TORONTO — The Toronto Blue Jays activated Gregg Zaun from the 15-day disabled list Sunday and now find themselves trying to figure out how to divide playing time between him and fellow catcher Rod Barajas.
Zaun went on the DL May 27 with a right elbow injury and was batting .264 with two home runs and eight RBIs in 41 games. Barajas took over the starting job in his absence and hit .321 (17-for-53) with two home runs and 10 RBIs in 16 games.
Zaun was at DH Sunday while Barajas got the start behind the dish in a lineup stacked with right-handed hitters to face the lefty Ted Lilly. As for Monday and beyond, manager John Gibbons was vague about his plans.
"We'll just put the guy out there we think can help us win that day," he said.
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Catcher Curtis Thigpen was optioned to triple-A Syracuse to make room for Zaun.
Zaun was initially expected to be activated Friday but rain delayed his rehab outings with Syracuse. He made two appearances, hitting .250 (2-for-8) with a solo home run, testing out his arm in a game Saturday.
"I'm throwing the ball crisp and I don't have any pain," he said.
Happy to be back with his team, Zaun added that he wasn't going to worry about how the situation behind the plate would play out.
"My situation is what it is," he said. "For now, I'll play when my name's in the lineup. We'll leave it at that. I don't have control over when or how much I'm going to play. Probably, my best guess, is I'm probably not going to catch four or five days in a row coming back off a fresh arm injury.
"What happens after that, I don't know. We'll see what happens. At this point, my role on this team is what the manager says it is."
Zaun, a switch-hitter, gives the Blue Jays an left-handed option behind the plate against tougher right-handers. He received a majority of playing time before the injury and is hoping to get his bat going now that he's back.
"I would like to say that I'm going to make up for lost time and contribute," he said. "I'm going to go out there and grind out my at-bats like I always do. I wasn't exactly an RBI machine before I got hurt. I was not getting a whole lot of opportunities, but I've missed my fair share. It's been a team-wide struggle."
