Anthopoulos On Trade Talk, Darvish

Earlier today, Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos took questions from reporters and denied rumblings that he's scouring the trade market early on in the year.  Here's more from the GM's presser courtesy of MLB.com's Gregor Chisholm..

• There has been talk of the Blue Jays prioritizing a big bat for some time now but the GM said that isn't exactly the case.  Anthopoulos believes that the talk started when he was asked a hypothetical question in an interview about what he might look to add early in the season and responded by saying that he would seek out offense. 
• As for this week's rumblings that he's diligently looking for an impact starter and a bopper?  "I’ve had zero dialogue with GMs right now on anything remotely resembling that," Anthopoulos said.
• It's unlikely that you'll see the Blue Jays go after elite free agents, thanks in large part to payroll constraints and the club's aversion to long-term deals.  Anthopoulos said that it's much more likely that the club will add impact players via trade in the coming years.  AA talked about the team's policy on contract length and the possibility of exceptions being made last month.
• In the past, Anthopoulos has implied that doling out more than $100MM to an import such as Yu Darvish was risky, but the GM backed off of that assertion.  “I think when you’re spending over $100MM on a player, no matter who it is, there’s always an element of risk there. But like anything else, obviously very talented, great stuff, good athlete…whether it’s a player from here or a player from Japan or anywhere else, there’s always an element of risk no matter how good the players are."