Here’s the latest from Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe:
- Former Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos (who’s now with the Dodgers) believes his old team is going to be “really good” next season, Cafardo reports. Anthopoulos points out that, in addition to midseason additions like David Price, one key for the Jays down the stretch last year was that Troy Tulowitzki’s addition and Jose Bautista’s recovery from injury allowed them to field a better defense. That’s an improvement they should be able to at least partially retain in 2016, Anthopoulos believes.
- The Astros have been considering signing Doug Fister to help fill their rotation, Cafardo writes. He notes that the Astros do want another starter, but are “looking for a bargain.” (They’ve also recently been connected to Yovani Gallardo.)
- Former closer Joel Hanrahan is attempting another comeback and could be ready for Spring Training. Last we heard, it was unclear whether Hanrahan would resume pitching before 2017, but it appears the former Pirates closer is determined not to let his recovery from second Tommy John surgery hold him back.
- Another reliever whose career has been derailed by injuries, former Met Bobby Parnell, remains a free agent, and some scouts believe he could be a good addition to some team’s bullpen. “He’s someone a team could easily take a chance on and hope he regains that power he once had,” says one. Parnell had Tommy John surgery early in the 2014 season and never got untracked in 2015, throwing less hard than he had in the past and struggling with more arm issues. His velocity had returned by the end of the season, though, which might be a good sign for his future.
- Mat Latos remains on the open market in part because of the perception that he isn’t an especially good teammate, Cafardo suggests. (That perception might have something to do with interviews like this one, in which Latos is unusually candid about his former Reds teammates, the Reds training staff, and what he perceives as a slight by a former GM.) Latos will probably end up having to take a one-year deal.
If the Blue Jays win the WS in 2016 (*fingers crossed*), then I’m going to start a petition that AA should receive a ring too.
Why? He voluntarily left the team.
Puh-leeze. He was fired.
How could he have been fired when he worked until the last day of his contact AND was offered an extension?
How was he fired? He worked until the last day of his contract AND was offered an extension.
How was he fired? He worked the last day of his contract AND was offered an extension.
Interesting questionS you bring up here Mike 🙂
Anthopolous wasn’t fired in the literal sense, but he was definitely pushed out of his position.
The executives at Rogers’ Communications decided to hand Shapiro all the executive power (final decision over player personnel AND control of club finances). Had Anthopoulos returned, he would have been Shapiro’s puppet. I don’t blame him for leaving at all.
Latos is a perfect fit for the pirates so he can rebuild his value
AA, your old team replaced David Price with JA Happ, and the Yankees and Red Sox got 100000x better, Jays might not even get to .500 next year in that division.
Thats a bold statement before even spring training…
I think this year the al east is anybody’s division, maybe the red sox/jays are slightly ahead as the favourites but all teams are fairly close.
I’m sure we’re going to be saying, “those pesky rays!”
That Yankees bullpen is unparalleled in history, and they got the offense to win 90+.
thats if they can stay healthy, the rays will be in it to the end because imo they have the best rotation in the division.
I like the Yanks in that division too, but definitely think it’s anyone’s to win minus maybe the Rays. Orioles are behind the other three but I don’t think they should be totally counted out.
It’s anyone’s to win including the rays, the o’s can win if they get bounce back years from tillman and gonzalez. the yankees can if the offense can stay healthy.
They were a .500 team from July on last year. They added amother lefty reliever and subtracted a lefty reliever. They replaced their 2nd baseman with one of the worst players the last 3 years. 1b, Dh, RF, CF , LF are all older and have proven they can’t make it a whole season. They promoted all the kids last year and the team played .500 ball. This is an 81 win team.
Just another fan?? More like just another idiot!
More like “poster who said something I didn’t agree with or like reading”
Little early to be talking about the Yankees bullpen as best of all time. Bullpens, as we know, can be prone to volatility. The Red Sox also have a really good bullpen and probably more depth.. I would trust the Red Sox and Blue Jays offense much more then New York which is counting on good seasons from Arod, Tex, , Mccain, Ellsbury, Beltran etc. I also think Bostons rotation is better and has more depth. Should be at least a three team race but Boston and Toronto should be favored. Tampa hasn’t done much and the O’s have lost three players and have done little to replace them so far.
You are right, the Yanks are a favourite as well. Lets hope they stay healthy.
Boston added David Price to last years terrible rotation. I just see a lot of questions to their depth. The bullpen should be better, but DD added some “reliable” pieces to the bullpen in Detroit, and they suddenly stopped being “reliable”. Hopefully he has been listening to others before choosing his relievers.
LH I don’t think they should be totally counted out.
I would not count out any of the ale teams: Boston’s fans, Tampa’s rotation, Baltimore’s manager, NY’s bullpen, To’s lineup … health and umpiring will be huge factors and I’ll leave it to the statisticians to add the offseason +’s and -‘s, but I am looking forward to tight, well-played Aml East baseball games this summer
What? So DD ruins relievers? That makes no sense. The Red Sox rotation was much better by the end of the year. depth is no problem at all. They have nine starters. Price is one of the top pitchers in baseball. Bucholz will be fine as long as he is healthy. Porcello and Kelly ended on strong notes and look to be strong.. Erod looks legit. They have Owens and Johnson, two top 100 prospects waiting in the wings with Wright and Ellas for depth.
