I think that today is the deadline for accepting QOs.

Here's a question for today.  Leave aside money (or players required to acquire talent) entirely and address this: "which player would you rather have for the next 3 years- Carl Crawford or Melky Cabrera?"

I'd go with Melky. That said, hearing the dodgers are willing to eat some money to move one of their outfielders, I'd be more tempeted to go that route. Maybe you can even rid yourself of Ricky Romero's salary...

Here is how Crawford's BBRef comparables have fared from age 33 on.  And Melky Cabrera's, from age 30 on (of course).  Cabrera's comps are quite diverse- Garry Maddox, Chris Chambliss, Paul Blair and Bill Buckner (with Darin Erstad bridging the centerfield and first base gap).   If Cabrera were 4" taller, I'd wonder about him making the move to first base...

Huh. Hadn't thought about Crawford lately but he has recovered nicely the past couple of years in LA.  Steamer projects him as a 2.2 WAR next year (vs Melky's 2.4 projection).  Signed for $62 mil over the next 3 years, the Jays obviously would demand some salary relief there - send them Romero and get some cash and/or top prospects back and it could work.  If the Dodgers choose to put Alex Guerrero at 2B (their hotshot Cuban signing) then Dee Gordon might be available ... could that be a matchup?  Jays get Gordon & Crawford, Dodgers get Romero & prospect & provide some cash to the Jays?  That would free up some space in their OF and the Jays could help them build up more pitching depth via whatever prospect is sent (Dodgers had a 103 ERA+ despite the 197 from Kershaw) or send someone like Buehrle or Dickey to really clear out salary here and keep the books balanced without too much cash directly shifting.

Wait a minute....

What about Crawford for Reyes?  Mix in Gordon as well so the Jays solve 2 issues and create just one.  The Dodgers might be losing Ramirez at SS (and he should be off SS anyways).  That would fix the books a bit with a 3 year $20+ per year deal to match Reyes' and maybe get the Dodgers to take Romero as well so the Jays books are better.  Still need to find a SS then but if we could get Gordon that solves 2B for now and a super-glove at SS with no-hit you can live with more than at 2B.

Buehrle + Romero = 28.35 million next year

Crawford = approx. 65 million for 3 more years

This means we'd be getting Crawford for 3 years at a total of approximately 37 million. I'd wager that's significantly less than Melky is going to get. Toss in Dee Gordon for a prospect and I might consider it.

That said, I"d prefer we try to upgrade at C and 2nd/3rd, and let the youth fill out the outfield. Having 2 of Pillar/Gose/Pompey means our defense is going to be great, and I"m still a believer that Pillar can turn into a decent ML hitter.

The new Dodgers regime is too smart to value Reyes, especially since they can just stick Guerrero at short if they wanted a bat with questionable defense.

I'd be OK with Romero+ for Crawford mainly because we'd be taking $8M in sunk cost and turning it into something useful, but that would greatly impact 2016 and 2017 payroll. Not sure Rogers is willing to do that.

Reyes for Crawford would make sense, but the new Dodgers will probably prefer trading Crawford for nothing while eating up half his salary rather than taking a $70M commitment attached to a declining short stop. If Ned was still their GM, then there would have better a better shot at that type of deal, IMO.

MLB Trade Rumours is reporting that the Rays are likely to finalize a trade this week that would send Jeremy Hellickson to a National League team. I didn't see any details provided beyond that.

The Jays rumours are "weird" this month. According to reports the Jays are talking to Pablo Sandoval, Victor Martinez and Russell Martin, all high priced guys.

The Jays usually don't play in the high end of the free agent market. Almost always those guys take a better offer somewhere else. And do the Jays have the money to sign those guys?

Could this be a smokescreen move by the front office? I will be shocked if the Jays sign any of those three players.

Victor Martinez?  Whatever for? It only makes some kind of sense if one is planning to trade Encarnacion to fill some other need and increase payroll.  Very, very unlikely.

I agree with Gerry, I think all these meetings with high priced free agents is a new PR move by the Jays, in the "hey we tried" angle.

It doesn't have to be a willful smoke-screen -- it is the silly season after all.

Why blame the Jays for these rumors?  The rumors are probably spread by the agents for the players -- in an attempt to boost the bidding and drive up the price of their clients.  That's the logical reason for the rumors, since they're stemming from online bloggers who talk to the agents.

