By virtually any measure, it was a very good Winter Meetings for the Blue Jays. In the week leading up to the event and the weekend itself, the Jays grabbed the starter they wanted in Miguel Batista at a more than reasonable price, and added a solid reliever and possible closer in Justin Speier at little organizational cost. They also picked up an interesting arm in the Rule 5 Draft, while losing no one in return. The PTBNL count stands so far at Sandy Nin (confirmed), Dave Gassner (highly likely) and one more -- useful players with upside, but nobody critical to the team's future so far. Tim Worrell and Tony Graffanino would ahve made it a just about pefect session, but you can't always get what you want. So it's been a very good off-season -- but according to the local scribes, at least, it's not over yet.
Richard Griffin starts by chatting with Paul Godfrey, who is still a little too open with his thoughts about the Jays' main competitors. Gabbing about how the Red Sox and Yankees are getting older and slower is fine for a minuscule site like ours; but when that kind of talk comes from the President of the Blue Jays, it becomes locker-room (or at least front-office) bulletin board material. Griffin also comments that JP, while scrupulously honest that he's received no offers for Orlando Hudson, doesn't necessarily lay all his cards on the table either, as reports have him offering the Dog to various teams in a quest for pitching help.
Indeed, Bob Elliott at the Sun says the Blue Jays tried to interest the Mariners in Hudson in exchange for Rafael Soriano. That would be a reasonable try -- the M's new management seems to be pretty clueless -- but even Bill Bavasi said no to that deal, and rightly so: Soriano has front-of-the-rotation potential. Elliot also reports on talk that Hudson could be shipped to Boston, which is not a deal I'd like, even if it brought good pitching help like Scott Williamson or Byung-Hyun Kim to Toronto. If the Sox also get A-Rod, then you're looking at one of the best long-term defensive DP combinations in baseball since the days of Trammaker in Detroit. I do not like sending good players to division rivals, especially the one rival who figures to be the division powerhouse for the balance of the decade.
Meanwhile, Jeff Blair at the Globe reports that the Jays are preparing a serious run at Rich Aurilia, even to the point of "clearing salary" to make it happen. I've made my discomfort with Aurilia clear elsewhere at the Box: his defence is evidently below-average and his bat, with the exception of that one, magical, hit-behind-Barry season, is uninspiring. Aurilia's supposed to be a great clubhouse guy; that's all well and good to have, if it comes at a reasonable Bordickesque amount of $1M per year. If it starts running into the $3M range, and if it causes you to drop other useful players in an effort to keep costs under control, then I don't much like it at all.
These are all just reporters' reports, mind you, and though they're better informed than most of us, reporters can still get it wrong, if only because there are millions of rumours flying around at these events and they've gotta file something for deadline. So take all of the foregoing with more than just a grain of salt. But should these reports be accurate, then JP clearly has very little confidence in his middle infielders, which I don't really understand. Yes, Chris Woodward probably is stretched as an everyday starter, and Orlando Hudson should drop the switch-hitting altogether; but they're still capable of average all-around production, with the distinct possibility of further upside, at very little cost. Why would the Jays be in such an all-fired hurry to change that? The Aurilia talk in particular concerns me, especially since Blair reports the Jays are mulling a multi-year offer: what does this mean for Russ Adams and Aaron Hill? And if Hudson gets dealt, who precisely plays 2B? I like Adams more than most, but he is not ready for the Show, and names like Dave Berg, Howie Clark and especially Frank Catalanotto are not answers at all. Stopgap veterans like Aurilia are okay if necessary, but I'm not sure I see the necessity.
Anyway, this is all just speculation in the papers, so this post is speculation squared. But it's been a very good off-season for the club so far, and I'd hate to see it turn sour near the holidays. We shall have to wait and see.
Finally, here's a little more on newest Rule 5 pick Talley Haines: JP places him "between [Corey] Thurman and [Aquilino] Lopez" -- a better pitcher than the former, but with stuff less impressive than the latter. Haines' fastball doesn't register much above 91 on the gun, but he has the far more impressive ability to throw strikes and keep the ball in the park. His real first name is Joseph, by the way. I'd be quite interested in knowing where "Talley" comes from.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20031216100135999