Alex Anthopoulos will remain the GM of the Blue Jays following the 2014 season, reports Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun. Anthopoulos has been under some scrutiny from fans, media, and even players over his failure to make a big acquisition at the trade deadline. The Blue Jays have begun to lag in the AL playoff picture. They are four games back in the Wild Card race, but would have to pass the Mariners, Tigers, and Yankees to claim the second spot. One reason ownership is patient with Anthopoulos is the emergence of pitchers Drew Hutchison, Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez, and minor leaguer Daniel Norris. Anthopoulos is signed through 2015.
- Also from Simmons, the Jays never actually approached ownership about expanding payroll because a deal was never close. Front office personnel do believe that more money is available for the right player.
- Related to a deal not being close, the Rays apparently wanted both Stroman and Hutchison in return for David Price. In my opinion, it’s understandable why that offer didn’t get anywhere. The Jays would have upgraded one rotation spot while creating a potential hole with another.
- Keith Pelley, president of Rogers Media, says the club is focused on the 2014 playoff run and has not evaluated offseason options, according to Shi Davidi of Sportsnet.ca. That would seemingly contradict Simmons’ report, although such comments are often pure double talk.
- Davidi also illuminated manager John Gibbons’ contract situation. Gibbons is signed through 2015 and will have a vesting option for 2016 triggered after December 31. His contract is structured to continuously add such options until it is terminated.
Great race for that 2nd wild card!
Another season ruined by key injuries at bad times. What a bummer. This offseason, AA needs to be active and I don’t mean his usual routine of working the phones and then coming to the fans with the same old “we didn’t find the right fit” run around speech. He needs to sign a top arm this offseason, he also needs to extend Melky, revamp the pen by finding a real closer and adding a solid veteran to the middle of the pen and then hopefully he can find someone to play either 2B or 3B. Three or four needs and if he wants the support of the fans and media, he needs to take care of at least the starter and extending Melky. The fans love Melky, let Rasmus go, I doubt anyone will care much but Melky needs to stay.
I almost kind of think the Jays have to extend Melky, let Morrow, Lind (maybe), Rasmus, McGowan, and anyone else not contributing go who are not long term plans…save as much money as we can for adding another starter (Rotation will probably be Dickey-Stroman-Buehrle-Hutchinson-Sanchez next year if we don’t trade Mark.) and get some solid bullpen help too. Maybe work on 2nd base but at the same time Lawrie might fit in that hole if need be, but obviously rather have him at 3B)
Santos and Morrow’s salaries coming off the books alone can afford Melky’s raise. A lot of dead weight is coming off the books next year.
Happ might be the most interesting case, I can see getting his club option exercised and traded to a team where Free Agents are scared to go to like Colorado.
A real closer like BJ Ryan?
No, more like Randy Myers or Bill Caudill.
I agree with almost everything said except we needing a closer, any closer who comes here is going to want a B.J Ryan type of contract that’s ridiculous. Free Agents who can make that top price dollar rarely go to the Jays because they rather not live in Canada with our “taxes” eating away at their high dollar earnings.
Resigning Janssen (who married a Toronto girl) should be the first priority before looking to signing a high priced closer. Casey won’t get 8-9M+ on the open market and the Jays would be fools to get rid of someone who’s had as much success as he’s had over his career here.
While he has been great for us, can you honestly convince anyone, let alone yourself that this last half season he is worth signing for what he probably will be asking for? His numbers across the board are way down this year (or up for the bad categories like HR/9). Don’t be sentimental.
He’s a cheap option, do we really need to replace a closer who’s blown what 3-4 saves all year and one or two of which were blown saves by Jose Reyes and our horrendous infield defense misplaying balls?
Save the money and use it on a impact starter and or infielder who can both play defense and moderately hit.
AA sealed their fate when he stood pat at the trade deadline. A real GM would have stood by his commitment to the core of the team to add if they were in the race. He didn’t; Detroit and Oakland did. Don’t tell me Rogers didn’t want to add payroll; why would AA have said that to his players without that commitment? Did he just lie? And why would J-Bau, EE, Dickey and Buehrle now want any part of what appears to be yet another rebuilding project in the twilight of their careers?
21 years and counting…. but “the future looks bright”