Francisco's career splits are about as even as you can get.  Career OPS just 9 points apart vs lefties or righties.  Home/road and 1st half/2nd half splits also are close to even.   If they dump Teahen, they could keep Francisco, Davis and one of Thames/Snider on the 25 man roster, giving them a bench of Valbuena, Mathis, Davis and either the righty or lefty outfielder.

They didn't give up much to get him - Gailey has owned the lower minors, but stumbled pretty badly in his first attempt at AA this season.  He's 26 years old.  Very nice K/BB ratios until he hit AA.

It's a problem because strict outfielders generally can't play infield in a pinch, whereas strict infielders can usually play outfield in a pinch. And, there's less risk of injury when an infielder plays outfield than vice-versa, due to things like turning double plays, etc...

Say the Jays have a bench of Davis, Francisco, McCoy and Mathis. McCoy starts for Escobar because he's day-to-day after fouling a ball of his toe the night before. What happens to the team if Kelly Johnson fractures his wrist diving for a grounder in the first inning the next day? Then you have Francisco playing second base, where he is completely unfamiliar (even if you give him some grounders during BP to prepare for this possibility, he's still not an infielder by any stretch of the imagination) and he'll be called upon to do things like turn double plays, feed the shortstop on double plays, cover second on stolen base attempts, etc....

Having one infield reserve might be a risk that is worth taking for roster construction over the course of a few games, but the aforementioned scenario will happen at some point during a 162 game season and is far less appetizing than the alternative of sticking a trained infielder in left field (and it also ignores the fact that two of the team's options for infield reserve in McCoy and Teahen have experience playing the outfield anyway).

Fair point, but like TamRa, I don't think Francisco would have earned that much on the open market nor does he have a unique/skilled profile whereby the team couldn't acquire a similar player if bidding on Francisco went higher than they expected or he signed elsewhere. It seems like AA felt otherwise though and paid a quite small cost to be sure to get him and (likely) accept his higher salary.

Speaking of non-tender day, if the Rays don't tender JP Howell, I hope the Jays take a good look at him to fill a role in the bullpen. He wasn't successful last year after missing 2010 due to injury, but was effective in 2008 and 2009. If he looks like he has something approaching his old stuff, he could easily be worth a flyer.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/12/blue-jays-claim-jim-hoey.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Jays claim Jim Hoey from the Twins.

I stand corrected. I forgot about Lawrie's minor league experience at 2B and him temporarily filling in there is preferable to Francisco, although the Jays have shown no indication he's in line for a move there on any sort of semi-permanent basis. I do agree Francisco is clearly better than Teahen.

If the Jays do intend to carry Francisco and Davis on the bench, I hope they are working on finding an infield reserve who is better defensively up the middle than McCoy.

Hoey's latest tweet already makes me a fan of his.

He hasn't really played CF and I have never heard he is supposed to be good defensively. I don't think he's supposed to better in the field than Davis.

Perhaps the plan is to keep auditioning Franciscos until he finds one he likes

Hopefully AA doesn't feel the need to check out San ...

It was Mike Cormack, of SportsNet, who said that Anthopoulos would talk to reporters at 5 pm (probably by teleconference).  Normally that's a pretty solid indication of a definitely scheduled event, since the Jays need to tell the major media in advance of the event.  Since then, I haven't heard anything to indicate if the 5 pm event is definitely happening or not.  But it's not sarcasm. 

Also, the Jays have outrighted Jeroloman and Carpenter to Las Vegas.  If both have been removed from the 40-man roster, it suggests that the Jays are on the verge of acquiring someone else.

AA has a tendency to avoid pulling the rumoured move, but the Jays and A's do line up, at least in part, for a Gio trade, as Oakland lost its entire starting outfield to free agency (although they presumably filled one of those spots when they got Cowgill in the Cahill deal) and Toronto could trade one of the team's young outfielders. I agree one of the outfielders alone wouldn't be enough.

You could disable images

It is only 28kb

What I wouldn't give for the press conference to be Ben Francisco, AA and John Farrell doing the Don Francisco bit from Love & Death.

It is only 28kb

I don't think it's a size thing.  It's a unique problem to this website that causes it not to load properly (seemingly, but not definitively) when there's a lot of images on the page.