If that's true, the rumors are not a "PR move" by the club, or a "smokescreen."  In fact, I'd be astonished if the Jays want these rumors to be floating around, since it only heightens the cynicism and disillusionment among their fans when these alleged rumors turn out to be groundless again.   And AA has made it clear that he doesn't like these rumors because it complicates his job.   He prefers radio silence when he's negotiating deals.  So don't blame him, blame the agents.

I'm assuming that AA talks to absolutely everybody in the free agent market because you never know. It would be an insult not to talk to an agent about a player.

I can't imagine the Jays in the market for either Sandoval or Martin, but stranger things have happened. Maybe Martin is feeling patriotic and wants to finish his career in his home country.

Often these rumours come from a reporter in a US city. But some of the recent ones come from Jeff Blair and Shi Davidi which is adding to my puzzlement.

My analysis of the Blair and Davidi reports is that they're simply confirming the US reports that the Jays are planning to "meet with" the agents for these players (or the players themselves).  These are formal meetings, therefore they're easy to confirm.  Again, in my view, it doesn't suggest any serious chance that the Jays are frontrunners in signing these players -- these meetings are part of the due diligence and intelligence-gathering that the Jays have to do every year.

As far as Crawford vs Cabrera is concerned, I'd rather have Melky. If you add up their last 4 seasons, Cabrera comes in at .309/.351/.458/.809, while Crawford is .277/.315/.418/.733, so there is a very large advantage to Cabrera as a hitter. Yes, that includes his steroid year, but it also includes his back tumor year, and his overall line for the 4 years is about the same as the other 2 years, 2011 and 2014. Then you factor in the age difference, and I think over the next 3 years, Cabrera would greatly outhit Crawford. Most players will drop off more from age 33 to 36 than from age 29 to 32. You get some more defense from Crawford, but his speed is diminishing significantly - look at his triples, and SB numbers compared to his prime - and that hurts his defense. I also like the fact that Cabrera is a true switch hitter. Crawford has had troubles with lefties over the course of his career, and so can be hurt late in games in key AB's when the opposition brings in a lefty.

That's a good answer, Dan.  I don't like Cabrera defensively at all (his value is essentially in his arm alone) and it is likely to get much worse.  There are good reasons to not be crazy about Crawford either- I would add that his plate discipline is no better than it was at age 23-25 and his power is off, so he is extremely BABIP-dependent.  That's a losing game for someone in their mid 30s usually.  Both of them are good complementary players, but ones that you don't want to be counting on. 

The Mets have signed Cuddyer to a two year deal.

I guess the Rockies knew what they were doing by giving him the QO.

I don't know sometimes.  Cuddyer at more than $15 million annually? To a National League team?

I guess the idea is that he's a batting champ.  Big whoop.

weird deal.  cuddyer turns down 15.3 for one year with the rockies in exchange for 21 million over 2 years with the mets.  clearly, he wanted out of colorado.  also clear is that the draft pick the mets sacrafice is a part of the contract - 10 million for 2 years of cuddyer is good value.  it's the draft pick that makes this deal questionable - but the mets are a contender with a couple of upgrades, so i can understand what they were thinking. 

if i was a mets fan, i would hope this means they are going to go after other players with a draft pick attached.  signing multiple guys with the draft pick compensation decreases the cost to the Mets. 

OK. That makes a little more sense then.  Cuddyer takes a modest pay cut to play in New York for the Mets.  The Rockies do have some possibilities, but their time is probably two to three years away.  The Mets may be closer...And as for the Mets, they aren't getting great value, but at least I understand it.

this cuddyer signing brings me back to my thought that the jays didn't have much to lose putting a QO out for colby. i don't hate the move either way, aa probably buys a little good will by not anchoring a value of a guy they didn't want to re-sign just to get a comp pick. looks like the boy wonder is growing up right before our eyes!

colby takes that QO ten times out of ten.  cuddyer to the mets on this deal is worth something although it's clearly arguable if it's a good move...

Colby on a QO right now is a lottery ticket for us.  maybe the Yanks offer him a QO (they gave robertson one) but i can't see anyone else doing it. 

that said, next year i could see Buehrle being worth a QO. 

