Results tagged ‘ Alex Anthopoulos ’

Anthopoulos explains decision to option Romero

Anthopoulos media scrum:

On the decision to option Romero…

“After today’s game we sat down and talked for quite a bit. Myself, Tony LaCava, Pete Walker and obviously John. Ricky was better today, there’s no doubt about it and he’s making strides. You can see it, his changeup was so much better, everything was better but he was not there yet. The more we thought about it, could we have started with him? Sure. Ultimately it may have come in Toronto because he has made strides here but if he’s not ready and he’s not as sharp as he needs to be, we need more time.”

Why Dunedin…

“We thought about where we would send him, we ultimately decided, the other affiliates it’s cold, rain outs, we want to make sure he gets his work in. We’re going to continue to work with him down here where it’s warm, where can get his work in, and really just continue to get the direction of the plate because he’s making strides. Like we told him, we just ran out of time in getting him to where he needs to be.”

On how Romero took the news…

“Ricky, if you ask him, the bar is set so high for him because he has that type of ability. If you ask him, Ricky are you at your best right now? He knows he isn’t. Even if he’s not at his best, he’s still really good but he’s also working on things too. We did this a few springs ago with him, we were able to get it going in time for him to make the team right at the end and that was the hope again that he was going to get it right back at the end and we weren’t going to have to look back.

“Ultimately, the more we talked about it, we saw a lot of good things and he was fine but it’s not the Ricky we know he can be. We can try to just keep going, and when you’re at the big-league level it’s hard to continue working on things, or take a little more time, get him back to where he can be and from his standpoint, he understood, he’s a pro. That goes without saying. It’s always a tough conversation but he knows, he’s not exactly as sharp as he needs to be and he knows it’s going to take a little bit more time.”

Did Happ’s performance this spring impact the decision…

“No. That’s not to take anything away from J.A., this was about Ricky. Obviously we’ve seen what he has done, take away last year, three years in a row he was a horse for us, 225 innings, 2.90 ERA and everything he has done. He has been outstanding. It’s about getting him right and getting him straight. If we didn’t know what his ceiling was and what he can be, it’d be totally different. It’s about getting him right and obviously the sooner the better for us.”

Romero’s outing on Tuesday the final straw?

“No matter what, the entire time, things change in Spring Training so fast. Each year, I’m to the point where I’m almost not even going to watch the first few weeks of spring. You almost just have the watch the last 10 days or so. We sat down, we still have some other moves to make, you’re talking about the roster all of the time but today was one of those things, spring is done for all of the starters, these guys have pretty much all pitched and what’s the best thing to do. We weren’t going to make any evaluations until everyone was done.”

More on Romero’s results…

“It’s not results as much as we see some things he needed to change. You talk about direction and lines to the plate, it’s basically your balance going to home plate and where your front foot lands. It sounds easy but it just takes time when you start repeating it. He has done this before, he just has a tendency to do it. It’s one thing if it’s results, you’re just not getting results and you just have to continue to pitch and get out of it, we have a plan for him.

“We know what we need to address it’s ust not coming as fast as we wanted it to come. It  takes time. It could be the next start, all of a sudden it comes, it’s outstanding, he’s sharp, or it’s two starts from now, or three starts from now. He definitely took a step in the right direction today, it’s getting better, he just needs more time.”

Timeline for when Romero will be back….

“We have to get him back to where he was. We haven’t even gotten (to that point). This isn’t one of those things, we need to get him right mechanically. How long that takes, I don’t know. It could be very fast, it could take a little longer, we’re not putting a timeframe on it. Once we get him right mechanically, I think the results are going to follow.

“We’re all going to know and we’re all going to see it. You can go out and throw shutout innings but you can watch certain things, it can be line drives, it can be deep counts, you know someone’s not right mechanically. The performance might have been better than the line or the performance is not as good as the line. For him, it comes down to how does the stuff look, how does the command of the stuff look and how is his balance going towards the plate.”

Romero’s role? Is he now the sixth starter? Is there a place for him on this team?

“I have no idea where we’re going to be at. Obviously we have to move forward but I have no idea what the roster’s going to look like, what’s going to happen. Obviously if he gets back to where he can be, he’s one of the best starters in the game and I think he ends up being on anybody’s team at that point, certainly ours.

“But without trying to forecast what happens a week from now, three weeks from now, a month from now, it’s impossible to say. But I can’t wait for that day to come, when he’s ready and he’s back to what he was.”

