Anthopoulos Talks Offseason Plans

With the Blue Jays entering Sunday mired in a five-game losing streak and occupying last place in the AL East behind the dysfunctional Red Sox, GM Alex Anthopoulos met with reporters prior to his team's victory over the Yankees. Mike Cormack of Sportsnet has the details from the press conference.

• Anthopoulos believes Toronto's strengths lie in its potent offense and rebuilt bullpen. "You know for the most part this is going to be a very good, deep offensive team, and we'll have some young kids behind some of these guys for depth. Offensively, I feel very good about it." The 35-year-old general manager went as far as to say his team's bullpen and offense, when healthy, have the makings of being "championship caliber."
• Toronto's starting rotation has been an area of concern for Anthopoulos as his starters have struggled with myriad health issues and performance on the field. With Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison set to miss a portion or all of next season, the team may be looking to add as many as three new arms into the rotation to complement Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow.
• While the Blue Jays are clearly in need of a few starters to bolster their pitching staff, Anthopoulos says he'll be able to devote his entire winter to improving the team's rotation unlike in years past. "… It's a lot easier going into an off-season when you have really one area to really attack, and every trade dialogue, every free-agent dialogue, can be geared to one area rather than having 40 balls in the air and having to fill three spots in the bullpen, two spots in the rotation, two position players," said Anthopoulos.