If Buehrle has his usual 200+ IP with a 100+ ERA+ then he is easily worth $16 mil on a one year deal. Since his first full season in the majors he has been worth 2+ bWAR each and every season, 11 times out of 14 over 3 bWAR including last year.  That is consistent value over a very long time.  I suspect any GM who has a team in contention would want him unless their roster was packed with young stud pitchers and even then a GM might want an old warhorse to steady the roster.

Colby would've been a very, very risked QO if the Jays don't want him back as I'll be surprised if he gets over $10 mil a year, although someone might do a $10+ on a one year deal.

So that MLBTR link has us signing Melky, Jed Lowrie and K-Rod?

Could be worse, I guess. Lots of big names on the Top 50 list though. A Lawrie-Lowrie left side of the infield would be fun, though Lowrie probably doesn't bump Reyes to 2nd.

Colby seemed pretty miserable by the end of the season, and he's had a rough few years. He seems like the kind of guy who might turn down more money to play some place comfortable & close to home, like Atlanta. Maybe somewhere with low expectations, like Houston.

You probably wouldn't want to gamble $15 million on that theory, though.

Come on Rogers executive, force AA to send Jose Reyes back to the Mets - spend that money more wisely - make 85bluejay very happy.

If the Mets are in win now mode, I wonder if they would do something like Reyes and cash for Colon. The Jays take Colon's 2015 salary and then maybe agree to pay Reyes' buyout or throw in some other cash to make it work. Trade Happ to make room for Colon in the rotation. Non-tender Estrada since Colon is probably a safe bet to eat up innings. Use the saved money to sign Martin and Drew.

Pipe dream I know but with the two NY teams needing SS's, this might be the only chance the Jays have of unloading Reyes' deal.

It's a great birthday for Hall of Names aficionados- Boob Fowler, Tony Suck, Pie Traynor, Rabbit Maranville, Harry Billiard, Jeff Ransom. The Blue Jay contributions are Jeffs Ware and Byrd.  Here for a good time, not a long time.

Could someone help me understand the rules. Cuddyer signs with the Mets. So The Rockies get a supplemental pick some where after the 1st round and before the 2nd round.
The Mets lose their pick, #15 and nobody gets it. So does this mean that the 1st round would be 29 picks in total, not counting unsigned draft picks?

There is a challenge for AA... Reyes is an above average SS, possibly a top 5 one in MLB depending how much you hit him on defense.  But he makes $66 mil over the next 3 years with either $4 mil buyout or $22 mil in 2018 at the age of 35.  Trade him and you create a very big hole in the lineup with no clear replacement in the system.  But if you keep him that is a big chunk of change for a guy who might not be good enough defensively to stick at SS.  The Mets & Yankees both need a SS for 2015 and beyond, both love players that fans would know instantly and both should have big budgets.  If Reyes is traded who do you get to replace him?  2B is a disaster zone, trade Reyes and SS becomes one too.  Imagine a Diaz/Goins middle infield.  Sweet defense, but 2 pitchers in the lineup almost.

To be honest I don't see Reyes being traded unless AA gets a top notch player at 2B first and feels EXTREMELY confident that Pillar/Gose/Pompey/Mayberry/Dirks/Smoak can cover CF/LF/DH and/or resigns Melky.

If Reyes is traded who do you get to replace him?

My thinking exactly. The Jays offense has been "good enough", except for the 2B sinkhole. Why introduce another sinkhole? We're already looking at possible downgrades (offensively) at 1B/DH (Lind gone, no clear replacement), in LF (unknown?) and/or CF (Rasmus gone, Gose/Pillar seems to be the plan here), depending on how things play out. I guess we could go the KC route and go all-defense?

Some of the reports have us "looking at" Russell Martin (which Shi Davidi says is the most "credible"), Pablo Sandoval and Hanley Ramirez. If we sign one of the last 2 to play 3B, move Lawrie to 2B, then we could probably put up with an all-defense SS. Then trade Reyes to NY for a 1B/DH/LF type? But then, if they want a shortstop who is much better offensively than defensively, why not just sign Ramirez right off the bat?

Interesting/complicated/challenging offseason for sure!

Hmmm.....