Facing low level A-ballers and what can be gained…

“It’s not the results, it’s is he balanced. I know I brought up the example last year against the Yankees he was really good, I remember the second inning against Philadelphia earlier this spring he was really good. He was right where he needs to be, when he’s doing that, he’s on, he’s there. The problem is we’re getting it in spurts, we need to get it over six innings, seven innings, eight innings and then to do it over again each time. It’s there because he is showing it in flashes. We just need to get him back to the point where he’s doing it night in and night out, start to start, and then he’ll be back.”

Progression through the minors, will he go through every level?

“I don’t know. We haven’t gotten to that point. We’re open to anything. We’ll just see how things go but we haven’t gotten that far. Right now, if this was June or July, I don’t think he’d be in Florida. The problem is, is that it is cold, we miss a lot of games and also it’s a good time to continue working on some things especially with the Florida State League, that’s our affiliate.

” If he needs time to work on things, he can throw more bullpens, more sides, doesn’t matter if you’re playing short. For whatever reason if he needs to throw more sides you can work on things. That’s a big part of it, but we may change course a week from now.”

But eventually he’ll need to face better competition…

“Absolutely. But there have been times where we’ve had guys that have some success and you can call them up at any time, from anywhere. It certainly can be from here.”

On whether outing versus Pirates could have changed the club’s mind…

“Obviously if he was right back to where he was, Ricky and his delivery was right, sure, he’s outstanding. We were hopeful that at any time he was going to be right and we were going to continue until we ran out of time, continue to work with him and believe in him. We certainly do, we just need a little more time. If spring had gone on a week or two more maybe things change.”

Who will work with him in Dunedin…

“Dane Johnson is going to be the point man and obviously Rick Langford has worked with him in the past. They’ll be the guys to work with him day in and day out.”

Were Romero’s knees a factor…

“Obviously we’ve talked about that as well and we don’t see any correlation. It’s as much balance as anything else so it’s not drive, it’s not power, it’s none of that. Way back in 2008 or 2009, he was doing a lot of drills because he would spin off and fall off at times and throw a little more across his body and cut himself off. That’s your direction to the plate. When you’ve been doing something for so long, it just takes time to get back into a routine and do it inning by inning.”

All physical or is it mental as well…

“You can see when he’s right. I even find there are times when he’s going through his delivery and you can say okay, even before the ball crosses home plate you can tell that was good. It just takes time. We have to get him right.”

Comparable to Halladay?

“I don’t think so at all. I wasn’t here but that was a total overhaul, arm slot, delivery, this is more lower half and getting his body direction on line. It’s something we have done with him in the past and he just reverted back a little bit.”

Spent all winter and spring saying he’s in rotation. Does this affect your credibility in clubhouse?

“No, because Ricky knows. I can easily ask Ricky, and I did, are you exactly where you need to be? And he said no. In a lot of ways you’re doing this together. We can continue and you can get by, and do what you’re doing, he made it through six months last year, he made every start, he battled, but we knew he wasn’t at his best. We can sit idly by and just let him continue to just grind through it or we can get him right. I think that’s ultimately what it came down to.

“This isn’t about results as much as, obviously, the delivery impacts the results. He knows he has something he needs to address and fix and he’ll continue to work on it. It’d be different if he didn’t agree he had to make the changes. He completely agrees, he said I know I have to make these changes and I know I have to get them down. He’s working on something that he hasn’t completed yet. We just didn’t have enough time to get him to complete it. He’s certainly on his way, he’s making progress and he’s starting to get close.”

Expectations on team speed up this decision to send him down?

“No, because ultimately, we’ve said this many times, it’s hard to work on things at the big-league level. If there are no changes to be made and you just need to get through some things, fight through slumps, but when you need to make mechanical changes whether you’re a pitcher or position player, it’s hard to do that in an environment that’s results oriented.

“If we need him to throw five changeups in a row down here, it’s hard to do that against the New York Yankees because he needs to feel that extension on his front side just to make sure he gets it. It’s hard to do that when the games matter so ultimately what has to happen, we need to get these three outs, do whatever you can do to get those three outs.

Last week’s Minor League start, was that when this move was really considered strongly?