A.A.'s press conferences usually occur, more spontaneously than officially pre-scheduled, so this one is unusual.   This presages an Major Announcement, or a Major Policy Decision.     5 PM ET is the big news time nationally.   This shouldn't announce a decision not to post for Darvish (usually early afternoon), nor a tragic occurence of some kind (usually right away).   It could be a major financial announcement on payroll as per Rogers' Board (won't that set a cat amongst the pigeons).   IMO, this is a big trade or big signing.   WHO?

1) The Bullpen: We need a top Reliever for the 8th inning and maybe a second left-hander.   This doesn't seem a big enough event.

2) The Rotation: Acquring a Starting Pitcher via a trade would require this level of publicity.    A free agent Pitcher signing might need the publicity, only who? 

3) Second Base: Signing  Kelly Johnson multi-year would do it, sell it to the fans.   A trade for a Second Baseman might be big enough, but other acquisitions should have more priority.

4) Contract Signing: Brett Lawrie - of course; Brandon Morrow - of course; who else?

6:30 NFLD; 6:00 ATL; 5:00 EAS; 4:00 Cen; 3:00 MTN; 2:00 PAC.   Time will see.

I'm not sure I'd trade Syndergaard and Hutchison for anything right now.  There's plenty of other talent trading partners should be content with.

I don't think we'll see any action on the Gio front (or other front line starter) until we see who wins the Darvish sweepstakes - which should be known sometime between Thursday and next Tuesday.

There's more than just Gio and his 2011 SIERA of 3.78 available, though.

• Jon Niese, 3.42
• Brandon McCarthy, 3.49
• Gavin Floyd, 3.70
• Wandy Rodriguez, 3.80
• John Danks, 3.81
• Ervin Santana, 3.95
• Edwin Jackson, 4.01

All of the above are rumoured to be available.  I think once it's determined who gets Darvish, everybody else will target a pitcher and see if they can get a deal done.  Froma buzz perspective, Gio seems to be the cream of the crop and most in demand.

I can see Drabek and Snider as perceived equal value/upside by Oakland

Oh, not a chance. Montero's miles ahead of Snider at this point.

In terms of perceived equal value, I think you're looking at D'Arnaud and Alvarez. Which I would hope AA wouldn't touch.

It feels like AA is trying to add some vets to the roster as subs to help our regulars.  Our regulars tend to be on the young side. 

He's rumoured to be likely to resign with the Braves, but I've always liked Pete Moylan. He's not a lefty, but he's had four years of being a very effective reliever. He's going to miss the first two months of the season due to arthroscopic surgery, but could provide a nice bump to the bullpen in the second half if he has fully recovered.

....Good god this offseason sucks....

Well, that's a bit melodramatic.  Compared to just a few months ago, the Jays have upgraded significantly at two key positions: 2B and closer.  And the off-season is really just beginning.  It's pretty clear that Anthopoulos is aggressively in the hunt for another starting pitcher, another reliever and a "big bat."  He has specifically mentioned all of those targets, and I don't think he would be so specific if he was intending to fold his cards and stand pat.  He probably won't get all three, but he might get two of the three. Let's wait and see.  But to upgrade at two key positions is nothing to scoff at.

As for Ben Francisco:  he's a back-up OF and he's produced a significantly higher OPS and OBP than Rajai Davis over the past two seasons.  And he's cheaper.  And he was acquired for essentially nothing.  I don't see anything to complain about.  He's obviously not the solution at LF or anywhere else, but he's a useful back-up and an upgrade over Davis if they need to trade Davis or if Davis has any lingering effects from his thigh injury.

Very reasonable deal for Aramis Ramirez. It's a shame AA has a pathetic budget to work with.

Haha dude, so Anthopoulos shoulda signed Ramirez to play 3rd?

<sarcasm>
AA should use his entire budget THIS offseason. That way even though they may not be able to sign their own FA, or spend anything NEXT offseason, they will increase their odds of winning 87 games this year.

I say scrap the rebuilding plan, we've waited too long!
</sarcasm>

Very reasonable deal for Aramis Ramirez.

Aramis Ramirez: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/ramirar01.shtml gets a contract until age 36, defense is likely to slide.   Milwaukee paid what the could afford for the best bat they could afford.   It remains to be seen if they get good value (2.1 or better WAR - 6.3 total).

It's a shame AA has a pathetic budget to work with.

It's a shame non-Blue Jay fans have to make pathetic comments, on this site, to boost their self-esteem, in themselves and in their team.  

