TORONTO – The Toronto Blue Jays have signed Michael Bourn to a minor league contract in case the 33-year-old former All-Star can still contribute at the big league level. Bourn will report to extended spring training in Dunedin, Fla., where the Blue Jays will get a first-hand look at his game.
“He’ll go down there and we’ll see what he has,” manager John Gibbons said Friday.
Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports first reported the deal.
Bourn, a left-handed hitter, played all three outfield positions in 2015, but struggled at the plate, batting .238 with a .592 OPS for the Indians and Braves. The Braves released him on April 9, making him a free agent.
Earlier in his career, Bourn established himself as an elite defender in centre field, a 50-steal threat on the bases and a capable hitter at the plate. That combination made him a star-calibre player from 2009-12, when he averaged 4.8 wins above replacement.
He signed a $48 million contract with the Cleveland Indians following a 2012 season in which he made his second All-Star team and batted .274 with 42 stolen bases. The deal, signed while current Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro was still in Cleveland, never worked out for the Indians, who traded him to Atlanta midway through the 2015 season.
The Blue Jays’ big league outfield currently consists of starters Michael Saunders, Kevin Pillar and Jose Bautista with Ezequiel Carrera on the bench. Their triple-A outfield consists of Domonic Brown, Junior Lake, Dalton Pompey and Darrell Ceciliani.
Bourn will earn $14 million in 2016, but the Braves are responsible for that sum, less the pro-rated portion of the MLB minimum salary, which the Blue Jays would pay if Bourn’s added to the roster. Like left-hander Franklin Morales, Bourn is a client of agent Scott Boras, whose clients rarely signed in Toronto under former president Paul Beeston.