“You can save a lot of breath and a lot of conversations when you give yourself more time because your opinions can change. The one thing we knew was that he was working on things. How did he look? ‘Great, it’s coming.’ And that’s it. It’s now a matter of carrying over his bullpens into games and that takes time. It’d be one thing if Pete Walker and Pat Hentgen were coming back and saying it’s not coming back in the bullpen. But at times they’d come back and say, he looked great today … Is this the day it’s going to finally come?  But we’ve been down this path in 2009. We just needed to stick with it, be patient, and we were finally rewarded with it. This time, it’s going to take a little more time.”

“We did it together. Ultimately, it falls on me to make the decision but Gibby and I ultimately make the decision together but Pete is very involved and obviously Tony LaCava’s in there too. We talk about it and say, where do we think he’s at. We talk about things that we saw and you’re starting to take the entire body of work. But really it comes down to delivery wise, is this the right thing. We debated it. Is he better off being in Toronto and is it going to come there? So, that’s part of the discussion.

Was it unanimous?

“Yes. Ultimately you come to that but it takes time. We were talking about some other spots on the roster,  you start talking and you go one way. Then after five minutes of talking it out, we went a completely opposite way. Guys we thought were going to be on it, all of a sudden we’re going to change it. We’re going to sleep on things but that’s how quickly things change and that’s why you have to give yourself as much time as you can and you can’t make snap moves.”

Happ’s performance make this easier?

“I don’t look at it that way. This is about Romero. We have to get him right. It’s a matter of, the right thing for him is to get him back on track and we need more time to do that. If we didn’t have anybody, I’m sure we would have done something.”

But it’s a nice luxury to have…

“That was by design because you always want to have depth. We’re going to continue to try to add depth no matter what. We still need people to stay healthy and perform. Depth, we’re still going to continue to look for that the entire year.”

Described as minor tweaks. Expectation this will resolve itself sooner rather than later?

“I don’t know. It’s not a major mechanical change but it takes time. If I asked you to write with your left hand rather than your right hand, it doesn’t seem like it’s a big deal. We’re not changing the way your arm moves but it would take time to end up doing that. Just changing the way you land on the mound is not a big thing but it takes time and it takes repetition to do it, to do it with every pitch and to do it over and over again. We’ve been down this path before, it took some time then. Maybe if we had started a little bit earlier, a week earlier, would he be 100% right now. Those are all things you can look back on.”

Confident if and when this gets solved it’s a permanent solution?

“You have to be. I haven’t really thought that far ahead. He has been great, he has been great for a long time. He was a horse for us for three straight years when we got him ironed out. He was an All-Star and we’re very confident we’ll get him back to that.”

In Minors as long as it takes?

“Until we can get him right, sure.”

Talked to Happ yet?

“I called him after we told Romero, I told him ‘We optioned out Romero, wanted to call you directly. You’re going to be the fifth starter. I wanted you to hear it from me first before we announce this tonight.’ “

How much was yours and Gibby’s public backing in recent weeks was for Romero’s benefit?

“It’s what we ultimately believed because if we hadn’t been through this before it’d be very different. I remember in 2009, I think he walked four in an inning. We were getting ready to send him out. Same thing your coaches are telling you in the bullpens, don’t worry about what you’re seeing in games, it’s coming, it’s getting there, we’re working on it. The exact same thing happened. Since we’ve been through this before and it was a success and it worked out, there was no reason to change or deviate from that at all. Especially when you saw flashes of that too.”

State of affairs with Jose Bautista

On Reyes and Melky at the top of the batting order…

“People with high on-base percentage and low strikeout rates at the top of the lineup is always good, especially when they can run like Jose and Melky can. They’re going to set the table for us. The better they do, the better that Edwin and Adam and I will be able to drive runs in, and that’s going to lead to more runs, and that should lead to more wins. It’s not solely on them, though. We can get going one through nine because we’re pretty solid. The first half of the lineup and the second half of the lineup are different styles, but there’s still a capability of scoring runs.

“J.P. can drive a lot of runs in and he can hit home runs. So can Adam in the five-hole if that’s where he ends up. Brett’s got speed. Bonifacio’s got speed if he ends up being the starter. Colby’s got speed and Colby can hit home runs. It’s a good mix. I get excited when I talk about the offence because I think that we’re going to be able to score a lot of runs. We did that for two months last year. We were at the top of the league in offence categories when we were all healthy and performing, and we have a much better and accomplished lineup now than we did last year.”