A.A. has more money to spend than most people would believe.   A.A. has a firm grasp of where this team is.   A.A. has a good idea of the value of a player (it's his job).   He knows where he want to go with monies, and he knows where he wants to go on term.   When they match or are close enough to satisfy, he makes the deal.   If they don't, he moves on.

@ 92-93

Haha, wo wo, hold the train. I only commented on 3rd base. So, in theory Anthopoulos could have courted and had Ramirez agree to sign to play first base? Or platoon with Lind? Or to become a DH? None of those sound likely considering the history of free-agents, pride, etc. So you're saying you have doubts about Lawrie now? I thought you, like nearly all of us, were especially pleased with Lawrie's MLB debut, and his defence which looked far better than any of us were lead to expect? Even Keith Law has revised a more positive outlook on Lawrie's ability to play an effect 3rd base. I'm surprised this particular player/position would be an opportunity you'd use to push your payroll concerns/manifesto.

That's not completely fair or true though, bud. I believe i'm not the only one who has agreed that Rich Harden would be a interesting/enjoyable signing if possible/reasonable/willing. Do you see any other clubs rushing to sign/trade fill every roster spot they have available to this point? No, obviously a lot of shrewd cost conscious Org's are waiting on, whatever. So I don't see the panic, nor the reason to start espousing all this negativism that Rogers/Anthopoulos will never SPEND!1! 2 WINZ!!11 fear mongering. So no, if like numerous Jays fans, you wish me to without proof declare that Alex Anthopoulos is a shill, or disingenuous or an extension of some 20 year Skull & Bones-like society, whose sole aim is to perpetually deceive and lie to the entire populace just to make MONIES!1! No, I will not. In case you haven't noticed yet, no one has signed Prince Fielder yet. And i'm sorry if Anthopoulos didn't sign Eric Bedard, but maybe he's been sorta kinda trying to make a bigger, higher upside, longerterm transaction. Dude, with the fire and brimstone. Jebus. Man, you'd look silly if Darvish ended up a Blue Jay.

I've thrown out a ton of guys who can be had on 1 and 2 year deals...

Scrolling back up from your entry on this post I find no names as mentioned.   As for what you did on another post (what goes in a post usually stay there), go back there and look closely, we gave it as much attention as it deserved.   My overwhelming opinion was why do we want these stiffs.

I don't know why people want to sign oft-injured players, like Harden and Bedard.   This is not best value.  

My Starters would be 1) Ricky Romero, 2) New Acquisition (as good as, or better than Romero, and better than Morrow), 3) Brandon Morrow, 4) Henderson Alvarez (because he can), 5) one of: Dustin McGowan, Brett Cecil, Kyle Drabek (find out who can, because more are on the way).  

Alex's policy has been find out what you have, especially with young arms.  

My Relievers would be (CL) Sergio Santos, (8TH) New acquisition, (7TH) Casey Janssen, (LHP) ???, (LHP) ???, (Long/Short) Jesse Litsch, (Long/Short) Carlos Vilanueva.

Posters were saying a Closer would only save us 6 more wins from last season.   IMO, that's a start.   I belive we kept 3 of our best 4 relievers in that trade.   Upgrading the remainder of the Bullpen equals how many more wins?   Acquiring a top starter should easily be worth 6 more wins.   The balance of the Rotation is improved, how many wins does that gain us.   I firmly believe, that if A.A. improves the pitching staff, like he says he will, the Team will win 92-94 games.   I just don't know how much better the Hitting will be next season.

If it meant getting an extended King Felix, I would LITERALLY trade all of our prospects.  We've already seen how quickly AA can rebuild a farm system, even with the new parameters I trust our scouting to get us back on track in 2-3 years.

Of course it is far more cost effective just to sign Yu.

I don't know why people want to sign oft-injured players, like Harden and Bedard.   This is not best value.  

If you want to win on a small budget, you have to take risks.  Mostly they won't work out, but when they do, you're gold.

Mike, we can only assume that Boomer Berman has already trademarked Yu "Whirling" Darvish.

Ugh. I now have his "Back! Back! Back! Back!" running though my head. I really have to make sure I'm drinking something next year (even paint thinner) instead of watching the HR Derby.

A couple of random thoughts on the payroll info, Greenfrog...

Were the Angels really a "build it and they will come" model? They won in 2002, and that seemed to be one of the catalysts for that franchise as much as anything else. I'd say they used money to try to solidify that success, which seems to be more the Blue Jays MO (if you have a guy you want to keep, like Bautista, Romero, Lind and Escobar, spend to lock em up, and keep searching at the other positions).

