The Toronto Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins has mentioned that he does not plan on bringing in a new catcher but has failed to see how this affects Bowden Francis.
Ross Atkins latest decision to not bring in a catcher directly affects Bowden Francis
Francis had an unbelievable season last year but actually had some of his worst games when paired with Kirk as his ERA was 4.99 over 30.2 innings when the two were paired together.
When paired with either Brian Serven or Danny Jansen, Francis had an ERA of below 3.00 proving that Francis clearly has done much better with catchers that are not Kirk yet the Blue Jays do not want to explore options that could benefit both Francis and the team.
Danny Jansen: 9 games, 22 innings, 2.45 ERA. .244/.283/.361. Alejandro Kirk: 9 games, 30.2 innings, 4.99 ERA. .226/.288/.478. Brian Serven: 9 games, 51 innings, 2.65 ERA. .153/.216/.307. His best start by Game Score was the one-hitter against the Angels in Anaheim on August 24th, when he had an 85 GameScore. He went 8 innings, plus one batter, who hit a home run, with 3 walks and 12 strikeouts. He had five game scores over 70. -Dakers
This entire situation is unfortunate since everyone seems to believe that bringing in another catcher is a necessity apart from Atkins since if Alejandro Kirk goes down with an injury next season, the Blue Jays will be in serious trouble since they are so limited in catchers.