Panik, Dull, Tejada invited to Blue Jays camp

TORONTO -- The Blue Jays have agreed to terms on Minor League deals with second baseman Joe Panik, right-handed reliever Ryan Dull, infielder Rubén Tejada and catchers Caleb Joseph and Patrick Cantwell, the team announced on Monday. All the deals include invites to Major League Spring Training.

Panik, 29, spent most of six seasons with the Giants before he was released last August and signed with the Mets soon afterward. The Blue Jays have three potential franchise cornerstones on their infield in Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette and Cavan Biggio, but there remains room for veteran depth. Toronto does have some younger internal options on its 40-man roster in Santiago Espinal and Breyvic Valera, but Panik will bring 682 regular season games and a 2014 World Series ring to the competition this spring.

While Panik is coming off a pair of down seasons by his standards -- valued at 0.1 WAR in 2019 and 0.2 WAR in ‘18, per FanGraphs-- his 2015-17 stretch was impressive, totaling a combined 7.6 WAR across those seasons.

Though his offensive numbers have regressed -- Panik hit just .244 with a .651 OPS last season -- his glove has been steady. Using Statcast’s new Outs Above Average (OAA) metric for infielders, Panik has been worth 2 OAA in each of the last two seasons at second.

Second base belongs to Biggio for the time being in Toronto, but the Blue Jays are open to moving him around the diamond to get the most out of their lineup. Centre field has even been kicked around as a potential spot for Biggio -- a position he hasn’t played since high school -- and current first baseman Travis Shaw has some experience at second, too. Speaking at Saturday’s Winter Fest at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Biggio expressed his openness to playing anywhere if it helped his manager field a more competitive roster.

On any team managed by Charlie Montoyo, and especially with a 26th roster spot, positional versatility holds a high value, as he believes in playing matchups and getting regular reps for everyone on the active roster.

Panik’s resume also includes an All-Star selection in his second MLB season in 2015 and an American League Gold Glove Award in 2016.

Tejada will also get a look around the infield, the veteran of nine big league seasons having spent the majority of his career at shortstop. The 30-year-old is coming from the Mets organization, where he spent most of last season at Triple-A Syracuse. In 73 games in the International League, Tejada hit .326/.404/.471 with six homers, 20 doubles and a triple.

Dull, 30, joined the Blue Jays in September as a waiver claim from the Yankees, but he only made one appearance for Toronto before he was designated for assignment in late October. He eventually elected free agency in November. Dull owns a career 4.31 ERA over 171 career appearances and enjoyed a peak season with the A’s in 2016, when he posted a 2.42 ERA over 74 1/3 innings. Closer Ken Giles is locked in to his role in Toronto’s bullpen, but the remaining jobs are open to competition and the club is expected to add more to that mix.

Joseph is a candidate to fill Toronto’s need for veteran catching depth at Triple-A, with young backstops Danny Jansen and Reese McGuire likely to join the Major League club out of Spring Training. The 33-year-old Joseph has spent parts of his last six seasons in the Majors, his first five with the Orioles and his most recent season with the D-backs. In 422 games at the big league level, Joseph has hit .223/.270/.350 with 31 home runs, 58 doubles and 125 RBIs.

Cantwell is returning for a fourth season in the Blue Jays organization, and should be expected to head back to Triple-A Buffalo, where he finished last year. The 29-year-old catcher got into 22 games for the Bisons during the 2019 season and hit .217/.316/.275 with four extra-base hits.