How have the Jays' revenues gone since 2002? The Yankees (YES and the new-new Yankee Stadium) and the Red Sox (NESN and putting seats in every conceivable nook at Fenway, and charging an organ to get one) have maximized revenues in astounding ways. The Rays didn't see the anticipated bounce in revenues from winning, and have clawed their payroll back.

Alex has found out just how much the type of Starter he wants is going to cost.   Example: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/12/dbacks-acquire-cahill-breslow-from-as.html  Cahill:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/cahiltr01.shtml and Breslow: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/breslcr01.shtml only got Parker: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=parker002jar , Cowgill: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=cowgil001col , Cook: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=cook--001rya and $200 K -$300 K.   What is Gio Gonzales: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gonzagi01.shtml going to cost?

I can see Travis Snider, Kyle Drabek and Brett Cecil as trading pieces this off season, but I don't think A.A. will pay it.   I think he'll wait to see if he get's Darvish, before trading any prospects for a Starter.

Ricky Romero, New Acquisition, Brandon Morrow, Henderson Alvarez, Dustin McGowan with Jesse Litsch, Carlos Villanueva and Luis Perez, Joel Carreno as Backup in case of Injury.   The AA kids from last year (2011) should be ready by late this season (2012) or early next season (2013).   Kyle Drabek and Brett Cecil can be expendable.

Jose Bautista, Colby Rasmus, Eric Thames with Rajai Davis and Ben Francisco as Backup in case of injury.   Anthony Gose and Moises Sierra are the first of the heirs for these positions.   Travis Snider can be expendable.

To me it smacks of an owner trying to upgrade the two weakest spots in his lineup. You can argue he did it suboptimally, by not targeting Reyes or Rollins, but Ramirez was the best 3B out there and Melvin signed him to what looks like a pretty reasonable contract, to me. I haven't heard good things about Ramirez's defence, but he's had an OPS over .870 seven of the last eight seasons. The one year he didn't, it was widely reported he struggled with nagging injuries from the previous season.

He is probably a 30-run improvement over McGehee and that's a huge upgrade that isn't easy for Milwaukee to replicate. I think it's a signing worth making if you're a team that has a short-ish window of contention with Greinke and Marcum in the fold for one more season and then may be forced to rebuild somewhat. If I'm Doug Melvin, I'd make this signing too and accept the risk that in 2014 I have Aramis Ramirez at 1B hitting to a .770 OPS.

 "The team's starting 1B and DH are Adam Lind & Edwin Encarnacion. A good team would make that a platoon and have another bat in the mix. Carlos Beltran fits that mold well, and so did Josh Willingham & Aramis Ramirez. But if you're too worried whether Aramis Ramirez can post 2.75 WAR per year over the life of his contract like scms is, adding a free agent to augment the offense probably isn't for you." 

Fielder and Darvish are arguably too risky to sign, and if the Jays feel that way, then I can understand that.  If we have some more money available right now, however, then going after Beltran is something that I think makes a lot of sense (if he could be had on a one or two year contract; three years maximum, and if it takes three years, then I'd be less interested).

Last season Beltran was one of the very best hitters in the game, and he's been generally awesome for his entire career.  His only down years since establishing himself have been 2010 and 2005 (and in both of those years he was still solid but not great).  In general, I think a Beltran signing could possibly provide the perfect mix of short term benefit and long term flexibility. 

Beltran would likely be a large upgrade in left field for us over the short term.  If he's willing to DH, that would be even better, as it would really help out with our overall 1B/LF/DH picture (the positions where I think we have the most flexibility and the best opportunities to improve our expected production).  Thames and Snider are interesting young players, but I wouldn't "block" Beltran for either of those guys.

I think that Darvish to Washington makes sense  - I expect Yankees/National/Rangers to win that bid.

I like Beltran very much but I don't think his injuries will hold up well on artificial turf.

I don't like the price I hearing for Gio Gonzalez and I hope the Jays pass unless the price drops - while I would part with 2nd line talent like McGuire/Jenkins/Jimenez in a package, I would say no to high upside talent like Gose/Marisnick/Syndergaard/Sanchez/Nicolino/D'Arnaud  - Gonzalez in the AL east seems more like a 3/4 guy and he's not making the Jays a contender and he's unsigned and about to become expensive.

