2012-2013 Toronto Blue Jays Off Season Thread

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by TitovFTW

Seems like there's 0 chance of Marcum to Toronto.

I can't see the Jays trading Romero, it would make no sense at all. They'd get nothing back in return and they can't afford to give up a spot in the starting rotation.

Marcum was always a guy who impressed me with what he was actually able to accomplish at the big league level, but his throwing motion made my elbow hurt for three days after his starts, I can only imagine what mishmash of scotch tape and hope is holding it together now.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by TitovFTW

Seems like there's 0 chance of Marcum to Toronto.

I can't see the Jays trading Romero, it would make no sense at all. They'd get nothing back in return and they can't afford to give up a spot in the starting rotation.

As well, I don't think AA's style is to deal from a position of weakness. He generally gives guys a chance to break out from a slump before getting rid of them. He was their go-to starter for a couple years, so I'm sure he'll get an opportunity to improve before anything happens. AA's smart with his assets - buy low, sell high.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

I was going to say the same thing. Unless the deal is a no-brainer there's no way AA deals Romero with his stock so low. Not worth it. Might as well keep him and hope he bounces back next season.

[VERVE]

Romero had a difficult time on the mound last year. His prior three years (2009-2011) were consistently good being a rookie (2009) and was on the all star reserve list 2011. The Jays are not going to trade Romero esp a lefty who really had 1 bad year since his debut. The whole team struggled and the starting rotation was plagued by injuries. This was added pressure for Romero already carrying the load as a no. 1 starter who signed a big contract in 2012. He is a tough competitor who will surely bounce back while starting as a no.2 or 3 and this will lighten the load.

On another note, Demarlo Hale was hired as the new bench coach for the Jays. He replaces Wakamatsu. Do not know much about him but he is getting lots of high praise from his past teams (BoSox, Rangers and O's). He was one of the finalists as a potential Jays manager before AA chose Farrell.
Brad Arnsberg, former pitching coach for the Jays during Gibbons first tenure, might join his former boss again. Arnsberg was the reason AJ Burnett came to the Jays from Marlins.

[Cheese]

DeMarlo Hale joins the Blue Jays as bench coach, Chad Mottola will serve as hitting coach, Dwayne Murphy will act as first base and outfield coach, Luis Rivera will move to third-base coach and Pete Walker moves from the bullpen to serve as pitching coach.
The Blue Jays still need to find a bullpen coach to replace Walker.


http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/story/?id=410313

[Alberta_Beef]

When are some of the injured pitchers due back? If they won't be out too long we could have our #5 starter returning from injury. From what I was reading in injury reports on mlb.com Drabek was close to starting a throwing program in early November and McGowan could be starting a throwing program in December.

Could either of these guys return in time to win the #5 job? I think currently it is Happ's job to lose.

[KelVarnsen]

No way Drabek is ready at the start of the year.

[The Big Chill]

I don't rememer for sure, but I think Hutch is likely to miss the entire season, and Drabek was more like mid-season or later.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by The Big Chill

I don't rememer for sure, but I think Hutch is likely to miss the entire season, and Drabek was more like mid-season or later.

Recovery time on TJ surgery is approx. 12 months assuming no set backs. I think Hutch had his done late August so with proper care he could be ready to go for September. I think Drabek went for his TJ a few months earlier so he could be back a earlier although since this is his second time having to have that procedure it might affect the recovery time (Frankly, I don't think the team is any worse off without him I just don't think he inherited his father's greatness). In either case I figure they might keep them on a rehab assignment at least until September so that they don't have to burn an option.

No idea about McGowen but given that he's lost all but 21 innings over the last 4 years to injury I'm just going to assume that he'll always be injured. So sad for his once promising career.

Personally I'm fine having Happ be the 5th starter with Cecil hanging around the Pen as the Swingman. Although I'd be stoked to get Marcum back... it'd be like we got Lawrie for free (and Shaun Marcum is pretty damn good).

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Lots and lots to read in this Q & A with AA.

Q-in Nashville are you actively looking or just fielding calls?

“A bit of both. We’ll still try to be active. We’re trying to do things now.

“We feel better about our club today than we did at the end of the season, but there’s still areas where we can improve. We still can add depth in our rotation, still get better in the bullpen. Offensively I feel pretty good about the team. I feel pretty good about the bench. So I’d say bullpen and rotation depth and if we can upgrade some other spot in the rotation or upgrade a position player, sure we’d look to do that.”

Q-Can you explain the catcher for catcher part of the Marlins deal? Equalization of the contracts?

“You’d have to ask Florida. That wasn’t something that we set out to do. We weren’t looking to trade Jeff Mathis. I can’t tell you what Florida was looking to do with John Buck. My understanding with Florida is that they were going to go with the kid they got from Detroit last year … and they wanted to make a change there.

“That was not something that we brought up. We never brought it up at any time. That part of the trade was introduced the last day and I was unwilling to do it. I said ‘No.’ It’s not anything against John Buck. I think he’s a very good player. He had a great year for us here. But we made a commitment to Jeff. He had been here and we weren’t looking to trade Jeff at all. From a loyalty component I didn’t think we needed to go down that path. That was what they felt was the final piece that they needed to get it done.

“So in the morning I said, “No.” The trade was off. If that was what was going to take to get it done, I would not make that trade. And we shut it down. They were pretty adamant that it wasn’t getting done without those two players, so I let the day go by, then at the end of the day, maybe 4 or 5 o’clock, after a lot of talks internally, finally decided that we couldn’t let this deal, the magnitude of this trade and the potential impact on the franchise and the dollars involved, we couldn’t let it not get done because of those last two parts of the deal.”