What if... the Jays trade Reyes for whatever and sign Ramirez for SS with a plan to move him to 3B in a year or two?  Ramirez is currently expected to get 7 years $140 so he seems out of reach, but if other clubs get tight on the years due to his demand to stick at SS it could be possible (unlikely but possible).  If they also sign Martin (4 years $56 mil) and have him at 3B a lot then we'd see a much improved team although defense could be a total disaster on the SS/3B side.

Nah.  Not gonna happen.  Fun to imagine though (unless you are a pitcher).

Shi Davidi, at the GM meetings in Phoenix, assesses the 3 main rumors (Pablo Sandoval, Victor Martinez, Russ Martin) and concludes that Martin is the only one that even remotely makes any possible sense.  His report:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/toronto-blue-jays-focused-on-bringing-in-best-player-available/

For those who were wondering about the demise of the DJF site:  it's back now, under a new name (AndrewStoeten.com), with the same content as before.  Basically just the name has changed, and it seems to be unaffiliated with the Score now -- which will reassure those conspiratorial-minded fans who suspected that DJF was part of the evil Rogers empire.  As far as anyone can tell, there's not even a small minority equity connection to The Score or Rogers any more.    Anyway it's good to see Stoeten back, as undiplomatic and non-deferential as ever, since the blogging community needs as much diversity as possible, and since Stoeten is one of the shrewdest and most independent-minded commentators out there, in my personal opinion.

One more thought on why Russell Martin makes the most sense. Jays have a hard time signing free agents since they won't overpay. Money being equal, most pitchers would prefer to go to a more generous pitching environment than the RC. Free agent position players would prefer to play on grass. Again, all things being equal (eg starting vs bench role), the RC's turf would require an overpay if other suitors are offering similar financial terms.

The one position where the stadium has little negative impact is catcher and would actually be better than most parks due to the friendly hitting environment.

However if they do sign Martin, they have to trade Navarro. I fail to see the logic in signing a catcher who gets raves for his pitch framing and handling of the pitching staff and then playing him at 3rd base. If Martin needs a day off (and as he ages he will need these more often), give him the day off or have him DH.

"....However if they do sign Martin, they have to trade Navarro...."  

The other scenario, as some have suggested, is to keep Navarro as the back-up catcher and part-time DH.  This scenario also presupposes that Dickey and Thole are traded together, making Navarro more logical to keep.   But can the Jays get sufficient return for Dickey to make this trade worthwhile?  Can the Jays replace Dickey adequately with some combination of Sanchez/Norris/Estrada?   And does Navarro hit well enough to justify the part-time DH role?

However if they do sign Martin, they have to trade Navarro. I fail to see the logic in signing a catcher who gets raves for his pitch framing and handling of the pitching staff and then playing him at 3rd base. If Martin needs a day off (and as he ages he will need these more often), give him the day off or have him DH.

I agree that playing Martin at third base makes no sense.  This was apparently a stumbling block with Martin last time too.  It does seem to me though that the club has two choices if Martin is signed (which is unlikely).  One is to trade Navarro and use Thole with Dickey as before.  The other is to trade Thole and Dickey and use Navarro as a back-up catcher (maybe 35-40 starts a year) and occasional DH against LHPs.  You won't get terrific value for Navarro's $5 million salary, but that isn't what is important. 

Coke to CF.

Or maybe Martin could catch Dickey? If he's so good behind the plate why not?

Trading an affordable 220 IP/sub-4.00 ERA starter to accomodate Dioner Navarro at back-up catcher is crazy, and I say that as someone who can't wait to get rid of Josh Thole. Sign Martin, trade Navarro to any team willing to take his salary, and move on. The Jays need more pitchers like Dickey and Buehrle, not players like Navarro.

".....Trading an affordable 220 IP/sub-4.00 ERA starter to accomodate Dioner Navarro at back-up catcher is crazy....."

I wouldn't say it's crazy, even though it's not necessarily the best option. People sometimes forget how good Navarro was as a hitter in 2014, compared to other catchers.  Of all major-league catchers with 500 plate appearances or more, Navarro ranked 5th by wOBA or wRC+ last season, according to FanGraphs.  Despite his defensive issues, the Jays pitchers love him for the leadership and pitch-calling, and it's likely that he contributed to the improvement in the Jays starting pitching in 2014 compared to the previous year.  Dickey is a very good innings-eater, but if the Jays have a surplus of pitching due to the emergence of Sanchez and Norris, and if Dickey happens to be the one with the greatest trade value, I don't see anything wrong with trading him and getting rid of Thole for a combined savings of nearly $14-million and two roster spots.