Reyes as leadoff hitter…

“We haven’t had a true leadoff guy here since Scutaro left and even him, he wasn’t a true leadoff guy. He did have some good leadoff hitter characteristics like getting on base and not striking out but he didn’t steal bases. With Reyes, we have the whole package which is going to be huge.

“With Bonifacio we’re basically going to have a second leadoff guy. If you look at his career stats, they’re in percentages they’re pretty similar to Jose’s with stolen bases and getting on base. He might strike out a little bit more but if he ends up being the starter and he hits ninth, that nine, one, two combination, even without getting hits, tough ground balls, high choppers, hit and runs, bunts, they can create some havoc too without even having to hit the ball in the gaps or get some hard base hits.

“That can actually get you excited too because you see a pitcher when they’re dealing and you have three guys in a row that can bunt, get jammed and beat out a ground ball, and also hit a high chopper and get a base hit, then we get to the plate. That’s not bad either.”

Versatility of lineup…

“We’re pretty balanced left to right and we definitely have more depth. When you talk about Izturis and Bonifacio battling for the second-base job and the other guy is going to be on the bench that’s going to give you a Major League starter on your bench. So does Rajai, the guy steals 50 bases a year and he’s going to be on our bench. You feel for those guys because you know they can start on any team but at the same time they’re trying to win and they’re trying to have that depth so those are weapons we can use later in the game in case we have those close games.

“We’re pretty balanced left and right. I wouldn’t worry about our versatility too much even though it’s there. Hopefully we can just play in our basic positions without having to move around too much, especially up the middle.

“So whoever gets the second base job hopefully they get handed the job and they can play every day. Because we’re going to have J.P., whoever ends at second, then Reyes, then Colby in center. We can build around those guys. I think Melky and I are pretty much set to be in the corners and then Lawrie’s entrenched at third. So, whoever is at first the other is going to be at DH. Everything is pretty set except for second base and I don’t think we’re going to have to be moving around which hopefully we don’t get. But in case that does happen, we do have the versatility because Izturis can play everywhere, so can Bonifacio.

“If I have to move around, hopefully I don’t, but I’ll volunteer myself. Edwin can actually play third whenever it’s needed. Adam used to play outfield, he can play first, he can DH. We can move around, Melky can play in any spot in the outfield, so can I, so can Colby, so we can move around.”

Bonifacio even more valuable during Interleague Play…

“Especially because of the double switch. Izturis too, he can play the outfield if needed. We have a good bench. DeRosa can play everywhere, first, third, outfield. Name it, even if shortstop or second if needed. Especially in a National League game, double switch, late in the game, we’re going to have to do whatever it takes to win each particular game. We’re not going to just sit back and rely on people stepping up to the plate and driving the ball. Whatever it takes, maybe we need to make some moves and we’re going to be able to plug guys in, in different positions on defense in the aftermath when we have to go back.”

Chemistry tough with so many new guys?

“It depends on the guys. If you have a group of guys that are kind of pulling the rope their own way and not the team way, it could happen. But the sense I get from meeting all of these guys is that’s not going to happen. They’re all Major League established players. They’re not out to make a name for themselves, they’re not prideful players where they’re going to take their personal stats over team wins.

“I think everyone here has the same goal in mind and that’s winning games and hopefully going to the World Series and being world champions. Because of those reasons I don’t think team chemistry is going to be an issue at all.”

On having so many Dominican players and what that brings to the club…

“We’re just like any other Latin american from the Caribbean, close to the equator. We’re just high energy, warm, passionate people at anything we do. We bring that to the table when we play baseball and these guys have seen me play for awhile and Edwin and maybe a lot of other Dominicans that have been through Toronto.

“We play with our emotions on our sleeve and that’s usually a good thing. It can be negative in certain situations but hopefully we don’t take that to the negative side and we can keep it on the positive. Because of the skill set that a lot of these guys have, high energy, high speed guys, we’re going to have a loose clubhouse with a lot of happy people with people running in and out and keeping the energy and the emotions running high at all times and I think that can drive a team to be always in a good move, be happy and when people are happy and we do what we love for a living and getting paid for doing, it gets you excited to get out of bed everyday to go to work and when that’s the energy around you’re going to do the best you can every day.”

It’s from the culture…

“It’s from a mix. Demographics don’t lie, they’ve been studied for a lot of years in social and cultural qualities and characteristics. That’s just how our people and our race is as a whole. We have those traits because that’s where we’re from.”

