Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos told Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star that he could have asked ownership to bid $30MM-plus on Aroldis Chapman.
"Paul [Beeston, the team's president] and ownership were fully prepared to endorse it," Anthopoulos said. "I guess my one regret is I wish it was a greater comfort level on our part. We weren't as familiar with the player as we needed to be."
But the next time the Blue Jays are pursuing a player they want, the GM is confident the club will be able to add payroll. He says the team was receptive to one possible deal that would have seen the Jays take on $4-5MM. The GM wants to put a presentable product on the field, even though his club is rebuilding. Anthopoulos acknowledged that fans come out to see the Jays play well, but says he'll only set aside the team's long-term goals to an extent.
"If we sign a certain free agent is it short-term? Do we have to surrender draft picks? Well that doesn't make a whole lot of sense."
The Blue Jays didn't surrender any draft picks this offseason, but they obtained three when Marco Scutaro and Rod Barajas signed elsewhere. Anthopoulos says major league free agency is just one place the club looks for talent.
"We're opening minor-league free agency. We're impacting the Rule 5 Draft. We're impacting waiver claims. We're impacting the draft with the amateurs. We're impacting Latin America."
look out. rogers is a massive corporation, and a profitable one at that. they seem to be saving up for a big push. i can’t wait.
in the AL east the jays need to rebuild for 2-3 years make a push for 2 years and then rebuild. like the yester years for the marlins when they won the world series.
The Marlins did that because arbitration eligible players were too expensive for their shoestring payroll. The Jays can have a $100MM/year payroll if they want. NB: That’s more than the Rays.
but unlike the rays, the jays can afford to keep the talent. or do you subscribe to the mets philosophy of just spending money and having nothing to show for it? if the jays ever develop some young upper tier talent they can compete in the AL east, but they cannot afford to go out and buy their way in the AL East.
but unlike the rays, the jays can afford to keep the talent. or do you subscribe to the mets philosophy of just spending money and having nothing to show for it? if the jays ever develop some young upper tier talent they can compete in the AL east, but they cannot afford to go out and buy their way in the AL East.
Finally, a GM who understands the rebuilding process!
Trade your best players for a bag of lottery tickets that complement each other poorly, suck for six years, and get fired?
“Impacting”? AA, I don’t think that word means what you think it means.
We have money to spend, but we aren’t going to spend it just for the sake of spending it
“We have money to spend, but we aren’t going to spend it[…].”
If he thinks $4-5MM is spending, I don’t think he knows what spending is.
A Rogers executive has already said ” Blue Jays losses are a rounding error on our balance sheet”. They’re an $11 billion a year corporation that made a profit of $4 billon in 2009. They use the Blue Jays for cross promotion of their cable, internet, home phone and wireless products; Add in that they use the Jays for content on their multiple sports networks and radio stations. They could easily spend top 5 money but that wouldn’t have made sense this year.
“It wouldn’t have made sense” is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
What is your deal with the Jays? You seem to always be bashing them to no end.
I’ve already replied to one of your comments before showing you that the Jays ownership plans to raise payroll significantly–up to $120M–when the team is ready to compete.
I’m sorry if you are not the person I am thinking of.
I love the Jays, but I hate the direction they’ve gone in since Ted Rogers died. It already looks like they have such a conservative standard for “ready to compete” that the team will never meet it.
If you say so sparky.
The Jays spent $80MM in 2009 and outscored their opponents–their pythagorean record was 83-79. Adding $60MM to that (to put them in the top 5) is adding an average of 12 wins.
They have money to spend but they will probably lose over 100 games this year, I believe you.lol
Halladay wanted out because the Jays weren’t even trying.
Halladay wanted out because the Jays weren’t even trying.
And also, why do you assume those are the players I think the Jays should have spent money on?
And also, why do you assume those are the players I think the Jays should have spent money on?
I didn’t pull that Halladay comment out of my ass–it was from an interview with him before the trade, and backed up by his pre-opening day interview where he effectively said that this opening day was different because he was on a team that was trying to win.
And my first offseason targets would have been Beltre and Cameron, with Wells possibly moving to one of the corner outfield spots to make room and Encarnacion moving to a platoon at first where his erratic throwing arm wouldn’t hurt so much. Johnny Damon would have been a viable alternative to Cameron, considering he wasn’t offered arbitration and settled for a job late, although that would have left Wells in CF. Of course if you’re sure that Wells will never be a worthwhile player again, you could go after all three of those guys and retain Scutaro for far less than $60M a year. Hell, you could pay for Scutaro just by not signing Gregg, Gonzalez, and McDonald.