IF the Jays have some money, I may try to buy the young talent some time, if the price is right with Wandy Rodriguez and Carlos Zambrano (need the cubs to eat some salary)  

So far,I'm not disappointed in the offseason and will remain patient as I favour the Texas model - I hope we keep our high upside talent except if  high upside talent is offered in return.  

I'm making a vague assumption that AA knows the "price" for each #2 starter on the market and will wait to see if he wins the Darvish bidding before deciding whether to move on the trade front.

I wonder though, if he is successful in bidding for Darvish, whether he has a middle of the order bat priced out in the trade market.  That's not something we've spoken too much about.

If there is any truth to the Beltran rumors, then the Jays and A's are definitely moving towards a Gio deal.  Dream offseason for the Jays.  Sign Beltran, Fielder and Darvish.  Trade Thames, Snider + for Gonzalez.

Outfield of Beltran/Rasmus/J Bau, infield of Lawrie/Escobar/Johnson/Fielder/JP

Rotation of Romero/Darvish/Gio/Morrow + whoever.

That team is a contender.

It certainly wasn't hard to see the Rasmus deal coming.  While I recall no specific leaks, there was plenty of speculation that he wouldn't last in St.L and many (including myself) were hoping a move could be made.

This is just personal opinion but I feel that the reason that most of our deals come as a surprise is that AA makes leaks a dealbreaker in negotiationsn (i.e. "this is my offer, but if any rumour gets out the deal is off"). I think that's also why we've been involved in so many rumours recently: Other GMs/Agents are calling his bluff only to find out that he's dead serious. Its a great strategy as long as he doesn't let it prevent him from improving the team (i.e. he should still be bidding on Yu and Fielder and Beltran). God I want any one of those guys.  Just one more star and one more pitcher on this team and I'm satisfied.

Incidentally I just noticed the Red Sox copying our blueprint with their deal for Melancon.  I think we got the better deal but he's still a low cost closer with decent rates leaving them to potentially spend money elsewhere. It also gives them leverage if they are negotiating with bigger name closers.  In the end I think that  Francisco Cordero and Ryan Madson (and Chad Qualls/Kerry Wood for that matter) aren't going to get anywhere near what they expected.

Wow, Flex. I really enjoyed that article, thank you for posting. It makes me even higher on Gose. Like, considerably higher. There is no way he maintains the same strikeout rate if he stops trying to hit home runs when down 0 - 2 or 1 -2 in the count.

And he seems extremely coachable, as he appears to have taken every bit of advice/coaching straight to heart and implemented in game. 2012 will be an exciting year to watch him.

 Can I get the apologist company line on why Willingham would have been a bad investment? Because I'm sure there is one, just like there is with every free agent suggested.

Is this an arguement between you and others of ways Rogers is cheap again? I assume your just using Ramirez & Willingham as examples x and y of why Rogers is cheap, not that you wanted either signed. Correct? Beltran to rotate through OF/DH would be interesting on a 2 yr deal. Not to have Bautista move to 1B just to appease Beltran, the worse fielder and non team superstar leader.

92-93 Shouldn't you perhaps wait this offseason before passing judgement? I'm as suspicous as the next guy about IF we're going to spend money, but its ridiculous to use the current offseason as proof that we won't ever spend money.

I'm not paying Albert or Papelbon that money, I honestly prefer Escobar to Reyes long-term, and CJ Wilson took 20 million less to stay out west.  In my opinion there hasn't been a single free agent signing thus far that the Jays should have been in on. Do you honestly think that the Santos deal was a bad one? What if we turn around and sign Ryan Madson (who now costs less because we have Santos as Leverage).  Heck, tomorrow we could wake up to find that we won the Yu Darvish sweepstakes, or signed Prince Fielder to a 7 year deal, or dealt Thames and Jenkins for Wandy or all 3.

Its not April 1st, its not even February 1st yet and there's lots of options still out there. 

And yes, the only reason AA doesn't add a bat to this lineup is because he doesn't have the payroll room to do it.

Or he prefers to use the payroll room he does have at the moment (given current revenues and reasonably expected growth) in more efficient ways. Money isn't just for free agents in their decline phase; it can also be used to lock up high upside talent through their peak years (see Romero, Escobar, Lind - not all of them work out), to allow the flexibility to take on dead weight at the trade deadline to get the talent you want (the Rasmus-Tehan-Tallet-Miller deal), go after high priced amateur talent (ok, not now, but up until this year), and so on. Free agents are the sugar rush for the offseason, but overdo it and soon the payroll packs on pounds around the waist, leaving the team old and flabby looking.

