Breaking news just now, via Twitter, is that the Jays have declined their options on Kevin Gregg thereby making him a free agent.
Also via Twitter from Ken Rosenthal comes news that the Jays are trying to lure Don Wakamatsu here to be the bench coach. The Orioles are also vying for him.
Also burning up the Twitter-verse is the news that the Jays have acquired Miguel Olivo for a player to be named or cash.
CMore to come.... including I assume a quote or two from the GM.
The acquisition of Olivo leaves the Jays with a three way competition at catcher, Arencibia, Molina and Olivo. Both Olivo and Molina are good handlers of pitchers but weak at the plate. Could there be another shoe to drop?
Thursday evening/Fridan morning UDATE: As you are all surely aware by now, the Jays have declined Olivo's option and will pay him his $500,000 buyout.
Assuming Olivo doesn't accept arbitration (unlikely but not impossible) and another team signs him (he hit .269/.315/.449 with the Rockies last year, perfectly servicable) the Jays will pick up a sandwich pick in the first round of this years draft, probably in the mid to late 40s overall. There is no trading of draft picks in baseball, so it's not immediately evident what the empirical "worth" of the 45th pick is, but even if it's less than $500,000 (and whatever flotsam the Jays give the Rockies) this is a strong, out of the box move from Alex Anthopoulos. The Jays management is clearly recognizing that the best way for them to build going forward is through the draft, which is by far the cheapest way to acquire talent. Even if this pick turns out to be a complete bust or a huge success, one has to like the process, and the creative and aggressive attempt to build a better club. It's still early, and the Jays haven't won anything yet, but Anthopolous is already showing himself to be one of the best GMs in the history of the franchise (ok, there haven't been that many) and one of baseball's rising young executives.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20101104204943645