I have heard through my sources that the Blue Jays have signed a new player, a pitcher by the name of Godot. Not much is known about him but Alex Anthopoulos and John Gibbons are waiting outside the RC for him to arrive. They are confident that his arrival will change the fortunes of the team.
Another thing we are waiting for is next Sunday when pitchers and catchers report. Will the price of a starting pitcher get down into AA's price range before then? The Jays have played a waiting game until now but from next weekend the stakes go up. First, a pitcher arriving after the start of camp can feel like they are behind their teammates and perhaps feel they are less a part of the team. Secondly, once spring training starts and in particular when games start, pitchers will start to get injured, and teams with a lot of money could decide they need to sign one of the remaining pitchers.
Kendrys Morales has been linked to the Jays. It remains unclear whether the Jays interest is planted by his agent to drum up interest or if the Jays have a genuine interest. Morales comes with the draft pick attached which drives down his value. One option for the Jays would be to sign Morales assuming they sign a pitcher, at the cost of a third round pick, and then trade Adam Lind. Morales is his own platoon partner whereas Lind needs a partner. To me it seems like a long shot and I would assume his agent is trying to generate interest but as a GM, I think AA should consider it.
I got around to listening to Shi Davidi talk on prime time sports from last Thursday. In addition to his point about some in the front office prefering the kid pitchers he made an interesting comment about the draft pick compensation. Teams that forfeit their pick don't just lose a pick, they also might lose financial flexibility. Approx. half the first round picks that signed in 2013 did so for less than the slot allocated to that pick. That difference can be used by teams to overpay players later in the draft. So if a team was to sign Santana or Jimenez and if they picked past he first ten protected picks, they lose their pick plus the dollar flexibility that comes with that pick.
So will this be the week when one of the premier starters sign?
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20140208211310925