Q-Status of Drabek, McGowan and Hutchison?

“Recovering from rehab … Drabek and Hutchison similar Tommy John’s, about a month apart, so they’re going to be during the season or some point late in the season. McGowan is on track for spring training, but obviously we’ll see how he comes along.”

Q — On d’Arnaud’s situation…

“Travis wouldn’t come up unless there was a need, someone got hurt, someone got traded. It’s like the year when J.P. was having an MVP-calibre season down in Las Vegas. John Buck was having an All-Star year here so there was no room for him. But things can change.

“Travis has played some other spots, he has played some first, he can obviously DH. If his bat plays that well in the Minor Leagues and you think he can help, we’ll try to find a spot for him. I’d love to be in that position.”

http://gregorchisholm.mlblogs.com/20...lue-jays-land/

[browna]

Originally Posted by KootenayFlamesFan

Lots and lots to read in this Q & A with AA.

Balls the size of grapefruits or pure madness to say no to such a franchise changing blockbuster trade (bordering on robbery) for 10 hours simply for Jeff freaking Mathis' "feelings". Wonder if it was all a bluff and the cash came in after the initial "no" to sweeten that deal?

I can only imagine his advisers or other baseball guys in the Blue Jays inner circle guys like Beeston pulling his hair out behind closed doors after hearing such a trade is off due that day due to an average MLB catcher and loyalty to him.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by browna

Balls the size of grapefruits or pure madness to say no to such a franchise changing blockbuster trade (bordering on robbery) for 10 hours simply for Jeff freaking Mathis' "feelings". Wonder if it was all a bluff and the cash came in after the initial "no" to sweeten that deal?

I can only imagine his advisers or other baseball guys in the Blue Jays inner circle guys like Beeston pulling his hair out behind closed doors after hearing such a trade is off due that day due to an average MLB catcher and loyalty to him.

Yeah, I found that to be a pretty interesting comment. Imagine the outcry from every Jays fan across the nation if the deal didn't go through and we found out later it was because AA didn't want to part with Mathis?

[TitovFTW]

The one thing AA is praised about his how deals with other GM's and even agents. Was astonished reading the interview from Josh Johnson's agent and how if he said there's one GM he would actually talk about an extension with, it would be Alex. It's incredible the amount of respect the guy has already earned.

[Flickered Flame]

It is likely similar to what KFF posted earlier but here is another article with AA.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/201...further_deals/

^^I can tell you that my friends in Oakland have been told that AA gets a lot of respect because of how he conducts business. He is a straight shooter. Gets right to the point and just tells people exactly how he sees things working in Toronto.

[d_phaneuf]

Andrew (Toronto)

Greetings, Klaw. Wonder what your impressions were (that is, if you had much interaction with him at all) of John Gibbons. And what are your thoughts on the hire?

Klaw (3:08 PM)

I'm a fan. He's very open-minded and followed a lot of Earl Weaver's philosophies on managing, including a distaste for offense-killing small ball strategies. I also really like that the Jays ignored any possible negative reactions due to hiring a guy they'd once fired and simply hired the candidate they thought was the best fit. Also, big fan of Pete Walker - I thought when he was pitching for us in Toronto that he'd make a great pitching coach some day. Very bright guy who had to relearn how to pitch after shoulder injuries took away his velocity.

[TitovFTW]

Here is a great article about how the trade went down. Finally makes sense re: Buck for Mathis almost stopping the entire trade, as AA had just signed him to a contract and out of loyalty did not want to ship him out right away.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/29...-marlins-trade

[Caged Great]

Joel Carreno got hit in the head by a line drive and has a maxillofacial fracture. It's apparently a lot worse than McCarthy

[Heartburn]

Blue Jays draft pick Anthony Alford arrested after allegedly wielding gun in a dispute.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseba...n-in-a-dispute

[Flickered Flame]

With the winter meetings about to begin, Beane told my two friends again to watch Toronto. I'm not saying AA will do something but he has been by far the most active GM this offseason and it might continue.

[jschick88]

Jon Morosi of Fox Sports said that he thinks the Jays are still interested in Anibal Sanchez, though he wasn’t certain that they’d be into going five years with him. “I think there’s a chance Alex has another move or two up his sleeve,” he said.

In the Toronto Sun, Bob Elliott gets us set for the meetings, speaking to a ridiculous “veteran evaluator” who calls Josh Johnson a three, and says the Jays need “a dominant number one” like, among others, Jack Morris– he of the career ERA+, even when you subtract his awful two final years, barely scrapes just a point ahead of Gustavo Chacin’s.
Elliott also runs with the rotation setup that Alex Anthopoulos tossed off in his conversation with reporters this week– as quoted by Gregor Chisholm at North of the Border– which places Mark Buehrle at the top. He says it’s “the way the Jays have been listing their starters”– plural– so maybe there’s something to it. I could see maybe the Jays wanting to thrust Buehrle into a leadership role that way, though I could also see Anthopoulos having listed the names of his starters in no particular order at all.

“Could they deal Rasmus and give the centre-field job to Gose?” Elliott asks elsewhere. “A number of teams have been asking about Rasmus.”

Elliott also notes that JP Ricciardi, now in the Mets front office, made JP Arencibia a first round pick in 2007– his club’s second of that round, after Texas forfeited the 16th overall pick to the Jays for signing Frank Catalanotto!?!!? (Which the Jays used to take Kevin Ahrens)– and therefore may have a special interest in him, particularly if his new club is looking to move a pitcher, such as RA Dickey.

http://blogs.thescore.com/djf/2012/1...-december-2nd/