Navarro had a good year with the bat, but you're overselling it. That "5th" is out of just 9 players. Reduce the threshhold to 400 PA and he's 13th of 23. And none of the 12 players ahead of him spent a significant amount of time at other positions (Navarro had 97 of 520 PA as a DH or PH, and produced much better then compared to when he was catching).

I think it's strange that there's a general notion that Navarro is suddenly useless to the Jays if Martin is signed. Punt Josh Thole! Dickey will not suddenly turn into a pumpkin without him! It's okay to have some genuine major leaguers on the bench!

".....Navarro had 97 of 520 PA as a DH or PH, and produced much better then compared to when he was catching...."

Which is another potential reason to keep him on the roster even if Russell Martin is acquired. 

For the record:  I'm as skeptical as anyone about the Russell Martin rumor.  I'll believe it when it happens.  We've all been burned by too many misleading rumors in the past (even though those rumors usually originated from agents who are trying to pump up the bidding for their clients).  On the other hand, the mostly quiet off-season last year isn't proof that the Jays will stand pat again.  We're only two years removed from a highly active off-season.  It could happen again, or it might not.

It does appear that the Jays have money available -- perhaps as much as $50-million in payroll room, according to some reports.  At the same time, the Jays are apparently opting for a very cheap option in CF, with the job likely to go to Pompey (or, less likely, to Gose or Pillar), according to Anthopoulos yesterday.  So there's evidence on both sides of the argument about whether the Jays will spend money or not spend money this off-season.

Money or not I expect Happ to be traded so a kid can slip into the rotation with Estrada as the new #6 guy.  I expect some new blood signed for the pen, most likely for under $4 mil a year.  I expect something to change at 2B or 3B at long last as that is just too big a hole.  I expect CF to be left to the kids (Gose/Pillar/Pompey) while LF/DH will be filled by a new player plus Mayberry/Dirks/Smoak with the 3 kids in CF threatening to take over LF as well unless a higher end guy is acquired for LF.  I expect many waiver wire transactions and the like in an effort to improve depth in AAA but mainly on the offensive and bullpen sides.

FYI: noticed at BR that the following are now free agents: Cory Aldridge, Adron Chambers, Andy LaRoche,Radhames Liz, Melky Mesa,Mike Nickeas,Sergio Santos, and Brett Wallace as of Nov 4th, plus the well known ML ones from earlier - Brandon Morrow, Dustin McGowan,Melky Cabrera,Casey Janssen,Munenori Kawasaki,  and Colby Rasmus.

There are others as well according to Baseball America:

http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/minor-league-free-agents-2014/

In a Notes from Nowhere thread, how about from "one comet to another"?

Good catch short.  So the minor league free agents are...
RHP: Austin Bibens-Dirkx (AA), Randy Boone (AA), Scott Copeland (AAA), Scott Gracey (AA), Justin Jackson (AA), Mike Lee (AA), Radhames Liz (AAA), Sergio Santos (AA)
LHP: Richard Bleier (AA), Tony Davis (Hi A), Efrain Nieves (Hi A)
C: Yusuf Carter (AA), Mike Nickeas (AAA)
1B: Mike McDade (AA), Brett Wallace (AAA)
3B: Jared Goedert (AAA), Andy LaRoche (AAA)
OF: Cory Aldridge (AA), Adron Chambers (AAA), Michael Crouse (AA), Melky Mesa (AA), Ricardo Nanita (AAA)

Funny to see Santos listed as a minor league free agent.  I suspect a few will resign here but odds are a fair number will wander off into the sunset.  Hopefully good organizational soldiers like Bibens-Dirkx stick around (he's hopped from A+ to AAA regularly) as there is value in having guys who will do that.  None catch me as a significant loss though if they go elsewhere. 

Btw, funny list that one at BA.  I love seeing the names.

• Famous names: Burt Reynolds a high A OF in Seattle's system
• Ex Jays: Jason Lane (now a LHP), Dana Eveland, Robinzon Diaz (last ML time was 2009), Shawn Hill, Justin Miller, Shaun Marcum, David Cooper, Mike McCo, Zach Stewart
• Dad was better: Billy Buckner, Ivan De Jesus Jr.
• Fun name: Sugar Ray Marimon

I'm sure there are a lot more interesting ones on the list too but those caught my eye.