Expectations do they bring added pressure…

“No, at least not for me. I can’t speak for everybody but expectations for me are usually good because they make you feel that people think you’re capable of doing it. I have no problem with people holding me accountable for my job. If I didn’t feel like I was good enough, I probably wouldn’t be here and I probably wouldn’t be doing this for a living.

“Just because people expect me to play good, that’s not going to add any more pressure on me. How would you feel it your editor told you that you had to put in a good article by noon. You’d probably not have any pressure because you do it all the time. You just sit down and do it and that’s what you get paid to do. Same with us. At least for me. I don’t feel any added pressure. I don’t think anybody individually has to do anything outstanding here in order for the team to succeed.”

What’s it like taking hacks with R.A. Dickey…

“I’ve only hit off him once. He was a different pitcher back then but it still wasn’t fun. It wasn’t fun hitting off Wakefield and he throws way harder than that and more pitches. But luckily I don’t have to worry about that anymore because he’s on my side. I don’t have to worry about hitting off him.”

Fastest workers in Buehrle and Dickey does that help…

“Of course it does and hopefully Ricky can go back to doing that because that’s what he was really good at his first two years. I can’t really speak for him and the reasons why he changed. I can guess but I’d rather not do that now. Hopefully having those examples in front of him it will get him back to his own ways which allowed him to be successful in the past, that was working quick, inducing ground balls, working off the sinker and throwing a lot of strikes. It does help a lot on defense because it keeps you on your toes, plus it keeps that momentum going your way.

“That’s why I think some of those guys stay away from the big innings because they throw a lot of strikes, they work quick, and even when they have runners on base, just because they work quick means they can’t steal bases, can’t certain things, which keeps them out of the big innings so that’s going to be huge.”

Did you mention that to Ricky?

“A lot of stuff was mentioned to Ricky, from my end, to the manager but after awhile you just kind of felt like he was just adding too much pressure on himself and you just wanted him to get out of it and do as good as we know he can. After awhile, we just let him go to work and let him figure it out on his own. It was just one of those odds years. I’m not worried about him, though, I think he can get back. But last year was definitely tough for him and tough for us to watch him go through it. I’m a big believer that he’s going to be back to being the pitcher that we all know he can be and he has shown in the past.

Surprised he was hurting physically?

“No, not at all. I could kind of tell from the way he was throwing and the velocity dip a little bit and the movement of his ball and the fact that he couldn’t really have the control that he showed in the past. But those were just guesses, I couldn’t tell you for sure but in my head maybe there was something going on. But pitchers pitch through that at times. He’s not going to blame his lack of success on that either.”

He doesn’t, but he also acknowledges more than he did before…

“Of course, but he’s competitive and he’s going to give it his best no matter what. When he’s out on the mound, he’s not going to think, his elbow’s hurting, his shoulder, his knee, whatever. He’s going to go out there and do his job as best as he can given his condition on that particular day. He battles his ass off and I think that’s something to be admired. Even so, he had a tough year, but he had the bad ending of the year.

“His first two months, even though his ERA was up and he had a lot of base runners, he was still like 8-1 or something, he was giving us a whole lot of chances to win games. I’m a big believer in Ricky, I don’t think the Ricky last year is the real one and I think the real one is going to be back this year and hopefully we’re going to keep him on that note for the rest of his career.”

Doubted that the time would come this team would spend?

“It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you don’t see any hints. But they had a plan and they’re not the type of people that operate on telling people what they’re going to do first. You guys know that they keep their cards close to their chest but they do have a plan and I don’t think it’s really the players or anybody else’s responsibility to kind of be a step ahead of them and really think or be proving anything that we’re going to make any moves.

“They’re the ones running the show for a reason, they’re good at it, they have a plan and they executed it when they thought the moves were needed and the timing was right to do them. It was one of the promises that was given when I signed here and they definitely came through.”

Alex bounce ideas off you?

“He always bounces stuff off all of us. He doesn’t ask for permission or he doesn’t seek approval but he wants to know everybody’s feedback. Most of the time it’s not about the physical ability or the baseball player that he is acquiring but the person. He wants to know what type of guy some of these players are. If they’re good in the clubhouse, if they’re good people outside of the stadium and how they’re going to gel in the clubhouse and if it’s going to be an issue and stuff like that. It’s more on the personal side more than anything, I think the baseball analysis is done by him and his team and they’re the people who make those types of decisions.

