“Free agency began at 8 a.m. Monday, with teams retaining exclusive negotiating rights until midnight Friday,” wrote Jeff Blair in a piece chalk full of goodies in this morning’s Globe and Mail. “Other teams are not precluded from talking to free agents during these five days, but only the players previous team can re-sign him during the period.”
In other words, the Jays need to get on their damn horse with this managerial search, in order to make sure they don’t have too many balls in the air as the most ridiculously crucial free agent period this team has faced in a long time gets set to begin. And, at least according to Blair, it’s not going to be an easy decision, explaining that “one veteran baseball man, who knows Anthopoulos and the Blue Jays, said last week that he believed Anthopoulos would lean toward hiring a candidate with a background in player development as well as coaching – much like Farrell – which could hint of Wakamatsu,” however, he also believes that “finding someone who has proven that he can manage a Major League team and has demonstrated tactical nous would seem to be an important consideration.”