Thanks for posting John.

A few have been re-signed as well:

http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20141111&content_id=101143948&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t422&sid=t422

John, I'm not sure if you were joking or not (like you were with your Billy Buckner comment), but just to clarify if anyone's confused, the Justin Miller who is a minor league free agent isn't the Justin Miller who played for the Jays. As some of you will recall, that Justin Miller passed away in 2013.

Geez, that was a mistake then.  I saw his name and went 'oh, that is what happened to him' totally forgetting he passed away.  Odd for two guys to have the same name at about the same time playing the same position.  Price of doing a quick read and not thinking too much beyond 'do I know that name and why'.

Thanks Short.  Good to see Bibens-Dirkx back again.  I keep hoping the Jays give him one of those 2 day call-up things sometime as he has done OK and for some reason I just keep cheering him on.  I think we all do that with minor leaguers at times...no particular reason in most cases, just something about them (name, did well at one level, heard something about them, whatever). 

Bibens-Dirkx reached AAA in 2010 at age 25 with the Cubs (his second organization) but bounced between AA and AAA mostly ever since with 101 innings at A+ in 2013 for the Jays (2.85 ERA, 1.92 in AA that year over 65 2/3).  Last year was effective bouncing between AA (3.16 ERA) and AAA (3.89 ERA) and between the pen and rotation (16 starts, 18 relief games overall).  Wouldn't be surprised if he is one of those guys who becomes a pitching coach or manager after he retires after bouncing around so much.  Only in 2007 (age 22) did he spend a full season at one level (A+ for Seattle) otherwise it has been 2 or 3 teams every year.  Guys like him I love to see get a shot, even if just for one game in September.

Cross Victor Martinez off the shopping list, he is returning to the Tigers for $70M over 4 years. Sandoval and Martin are left on the list.

Was it really a shopping list, though?  Did anyone in the Jays actually want to make a serious bid for Martinez, a player who is essentially just a DH at this point, especially considering his very high cost, the associated loss of a draft pick, and the fact that the team already had a pretty good DH and willingly traded him away because they wanted more flexibility on the roster?  I've said this before, but I don't believe this rumored "shopping list" came from a Jays source -- it was more likely a rumor propagated by an agent or agents.

I know Gibbons made some comment about liking Martinez.  He may have been half-joking, or simply making a throwaway comment about Martinez being a good player.  I don't believe he was suggesting that Martinez was on the team's "shopping list."

Victor Martinez, for all his faults, could always hit. That was his main appeal. A.A.'s end isn't leaking anything, but the Rogers' end is. A.A. always talks to absolutely everybody about absolutely everybody, all the time, so rumors of interest are never wrong, just degrees of interest. Agents usually leak like sieves at times like these, usually drumming up interest.

I'd like Russell Martin signed, the best Catcher available and an Upgrade we need. Worry about Navarro and Thole much later. Russell could always play 1B when he's done catching. Pablo Sandoval would be a huge HR for A.A, solving an infield hole and keeping Lawrie a bit healthier. Losing Melky, Colby and Adam lost one third of this team offense, possibly more. Nothing A.A. has done thus far gets it back.

I just wonder if A.A. truly understands 'market value' because he has yet to pay that to anyone. Especially this year when he must pay 'market value' or better to get the Upgrades the team needs.

let's say the jays sign melky and panda...the 2015 left side would almost certainly be awful - (league worst?) barring a huge bounce back from reyes, but how bad would the 2017 and on defense be?

Per Shi Davidi on twitter:

"#BlueJays prospect Dalton Pompey left AFL game in first ing today after banging head into ground on slide. Precautionary. No real concern."

Still, not good.

Kershaw and Kluber for the CYAs.  Roger Clemens would be pleased.

So I am curious, why is Melky considered a poor defender now?  I understand why he was bad in 2013 with a tumor in his back -- but what parts of his game were bad in 2014?

He's got an excellent arm for a left-fielder, but he doesn't move well (and hasn't for 3 years at least).

