Jays Add Four New Players and a Bench Coach

Tuesday, January 13 2004 @ 05:25 AM EST

Contributed by: Pepper Moffatt

Thanks to Thomas for the update. According to the official Toronto Blue Jays site, the Jays have signed righties Juan Campos, Josue Matos, lefty Dave Maurer, and outfielder Noah Hall to minor league contracts with invites to Major League Spring Training. Pete Walker has also cleared waivers and has been invited to spring training with the Jays. I guess Major League General Managers like him a lot less than I do.

The Jays have also named Joe Breeden as bench coach for the big club. The Jays did not have a bench coach in 2003.

Info on The Four New Players

Juan Campos, formerly of the Astros farm system is almost excusively a reliever, pitching 81 innings in 54 games last season between AA and A ball. In 283 professional innings, he's recorded 281 strikeouts, 57 walks, and a 2.99ERA.

Josue Matos was used entirely in relief last season after being used as a starter in 2003. The 25 year old struck out 104, walked 37 and had an ERA of 2.27 in those 81 AA innings last season.

Dave Maurer missed all of last season after Tommy John surgery. He is the only one of the four players to play in the majors, pitching a total of 20 innings for the 2000 and 2001 Padres and the 2002 Indians.

It's easy to see why the Jays had an interest in Noah Hall. Last season in AA he had an on-base percentage of .434 for the Harrisburg Senators. He's never hit more than 11 homeruns in a season, so his value is primarily in walks, though he is a career .284 hitter in the minors.

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