We replace two with trade with sea. But we do need pitchers to be better and need OF unless they giving Alvarez RF job. Can’t keep him the minors forever! The biggest problem will be starting pitching . But bullpen is soild also lineup will hit 200HRS still if don’t get someone to replace Chen I don’t see them winning more than 85 games but still think it anyone in the east TB will be last can hit can get runs
Wrong. They replaced Mark Buehrle. with JA Happ. They replaced 15 starts by Price & Stroman and 15 starts by various AAA players with 30 starts by Stroman.
They also replaced 4 months of Reyes’ poor D with Tulo.
They’ve improved the bullpen as well and still have the best offense in the league.
they also brought back estrada which was huge
And Bautista, EE, McCann, and Tulo are all a year older, too. I dunno if I’d count on that “best offensive in the league thing.”
a) McCann plays for the Yankees, not the Blue Jays. You’re thinking of Martin.
b) They absolutely are the best offensive team in baseball. Theres zero debate.
@ seamaholic.
In 2015, the Blue Jays were the league leaders (in MLB) in runs scored with 891 runs. The second best team was the Yankees with 764 runs scored.
The Blue Jays eclipsed their best competition by +127 runs.
How exactly do the Blue Jays not have the best offense?
The jays scored over 100 runs than any team in baseball last year. They are ridiculously good on the defensive side as well. The jays will be a force and you are insane to think they wont even be .500. Half of a season without david price isnt going to kill them. Also with Sanchez possibly moving into the rotation, it could be amazing. Also, a bullpen of Cecil, Osuna and Storen is extremely solid.
Hopefully the rotation can be strong with the loss of price, and Stroman has a break out year
@ Mark
They’ll also have Stroman for a full year too.
How many years have the Yankees had all the pieces but still failed? Champs on paper
Are you Mad? .@ Just Another Fan./ I’m not a Toronto fan but they do have the best middle of the order in baseball. Cant deny that. Yes they lost Price yes they will win probably 10 – 12 less games but that statement. a little bold. N Yanks didn’t get 100000000X better. Just cause they added Chat.and Crap Castro…If you think Castro going to be all that great and take you to the promise land your going to get a wake up call. real quick. Your old age players are getting older and slower. Your Rotation sucks, Plain fact. Bull pen is great, probably the best in MLB BUT to think all the Yanks have to do is get to the 6th inning every game and lead and we win, is plain STUPID! Teams will make adjustments to that bull pen. That is going to be a tight division. The Red Sox have a long way to go, to climb over 4 teams. It not as easy as you think. Will Price add wins yes but not 25 – 30. And he is going to lose some. Think you been making predictions and statements all winter and you aint got anything right yet. I still take Toronto in the East maybe a bit tighter this year, by a game maybe 2 – But with that power they can still carry. If they get one more arm the AL is in trouble.
The Yanks pitchers need to stay healthy, which is not likely to happen. Boston is more concerning for avtim, but theur SP backend is very mediocre.
You think losing 11 starts by Price is going to turn a +220 run differential juggernaut into a below-.500 team? For all the talk of the Red Sox and Yankees improving, the Jays are even better on paper than they were entering last year also. Jays went from having 6 rookies (question marks) in the lineup last April to a team that probably won’t have any rookies come this April. The bullpen is stronger, 2B and CF are no longer concerns and the rotation is more stable.
If you think they replaced Price with Happ,. you have no hope of understanding how baseball teams operate in the real world, hence your bold statement that they Jays aren’t even a .500 team. They would have to purposely lose games to tumble that far from the best offensive team in the game by a huge margin.
Would be awesome to see hanrahan back and healthy possibly be an eighth inning guy
Just Another Fan is Mad because all the Yanks have to speak for this Winter is Wife beater Chap and Crappy Castro who is the next Joe Morgan LMAO according to Yank fans ROTFLMAO!
Really – The Yanks might not even get to post season…
These are the teams that really have a PS chance Hust, Angels, Rangers, Det, KC, Toronto, RS, and the Yanks that is being realistic. NOW 3 win the Division – 2 WC in a one game series so when the real playoffs start your talking 4 teams? WAKE UP!
all the big names are gone so now, it’s time for bottom feeding. your choices are guys coming off injury, head cases, guys who had bad years. roll the dice. 🙂
There’s two pitcher I would like the O’s to go after fister and minor
Crazy thought….. AA knows more than we do.
I think it is a little misleading to say that Parnell’s velocity had come back by the end of the season. Parnell used to hit triple digits on occasion before his surgeries, but those pitches were straight as a rail and and only effective against the guys who couldn’t catch up and the guys who never hit anything outside a narrow groove coinciding with their swings. He was most effective 96 to 97, not 100-101. He had some movement when he sacrificed a few MPH. Parnell was down about five miles an hour all year, more when he pitched back to back, less when he had a lot of rest. . It’s just that, later int he year, he wasn’t used much and was airing it out completely. The results were not good. That said, if he a is a little stronger this season, he should be more effective in the 95-97 range and better able to pitch back to back. He’s not a bad minor league signing. I just wouldn’t read much into his September velocity.. being two years removed from TJ surgery and two and a half from the neck operation are the reasons to take a chance on him.