Tejada, Panik, Cantwell among players signed to minor league deals by Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays have announced several Minor League free agent signings with invitations to Spring Training, including 2019 Bisons C Patrick Cantwell, former Bisons INF Rubén Tejada and with RHP Ryan Dull, catcher Caleb Joseph and infielder Joe Panik.
Cantwell was named the Herd's 2019 'Fremo' Vallone Community Service Award winner for his efforts in Western New York during the season, which included the Miracle League of Western New York. He appeared in 22 games for Buffalo last season, his third in the Blue Jays organization.

The backstop was originally a 3rd round pick in the 2012 June Amateur Draft by the Texas Rangers. Cantwell was acquired by Toronto in a trade with the Rangers in 2017 and played in a total of 42 games between 2017 and 2018 with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
Tejada returned to the big leagues last season, appearing in six games for the New York Mets. Overall, the infielder has spent parts of seven of his nine MLB seasons with New York. He debuted in 2010, playing in 78 games. He has also played for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, and Baltimore Orioles.
Tejada spent the majority of the 2019 season with the Syracuse Mets. He also appeared in the International League with the Bisons over parts of three seasons from 2010-2012, in addition to stops in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Norfolk in 2017 and 2018. The native of Panama amassed a total of 125 games with Buffalo batting .261 with 116 hits and 54 runs scored.

Panik first burst onto the MLB scene to help the San Francisco Giants claim the 2014 World Series over the Kansas City Royals. He appeared in all four rounds of the 2014 postseason with San Francisco, including all seven games of the World Series. He also hit a two-run home run in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series to help the Giants defeat the Cardinals in five games.
The infielder was named an NL All-Star in 2015 and helped San Francisco return to the postseason in 2016. He was also awarded a Gold Glove in 2016 with a fielding percentage of .992, committing five errors in 126 games. Last season he played in 142 games between the Giants and Mets. Panik was originally a 1st round pick in the 2011 MLB June Amateur Draft after playing collegiately at St. John's University.

Dull made 11 relief appearances last season between three teams, making seven with the Oakland Athletics before three with the New York Yankees. He was claimed off of waivers by the Blue Jays on September 18 and made one appearance with Toronto before the end of the 2019 campaign.
Drafted in the 32nd round of the 2012 MLB Draft, Dull began his career in the A's organization. The Winston-Salem, NC native has made 171 career MLB relief appearances after making his MLB debut in 2015 for Oakland. He spent the entire 2016 season with the A's with 70 relief outings. He appeared in both the Pacific Coast League and IL in 2019, making 36 appearances between Las Vegas, Sacramento, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Joseph was originally a 7th round pick in the 2008 First-Year Player Draft by the Baltimore Orioles. He made his MLB debut in 2014 and has been in the Majors in each of the previous six seasons. Last year he split time between Triple-A Reno and the Arizona Diamondbacks.
He amassed 31 homers and 122 RBIs for the Orioles in 402 games over parts of five seasons. Joseph appeared in a career-high 100 games for Baltimore in 2015. He has also spent time in Norfolk during his career with 77 games played over parts of four different seasons, last appearing in 24 games for the Tides in 2018.