Today is day one of the winter meetings, this year in Dallas. The baseball scribes are expecting a lot of activity this week now that the new CBA has been agreed to. Expect free agent signings and trades galore. But don't be surprised if not much happens. Our own AA is not a big fan of these meetings, he has said you can get more done via texts and phone calls in your office than you do at the meetings. But the meetings are good for PR and baseball knows PR.
Richard Griffin caught up with AA as he arrived yesterday and he has some interesting quotes.
First he addressed the Prince Fielder rumours:
I expect to be linked to practically every player. I guess I would say from a media and fan standpoint, as a rule of thumb, if something leaks, then it’s probably inaccurate, or if it leaks that it’s done, then it’s probably done.
That is AA speak for "no we will not be signing Prince".
But then AA does say:
Does he think he’s close to a deal?
“I thought about it on the plane,” he said. “We’ve got some things that are at the five-yard line. There are some things that are available to us that are intriguing and interesting. I’m just struggling with them. There are things that we can do and I guess when you know they’re tough then you know they’re probably fair on both sides. I have a few that I could do right now. There’s frameworks of deals that can be made, both trades and free agency, that both sides would have to decide if they want to do it, but I think both sides are intrigued.”
Do these 5 yard line trades turn into scores? We could find out today.
AA also talks Jeff Mathis, it sounds like he is a keeper:
“I think everyone knows what Jeff is,” Anthopoulos said. “It’s a backup role and it really slides into what Jose Molina did last year. You look at when we signed Molina from the Yankees as a 34-, 35-year-old. I think he had a five-something OPS at the time and he was known as a great defender, a great game-caller. Jeff’s in a similar boat where you’re looking at 100-odd at-bats like Molina had.
“He’s great with the staff. At the backup position we’re looking for defence first, game calling, athleticism. I don’t know that there’s a lot of backups out there that hit well. Normally if you hit well, you’re not a backup.”
Jeff Blair also chimes in from Dallas with many of the same comments. He adds on Fielder:
Anthopoulos reiterated that the Blue Jays will not offer seven- or eight-year free-agent contracts – Fielder wants 10 years
That sounds pretty definitive to me.
Blair also says the Jays are looking for pitching;
Anthopoulos said that he is pleased with the Blue Jays' position players, an indication the focus will indeed be on pitching. The Chicago White Sox and Atlanta Braves have pitching to move, and Anthopoulos said that one of his own prospects, 21-year-old right-hander Drew Hutchinson who was 14-5 with a 4.89 strikeout/walk ratio and 1.038 WHIP at three levels in 2011, could be ready to pitch in the majors in 2012. It was clear as he listed Chad Jenkins, Nestor Molina, Deck McGuire and of course Henderson Alvarez as minor-league pitchers on the cusp that he would consider moving Kyle Drabek in a deal that would bring in another pitcher capable of giving the team 200 innings in the majors.
Blair also reminds us that Kelly Johnson has to accept arbitration by Wednesday night.
Stay tuned for a big week of news, or not.