“But if questions are asked about guy’s personalities and stuff, we’re honest and that’s important for a clubhouse because we don’t want to acquire someone that’s going to be a black sheep or a rotten tomato and kind of ruin the whole atmosphere in the clubhouse or the team chemistry. I think he does a good job, trying to not only figure out who the player that he’s going to get but the person as well.”

Melky different player now?

“I played with him in three different levels in the Minor Leagues and he was an All-Star in all of them. I thought he was a Major League caliber player back then. He’s a great person, he is not perfect, he made a mistake and has admitted it and that’s in the past. But I thought his baseball skills have always been way above average and he has shown that year after year. I can’t say why he didn’t have success in New York, I can guess a couple of reasons but I don’t like to guess too much especially when I’m talking to you guys.

“I don’t think we’re going to see anything different. He’s a great hitter, he’s going to make contact here, he’s not going to strike out too much. He’s going to steal bases, play solid defense and hold runners, which I think a lot of people are overlooking in what he’s going to bring to the table on the defensive side. He has a great arm and knows where to throw the ball in certain situations which is going to prevent runs. It’s almost as good as driving in runs, preventing runs. We’re going to have a lot of fun, he’s going to bring a lot to the table for this team on the field and off the field. He’s a Major Leaguer with a lot of success in the past so we’re happy to have him.”

AA said you’d be willing to go to his press conference and they said it wasn’t necessary…

“I watched the whole Escobar thing from afar and I think there were a lot of things that got lost in translation and lost in the cultural differences. Personality of the player, which when you’re put under the microscope in the public’s eye, everything is under scrutiny and people’s personalities are not taken into consideration. People are very judgmental when you’re put in that type of situation, especially after you made a mistake.

“I think his situation could have been handled better by having a good liaison, a good person translating and kind of just letting the public know exactly what the player was feeling at the time. I think I could have brought that to the table with Melky, they chose to address it in a different way and I think it was a good way to address it. I volunteered, they passed and I don’t have a problem with any of that.”

Return from the holidays

I’m back in action after taking a couple of lovely weeks to return to my home province of New Brunswick to visit with friends and family. Now that the holidays are out of the way, it’s time to resume looking ahead to the upcoming season and what better way to start than a news conference with R.A. Dickey and Alex Anthopoulos.

On the main site, you’ll find my article on Dickey plus another item with all the latest information on Darren Oliver‘s potential retirement, request for more money, or a trade. After the 30-minute news conference with Dickey, Anthopoulos took some additional time to meet with reporters.

I’ll attempt to post a full transcript later this week but in the meantime here is a rundown of what Anthopoulos had to say:

  • The Blue Jays continue to move forward under the assumption that Oliver will retire instead of returning for another season in Toronto. The club appears unlikely to offer him additional money on the $3-million he’s set to make in 2013 and Anthopoulos said a trade would only be made if it provided the Blue Jays with a clear upgrade.
  • Even if Oliver does retire, Anthopoulos doesn’t expect to spend the $3-million on another player: “We blew so far past where we were supposed to be (in payroll). Darren was an exception, we exercised the option at the beginning of the offseason, payroll commitments were so different back then. Obviously if Darren was to choose to come back, we would certainly honor that, we’d be thrilled to have him. But that money is Darren Oliver money, it’s not go get another player or reliever money.”
  • Anthopoulos confirmed that former shortstop prospect Justin Jackson will make the transition to a pitcher this Spring. Jackson said on Twitter that he was clocked at 95MPH and it’s the live arm that has the Blue Jays intrigued about the possibilities. There are no guarantees it will ever work out but with Jackson failing to produce at the plate during his Minor League career it’s a risk worth taking.
  • J.A. Happ will begin the season as the Blue Jays sixth starter. In order words, he’s the back-up and won’t get an opportunity in the rotation until someone gets hurt. In the meantime, Happ will compete for a spot in the bullpen but he also has an option remaining on his contract and it’s possible he could begin the year at Triple-A Buffalo.
  • Anthopoulos said Happ wasn’t exactly happy about the news but the writing was on the wall once the club acquired Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle and Dickey for its rotation. Happ has accepted his role and for whatever it’s worth Anthopoulos said he’s excited about playing on a winning ballclub.
  • The Blue Jays do not expect outfielder Melky Cabrera to be asked to take part in the upcoming World Baseball Classic. Jose Reyes, Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie are all but a lock to participate while it remains unlikely Jose Bautista will receive clearance considering he is coming off a left wrist injury that prematurely ended his 2012 campaign. No word yet on whether pitchers like Dickey, Brandon Morrow and Josh Johnson would be in the mix for Team USA.
  • Pitchers and catchers are set to report to Spring Training on Feb. 13. The full roster will officially report on Feb. 17.
  • Dickey said that he played catch with J.P. Arencibia in Nashville on Monday. Dickey praised Arencibia’s willingness to learn how to catch a knuckleball and provided the third-year catcher with a large glove that it typically used to for that type of pitcher.
  • Anthopoulos said the Blue Jays remain in the market for a right-handed bat that can be used off the bench. The preference is to acquire someone that has the ability to play in the infield but Anthopoulos may choose to stick with signing several players to Minor League contract with a shot at competing for the job. It’s also possible that additional players will become available when teams start making their cuts late in camp.
  • Anthopoulos also said that Sal Fasano‘s departure as the manager in Double-A New Hampshire will not have any impact on a potential future in that role at the big league level. The Blue Jays approached Fasano about taking a promotion to become a Minor League catching coordinator and they feel it’s something that will make him a more well-rounded coach/potential manager in the future.

