Not that I’m afraid of what the Red Sox lineup would look like with Josh Hamilton in it (though I am), but this sounds like a pretty fantastic turn of events for the outfield down there in Fuckface Farrell’s Masshole Nation:
Source: #RedSox, Victorino talking about three-year, $37.5M deal. Progress fIrst reported by @nickcafardo.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 4, 2012
Cafardo had earlier called the Sox front runners, and says that there’s “optimism” a deal could happen.
Yikes. Remember when we thought that maybe the driving factor in the Jays’ big off-season would be the market for Yunel Escobar– a tainted but talented shortstop with a nice contract, but coming off a down year.
With a dearth of available shortstops, we theorized, maybe the Jays would be able to turn Escobar– who had a ready-made replacement in Adeiny Hechavarria– into the starting pitching the club so desperately needed. Hey, and the A’s had a surplus of starters, and could have used a cost-controlled shortstop. Perfect, right?
Yeah… about that…
“The Marlins are trying hard to trade shortstop Yunel Escobar, with the A’s , Yankees and Raysthe most likely teams to get him,” writes Danny Knobler of CBS Sports. “Conversations with the A’s have centered on either Brad Peacock or Grant Green, while discussions with the Yankees and Rays have included younger minor-leaguers, according to sources.”
Sure, we always figured the deal would have had to expand to include prospects, but still… Brad Peacock???
Let’s just say we should all still be pretty thrilled that the Jays managed to get pitching help the way they did.
So… there’s that.
Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos made his way over to whichever far corner of the Opryland facility is hosting “radio row” and hopped onto the air with Jeff Blair and Dirk Hayhurst this morning on the Fan 590, discussing with them the dog and pony show that is the Winter Meetings, all the rumours surrounding his club, the likelihood of deals getting done, JP Arencibia’s bizarre confidence, and– as is always most important for fans of the Rogers-owned club– payroll.
Typically, he doesn’t say a whole lot. And what he does say leaves more than enough room for him to wriggle his way out of the statement, if somehow needed– he has indeed learned well from Paul Beeston– but that surely doesn’t mean it’s not still worthy of our scrutiny.
The big payroll discussion comes at the end of the club, specifically when Blair asks whether Anthopoulos would rule out his club getting into a ‘bidding war’ for one of the remaining free agent pitchers.
One of the many outstanding reporters doing the lord’s work down there in Nashville who I didn’t happen to follow on Twitter until sometime during these Winter Meetings is Andy Martino, Mets beat writer for the New York Daily News. Fortunately for me, there is nary a rumbling that isn’t picked up by the ridiculously invaluable MLB Trade Rumours, which is where last night I was first alerted to Martino’s work, and one Jays-related tweet, in particular…
Also, lots of talk about Mets and Blue Jays on Dickey, but person briefed on those talks said not much happening there right now.
— Andy Martino (@MartinoNYDN) December 4, 2012
Ahh, the Winter Meetings: post number three on a deal that doesn’t have any traction whatsoever. Read the rest of this entry »
Yeah, his mechanics seem slightly out of whack…
Remember when this was a pipe dream?
No? Because I seem to vaguely recall a time when I found myself breathlessly writing posts about Dan Haren, who was nearly traded to the Cubs earlier in the off-season, before his medicals scared Chicago off. The Angels then declined to pick up his option, making him a free agent, despite the fact that it left them with a hopelessly thin rotation, having already traded Ervin Santana, and with Zack Greinke testing the market.
That probably should have seemed like enough of a red flag right there not to bother, but in the days before The Trade, and everything changing, it seemed like one of the best hopes the Jays may have had in landing a pitcher with a chance to be a ridiculous talent. Sure, he was hurt, but Haren also was worth a staggering 23 wins above replacement over the four seasons preceding 2012.
Ahh, but the Jays aren’t so much into $13-million fliers, and it turns out that’s precisely what it took to land him. MLBTR has the details. The Washington Nationals have signed him, and… hey, you never know, maybe it will work out. But it’s funny, I can’t claim to be nearly as pained by the loss as I surely would have been if Rogers had still been sitting on its damn wallet at this point.
Meh.
So… there’s that.
Monday was not a particularly eventful first day of the Winter Meetings, though that didn’t seem to have much of an impact on the post count around here, as all kinds of things happened quickly, and all kinds of interesting tidbits came to the fore. Some of them, it turns out, may have gotten a bit lost in translation– or, at the very least, lost when being condensed into 140 characters– as, thanks to the excellent work of Gregor Chisholm at his North of the Border blog, we can see a full transcript of comments Alex Anthopous made when speaking to the media earlier.
Here are a few spots that ought to be noted, given some of the other things posted here over the course of Day One…
Where’s the money, Anthopoulos?
Shi Davidi checks in with more excellent work for Sportsnet, having digested the comments Alex Anthopoulos made to reporters earlier this afternoon. He looks mostly at the depth moves that the club is aiming to make as they set their roster for the coming season, but as we see from the most fascinating part of the piece, it sounds as though that’s mostly out of necessity.
Anthopoulos pointed out that with the Miami Marlins blockbuster, the Blue Jays have left the payroll parameters (remember that fun term from last year’s winter meetings?) initially set for 2013 “in the dust, the rear-view mirror of where I thought we were going to be.”
Going to ownership for more money again is sure to be a tough sell for anything other than an impossible-to-pass-up bombshell, so the Blue Jays will probably need to build their depth through prescient minor-league free agent signings.
