janish!
Salty is a streaky hitter who can go on homer binges. He also handles fastballs low and away well, so if teams forget the book on him, he might do some damage. Sounds like a good guy to stash in AAA and call up at the right time. I’ve heard bad things about his defense, though…
Hey Joe,
Good to see you back!