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Blue Jays have only one Tyler Heineman decision to make
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- Blue Jays have only one Tyler Heineman decision to make
Blue Jays have only one Tyler Heineman decision to make originally appeared on The Sporting News . Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
The Toronto Blue Jays will have a catcher decision to make soon.
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When Alejandro Kirk returns from injury, one of Tyler Heineman or Brandon Valenzuela is going to have to be taken off the MLB roster to make space for him.
Valenzuela still has minor league options, meaning he can be sent down to Triple-A with no problem.
Heineman doesn't. He'd have to clear waivers to get to Triple-A Buffalo.
Despite that, there's really only one path the Blue Jays can take.
Valenzuela has been too good. They need to keep him in the major leagues.
Heineman is going to have to go, one way or another.
Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller predicts as much in a new article on Monday, writing that Heineman is an obvious DFA candidate in Toronto.
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"Heineman was, out of nowhere, a critical piece of Toronto's puzzle last year, posting a .777 OPS while playing roughly one out of every three games at catcher," Miller writes. "But while he has gotten out to a terrible start to this season (.420 OPS), rookie Brandon Valenzuela has done an admirable job, becoming the primary catcher while Alejandro Kirk has spent the past two months on the IL. With Kirk presently on a rehab assignment, it's only a matter of days before Heineman becomes the odd man out."
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Heineman also is on a $1.2 million contract, which actually increases his chances of staying with Toronto. It's a bit of a higher number than some teams might want to add in a waiver claim.
The Blue Jays could decide that they'd rather have Valenzuela playing every day at Triple-A, but that seems less likely.
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Heineman, probably, is going to be leaving town soon enough.