@ 92-93

Okay, so you were advocating a Willingham signing. Again, I have always had little to no use for building with/around Adam Lind, so at it's soonest possibility for Anthopoulos to either platoon him more in combination with another solid bat coming in, or if AA ever finds a better "core" player than Lind, i'll be exceedingly happy that day too.

Man, you and  Stephen Gray/"Fullmer Fan" sure have zero issue just calling people liars when it suits you. Wow. Regardless of the fact that some of those people you call liars, etc are incredibly instrumental in creating the successful Toronto Blue Jays that you've been able to passionately follow and love as you do for 30 years.

92-93's comment style is full of absolutes, superlatives and conceit, but if you peel back 80% of that brash tone, there are certainly some good points made.

In the interest of sanity of posters and readers alike, it might be beneficial to refrain from challenging the detail of his statements, but rather the underlying sentiment.

@ayjackson you make him sound like a wolverine hopped up on rabbies, Eminem, and Jersey Shore. BE-WARE! Fun.

@92-93  "I can't tell you" sounds snarky, but perhaps you meant it as, "I don't need to tell you/convince you". Anyways, again Beltran would be interesting as a DH/LF/RF guy. Be fun to know what combinations Anthopoulos has maybe been playing around with the last few weeks. Saying a "4th season wasted under Beeston's watch" is I assume spoken in a moment of excitement. He appointed Anthopoulos the big chair, so it hasn't been all bad. Coulda gone with someone else worse.

Well, considering that, as payroll dropped, the wins remained in the same range, all the while gaining flexibility and developing a core of talent not yet in their prime... I'd say his point was proven, no?

Personally, I'm a "build the core through youth, then augment when you near critical mass" sort, so I'm not in any rush to see the team give away its fexibility on a Pujols or Fielder, or whatever (though Beltran has appealed to me for a while, if the deal is 2 years).

As for the tenor of the comments, their absolutism, shock-jockish, and didactic nature, I just find it tiring for a world to exist without subtlety, where every move is filtered through the lens of the cheap. Labeling groups as apologists and implying they can't think for themselves distracts from your arguments, not enhance them. I mean, if you like your shtick, so be it, but the grinding negativity of it and others like it are one of the reasons I find myself coming here less and less often. It's a shame it has to come as the Blue Jays become a more interesting team, but so be it.

A.A. wants a front-of-the-rotation type Pitcher to follow Ricky Romero in the Rotation.   On the best teams, 1s and 1As are interchangeable with the Ace being the "senior" Pitcher.   Yu Darvish can become that guy, the 1-1A Starter.   Brandon Morrow's stuff is very, very good, except it's all hard and straight as an arrow.   His control however, is better than A.J. Burnett's was, so he should be a 1-1A Starter at some time.   Morrow can "get it" at any time, but just how long do we wait - we could very well be contending this year without the pitching regression last year. 

If Yu Darvish's contract demands are excessive, there's a few things he should know.   1) If he will sign, offer 6 years w/wo options @ $15-ish MM per year.   He can be a free agent at 31, seeking a 4-5 year deal @ $15-ish MM per year.   Earning a MLB pension after 10 years, and $150.0 MM- $165.0 MM in Baseball earnings (not including endorsements, deals, etc.).   2) If he will not sign, he's unlikely to be available again for 3 (?) years.   (All 3 years in JPL, it's unlikely he would make $15.0 MM per year, or more than $10.0 MM per year).  As a free agent, he gets the $20.0 MM per year contract for six years.  As a Free agent again at age 34, he's done like burnt toast, maybe $5.0 MM-$7.5 MM per year, over 1 or 2 years.   No pension, $125.0 MM - $127.5 MM total MLB earnings - with the money in JPL earned added, possibly $150.0MM - $165.0 MM, less in endorsements, etc. and less goodwill.

Why is 92-93 so enamored with old(er) baseball players, unrequited passion for J.P. Ricciardi?

Colby Rasmus is in his 1st year of arbitration and as such is under the teams control for 3 more years.   Anthony Gose still hasn't a clue, of what to do in a 2-strike count, so he's still a work in progress.   Jake Marisnik is hard on his butt and looks to be a better player.   Let's find out what Rasmus can really do.   His 162 Game avg.:  http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rasmuco01.shtml is satisfactory enough to free up Gose for a trade.   I can't see an upgrade here worth the cost.

