Some executives have become more guarded in trade discussions with Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos, Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star reports. Griffin says he spoke with one executive at the Winter Meetings who disclosed that rival GMs believe Anthopoulos sometimes talks trades merely for the purpose of gathering information. Anthopoulos reportedly expressed surprise after learning that the Tigers had dealt Doug Fister to the Nationals in November, indicating that he would have liked to submit an offer. "Would he have been given the opportunity two years ago? Perhaps," Griffin writes. Here are more late-night links from around the majors:
- Young pitcher Kevin Gausman headlines Rich Dubroff's list of reasons for optimism for Orioles fans in an article at CSN Baltimore.
- Jake Dal Porto of Beyond the Box Score examines the sinker that revived A.J. Burnett's career in 2013.
- Padres GM Josh Byrnes says his team remains in the market for at least one bullpen arm, Corey Brock of MLB.com tweets. The Friars officially announced their agreement with Joaquin Benoit earlier this evening.
- A talent evaluator tells Rob Bradford of WEEI.com (via Twitter) that Masahiro Tanaka's control and "off the charts" splitter separate him from Daisuke Matsuzaka at the same age.
I think it’s ridiculous to dump on anthopolous for not picking up fister. There’s a bunch of other teams who need arms too. You can fault him for some mistakes but not landing fister isn’t one of them
Agreed. It’s amazing to see people freaking out about something like this. News flash, there are 30 teams, you can’t make every trade you’d like
Not to mention that DD more or less said that he had something very particular in mind for what he wanted. The implication has been the jays didn’t match that narrow interest. If DD wanted the most value he would have shopped Fister around.
Yeah pretty much any team could have matched the Nationals’ offer. Dombrowski really wanted what the Nationals were selling (why remains a mystery but whatever).
You’re probably right, but the main tenor of Griffin’s article, which I agree with, is that AA has been a major disappointment thus far. Boy wonder? Savant? Hardly. (unloading Wells’ contract was by far his best move but I think that had more to do with Reagins and Moreno than AA).
Boy wonder? No way. But he’s built a solid draft process. Maybe the development side of it needs some work, I’m not part of the club so I dunno, but St. Louis wasn’t built in a day. In this market, getting those cheap years is the precursor to success. I think he made his position especially difficult by going for short term and long term success, but the potential revenue is there, so why not. Let’s be gamblers for 2 more years, while we have some team friendly contracts
Yes I think you’re quite right — his strength is definitely in the drafting department, and that’s where the Jays should have installed him. He has neither the personality nor the skill set to be GM.
Well nobody listens to Griffin anyway, I wouldn’t get to worked up about. Lately he seems to be taking a page from a supermarket tabloid.
Griffin wishes he was Bob Elliot.
Except he doesn’t have Elliott’s drinking bud…. er… mlb contacts.
There is hardly anything going on right now. He must be pretty desperate for material.
I’m very sure to the core of my soul that NO other GM ever discusses anything for the purpose of gathering information…
To come away with that haul for Fister and shut Anthopolous out completely should be a terminable offense. Nice work, Dombrowski. You should trade Miggy next and only talk to the guy running the Mud Hens.
Wouldn’t that be his boss or someone like that since the Mud Hens are apart of the same organization?
…
I think I basically picked the one organization in the universe where that joke wouldn’t work. Whoops. 🙂
(Man, I really lost touch with the International League.)
Spoiler: Blue Jays steal signs during trade negotiations.
The Tigers probably should have called him after what he gave up for Dickey…
You mean Alex Anthopoulos sometimes engages in clandestine behavior in order to better gauge the market? I’m shocked… SHOCKED! I tells ya. So much surprise and disbelief. No other GM in the history of baseball has ever done such a thing ever before.
Yeah.
Who cares if he is gathering information.
Whatever Gm complained about that probably isn’t a very productive Gm….considering he should be doing that too
Sandy Alderson winks.
It’s probably RAJ
“Padres GM Josh Byrnes says his team remains in the market for at least one bullpen arm, Corey Brock of MLB.com tweets. The Friars officially announced their agreement with Joaquin Benoit earlier this evening.”
Why would we be in the market for another bullpen arm?? We already have enough in Thayer, Stauffer, Vincent, Schuster, the 3 guys coming back from Tommy John Surgery and now Benoit. It’s hitters we need!
I agree in large part, they could use offense upgrades more than bullpen help. But, as I see it now the available free agent bats are either too costly or may not be enough of an improvement. Unless there is a trade in the works they are probably set with the current offense hoping that Headley doesn’t struggle as much and the remainder of the team can stay healthier. The bullpen is an area of strength right now but can always be added to, and it’s likely not going to be a piece to break the bank. Honestly, I’m glad that they are spending some money as though they think they are ready to compete.
What position do you think we need to upgrade at.Looking at the lineup theres not a player in it that i wouldn’t want to see in it.
Outfield. All of our current outfielders are guys who get injured WAY too much (Quentin), guys who we locked up to long-term deals but aren’t producing so we basically have to eat their contract (Maybin) or guys who are good enough to play in Majors but probably wouldn’t start on a good team (Denorfia, Venable, Smith). I think that if everyone stays healthy and our hitters don’t go into slumps we could make a run for the playoffs with all the guys we have this year. But that’s a LOT of “ifs” and I lost all faith in the Padres after 2010, even though they are still my favorite team.
more like need to deal a bullpen arm…
I’m not a jays fan….so don’t take the following praise as any bias, it’s not.
AA has done a very good job.
He took over an upside down organization that was littered with bad contracts and no farm system.
He pulled off good move after good move with a few crazy moves that didn’t do any good mixed in.
Vernon wells trade might be the most lopsided trade that I can recall. Of course, he tossed Napoli away for a reliever…but he just wanted to get rid of the contract. He rebuilt the farm system, and struck big deals last off season when the timing seemed right.
I do remember thinking he was still a year away from making those big moves…ie another year of development and then go after those kinds of moves this year. But the timing wasn’t awful.
The dickey trade hurt. The Miami trade wasn’t a ton better, but it didn’t hurt Toronto either.
If he’s in the hot seat, then it would be the jays loss….aa would Gm again somewhere.
It’s always fun to watch non-participants (like Griffin) discover the methods and skills of those who do participate. Every job has skills and methods that are unknown and unappreciated by the non-participants.
Both baseball and business negotiations are games of deceit. I doubt that any manager forgets those facts when he’s dealing with another GM. Griffin puts weight on the words of other GMs who have told him that they have come to distrust Anthopoulos’s sincerity. Of course, it could never occur to Griffin that those GMs would try to deceive Toronto’s press corps for their own nefarious purposes! How naive Mr. Griffin must be!
And Griffin, just like everyone else, believed that Anthopoulos put together a good team last year, only to be disappointed, as all of us were, by circumstances beyond anybody’s control. Griffin’s article is too precious by half..