Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos was the center of attention at last year's GM Meetings. The then-rookie GM had the winter's most coveted player on his roster: Roy Halladay. The Halladay trade is history, but Anthopoulos has the entire offseason ahead to contemplate more deals. Here's what he told MLBTR about Toronto's offseason plans:
- Anthopoulos declined to discuss specifics, but said the Blue Jays have kept in touch with all their free agents. That includes Kevin Gregg, whose option Toronto declined earlier in the month.
- The Blue Jays are keeping their options open when it comes to ranked free agents. Even though signing a Type A free agent before next Tuesday would mean surrendering a draft pick, Anthopoulos says the Blue Jays would not hesitate to sign a Type A player this week if the deal is right. Though the Blue Jays may simply be keeping their options open, the news will interest the Toronto fans who are wondering about Type A free agent Manny Ramirez. It seems unlikely that the Blue Jays would sign a Type A free agent before the deadline to offer arbitration, since the organization appears to value draft picks highly, but Anthopoulos says he'll consider it. Toronto's first round pick (21st overall) is not protected.
- As for potential surprises, Anthopoulos says it's too early to predict whether they'll come via trade or free agency since so much of the offseason lies ahead.
this article literally says nothing…
You can get more info out of a brick wall than AA…interviews really are somewhat pointless
That’s sort of what you get with Anthopoulos – he’s a master of saying a lot without really saying anything.
I’d really love it if the Jays signed Manny before the deadline to offer arbitration. If only, if only.
Really? And give a draft pick unnecessarily? I mean, it would be fun if the Jays signed Manny – but I can wait until next week!
im guessing kevin is a white sox fan…
Ah, that makes more sense. My bad.
It seems like AA is willing to wait it out for Manny. There really is nothing to lose in this situation with waiting a week for the Jays.
Playing AA in a game of poker would be a little challenging
theres no way the White sox are even going to offer manny arbitration, so i dont see why the Jays wouldnt go for it.
That’s the thing – if you sign Manny before the next Tuesday, then since they didn’t “get the chance” to offer him arbitration, in the process it’s assume that they would have, and you have to surrender the pick. Of course they won’t offer it, so as long as they wait until then to complete the signing they’ll be fine.
I really wish AA would speak. It’s fun reading all the rumors but it would be nice if we had just the slightest idea what he was up. Spring training can’t start soon enough!
Why?? I love that he keeps things quiet. Gives him respect throughout the league. Just assume that everyone is in play and he will do what is best for this club. I love it.
Also assume everything is in play because it IS in play.
Sorry. double post
Maybe we aren’t asking the right questions!!?!!!?
Next Halloween I’m going as Alex Anthopoulos. When people ask what I’m dressed as I’ll tell them that I might be dressed as a particular baseball personality, but I’d decline to go into specifics and I want to keep my options open as to what I’m dressed as. I’d also mention that if the costume were right, I’d consider being that too as long as it were a fit for the organization.
Whats the advantage to signing them this week as opposed to next ? I really don’t see any free agents giving a team a discount before the deadline to offer arbitration. Especially for someone like Manny who has no chance of being offered Arb
It depends on who you are signing. If you can sign someone like Lee or Crawford then it’s an advantage because it saves you all the time and you can relax a bit but it’s not an advantage if you sign a guy that is not going to be offered arbitration (for type A) in this case Manny, then it’s a massive disadvantage and if Manny signing were to happen, it would happen after whatever the date is for arbitration.
Lee and Crawford are garanteed to be offered arb, so you sign them as soon as you can..There is no chance in the world Manny is offered arb, so you wait and thats that