Left Field is an adventure, but not worth a bigger expenditure, unless you're going for it.   We have Travis Snider, Eric Thames, Rajai Davis and Ben Francisco under contact for 2 positions (LF and 4th OF).   They are just "holding the fort".   We'll have Moises Sierra in AAA (he of the "gun for an arm") with Marisnick, Knecht and Crouse in AA, charging strong.   Makes Snider almost expendable.   An upgrade is coming.   I just can't see spending a lot of money for a small to not that better an increase.

Brett Lawrie we keep, no upgrade necessary.   J.P. Arencibia we keep, I don't know how good the heirs are, he hits HRs well.   No upgrade necessary.   Yunel Escobar makes $5.0 MM per year for the next 4 years.   Behind Hechavarria (who still  doesn't hit) are a lot of Shortstops, who can really develop in 4 years.   Allows A.A. to trade Hech if necessary.   No upgrade necessary.

Beyond Kelly Johnson, is an abyss.  Our next 2B is probably a SS or Ryan Schimpf (gulp).   I'd give Johnson 3 years.   The Free Agents available suck, and the trade possibilities are not that much more of an improvement, but they will cost a lot.   Do we need an upgrade, if so who?

Adam Lind has a great contract http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/toronto-blue-jays_05.html .   He will be in much better shape this season.   Unless he's being talked up for a trade, he's our 1B next year.   I can see going after Fielder, the monies spent will be fine.   It's the term, 8-10 years that gives me pause.   A.A. may be waiting out the market for a shorter-termed deal.   But it's not a priority for him.    And I'm not forgetting E.E.

Well, really what did the whole '09 season matter? Zero effort was made in '08 to capitalize on that stronger club. Any further Ricciardi builds seem to be running on fumes anyways, For whatever, whoever reasons, they didn't follow through in '08. The arm injuries, Rios was soon to tank completely. Hill would be up and down, Rolen and his issues. Ricciardi needed to go eventually, a rebuild was either necessary or a good idea, and Roy Halladay deserved to finally do want he wanted guilt free, unencumbered. He more than put in his time.

Off topic but not sure if it has been posted anywhere.  The Jays ended up giving cash as opposed to 3 prospects to complete the Rasmus deal.

http://gregorchisholm.mlblogs.com/

Yeah TamRa!!!!

The Batters never mattered that much after 2009.   A.A was upgrading as many positions as possible as fast as he could effectively.   And it was Bautista's September that showed the changes he'd made to his game, that guided A.A. that offseason.   Considering the Halladay trade was only going to Philly and nowhere else (both NYY offer and LAA offer were insults), Alex did very, very well in that trade.  

Toronto's draft policies under A.A. were Pitchers  and Shortstops until someone at another position else was better.   He's upgraded at the MLB level: SS, CF, 1 SP, 3B, 2B, 1 RP; in just two years, while being fiscally responsible.   The Minor System went from 29th to Top 3 in just two years.   The Organization was underachieving and he's created one of the best in the business in just two years.

Now we people complaining about not spending $15 -$25 MM more, each of those years, for people seldom more than .75 to 1.0 win better than the player A.A chose.   The total possible net gain: zero playoff berths.  

This year, he's not finished.   He's got a 2B/SS Bench player - Luis Valbuena - for cash.   I think he's a upgrade on Mike McCoy.   (Incidentally the 3 PTBNL in the Rasmus deal became cash).  He's got a 26 year-old Backup Catcher - Jeff Mathis - (highly prized by his former team) for a AAAA LHP Brad Mills who wasn't in our future plans.   He's got a 28 year-old Closer - Sergio Santos - under a very team friendly 6-year contract, for less money than 3 of 4 years that a 31 year-old Ryan Madson would want.   He gave up value, one of his stud pitching prospects in AA, but that's his reputation, Value for Value.   He got a 30 year-old, average Outfielder - Ben Francisco - for a 26 year-old LHP-RP Frank Gailey (just making AA in last half of season 5.70 ERA).  

And it's just December 15th.  Here's the top 50 list: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/10/2012-top-50-free-agents-1.html .   There's still top Free Agents left - #2, #5, #6, #7, #9 to point out just a few.