For what it's worth, Ken Rosenthal tweeted this earlier tonight:

Sources: #BlueJays wanted VMart, but only would have engaged if his talks with #Tigers broke down. Knew that was his first choice.

‏@BKennedyStar 2 minutes ago
The #bluejays have just traded Anthony Gose, at this late hour, for 2B Devon Travis from the #tigers.

Travis is 23 years old and hit .298 with an 817 OPS at AA Erie this year. I don't know if that makes him ready for the majors.

I suspect AA does understand market value, but also understands marginal value.  What is a players marginal value to the club?  If you sign a guy for $20 mil a year and his value to the club is $20 mil then the marginal value gained is $0 there - you get quality but is it the best use of resources?  Right now Bautista and Encarnacion provide tons of marginal value to the team - they outproduce their pay significantly thus allow the Jays to have cash to blow on a Reyes & Buehrle.  But if you get too many Reyes/Buehrle types then you don't have financial space to win.

Ideally you use free agency to fill a hole you cannot fill any other way.  Martin might be that type, depending how much you feel Navarro has to catch and how good/bad he is on defense vs Martin.  Thole is secondary - worst case the Jays would have the 3 of them on the roster with Martin being the backup at 3B and Navarro at DH (probably could play 1B - did 2 games there in AA in 2011).

LF is an interesting situation.  Melky the Jays say they want back, but do they?  At $15+ mil a year he really isn't going to be worth it I suspect.  In his career he has had exactly 3 seasons that could be seen as worth that much (FanGraphs has last season at $14.4), and 7 that were not even worth 1/2 that.  I suspect AA would like Melky to get a crazy big and long deal from someone else, ideally a key competitor as odds are he won't be worth $15 mil in any season of any new deal he signs as it is rare for a player on the wrong side of 30 to be worth more than he has been worth on average before that. Especially when he has been slowing down as is.  I could easily see a trade or the Jays just going with Gose/Pillar/Pompey/Mayberry/etc. out there.

Victor Martinez... now that is an insane deal. $68 mil over 4 years or $17 mil per year for a pure DH, a guy FanGraphs has being worth that 3 times in his career and will be 36 for the 2015 season.  Crazy.

Check that, the Tigers were converting Travis to the OF. I wonder if the Jays agree. Travis was the Tigers #1 prospect per BA.

From mlive:

Devon Travis is in the process of learning a new position. But one thing hasn't changed: He remains one of the top prospects the Detroit Tigers have in their system.

In fact, Travis is the No. 1 Tigers prospect, according to Baseball America.

Baseball America released its updated list of top prospects for the Tigers organization Wednesday morning. Travis tops the list, followed by outfielder Steven Moya and right-handed pitcher Buck Farmer.

The Tigers moved Travis to the outfield late in the 2014 season, but his time there was short. Travis suffered a core muscle injury in the final week of the season for Double-A Erie.

Travis cannot wait to get back at it in center.

"I was having a blast," he said. "It was completely new to me, so I was like a kid out there. I was beginning to feel pretty comfortable out there and I can't wait to start playing again."

The core muscle injury, which required surgery, kept Travis from participating in the Arizona Fall League. Since rosters were set prior to the position switch, Travis was slated to play second base in Arizona, but he was going to work out in center field.

Travis will resume that outfield work in spring training. His recovery has been going well.

He was moved to CF bc he's behind Kinsler and the Jackson trade created a hole. The Tigers aren't interested in he future, they need to win now before their entire team is 35+ and overpaid.

Travis seems to have the desired hit tool, him being a #1 prospect of a team shouldn't get you too excited though as I suspect we have 10-15 guys who would've been in consideration in the Tigers organization.

Choice of Pompey or Pillar at C.F. in 2015?

Choice of Pompey or Pillar at C.F. in 2015?

Maybe the PPP - the Pompey/Pillar platoon? :-)

We need to know who's playing LF before we can answer that.

Buehrle being worth a qualifying offer is an interesting thought, John. Barring a meltdown in 2015 you'd think a team of Mark's choosing would be willing to work out a 3 year deal where he can guarantee himself double the QO, and Buehrle seems like the kind of guy that would leave some $ on the table in terms of AAV in order to retire in a situation in which he's comfortable.

and Buehrle seems like the kind of guy that would leave some $ on the table in terms of AAV in order to retire in a situation in which he's comfortable.

And get his dog back.