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @gregorMLB.

Winter Meetings wrap-up with Anthopoulos

The Winter Meetings have come to an end and not surprisingly it was a relatively quiet week for the Blue Jays. Sure, there were plenty of rumours but in reality there was never anything close to getting done in Nashville.

Toronto already completed most of its offseason shopping, and while there is certainly a desire to keep improving, the type of moves that could come next weren’t expected to take place in the Music City. Could R.A. Dickey still be in play? Perhaps but the ball is clearly in New York’s court at this point.

We know that the Blue Jays and Mets have engaged in discussions but the extent of those talks remain very much unknown. Before anything can happen the Mets must make a final decision about whether they can re-sign their No. 1 starter, which remains their top priority. If those negotiations reach an impasse then Toronto along with several other clubs could enter the mix. That doesn’t guarantee any deal will ever get done but it’s safe to assume that Alex Anthopoulos will continue to explore the possibility. 

With nothing on the horizon, Anthopoulos left the Winter Meetings a day early and did not stick around for the Rule 5 Draft (which didn’t really matter because Toronto was already at full capacity on its 40-man roster). Before he flew out, though, Anthopoulos sat down for a lengthy chat with Toronto reporters. Here’s what he had to say and make sure to give me a follow on Twitter @gregorMLB if you’re not doing so already!

Alex Anthopoulos:

On whether there was any progress on potential moves as the Meetings drew to a close…

“There are things that we looked at, spent a little time on, but then you realize they’re just not a fit. You always examine everything but there’s nothing that was presented to us that we’ve spent days on, or we’re working through. There was maybe one idea that someone floated that was interesting, that was fair value, we spent the night reviewing it, we just didn’t feel like it was the right fit for our club.”

On whether there were offers he presented to other teams…

“That I would say yes. But, again, I just don’t see it. They are more concepts. We’re not going to have anything resolved at all. Just more ideas, this player, that player, it’s more on the trade front than anything else. We’ve floated ideas, certainly teams can come back to us on them.”

On whether the previous moves this offseason took away a sense of urgency for these Winter Meetings…

“I think it’s always harder to get things done here. I feel like the Winter Meetings, there’s almost too much going on that it’s hard to get anything done other than free agent signings. This is where a lot of free agent deals get done, a lot of agents want to meet, and you’re always weighing free agents with trades.

“If we were to do anything (else), take a lot of the groundwork that was laid here and you do it after you get to step away, everyone gets to calm down a little bit. You’re trying to get a hold of people, they’re trying to get a hold of you, you miss calls because you’re in the middle of a meeting or on a phone call. It’s tough, everyone’s so preoccupied.”

On whether he expects that to continue through the month of December and result in a busy January…

“I think January will be Minor League signings. Maybe last minute trades, teams that have lost out on certain players. If we have depth maybe there’s a fit there.

“Clearly we made a large transaction early and that’s going to impact our ability to do other things. I don’t expect to do anything big.”

On whether he’s more likely to make a trade or sign a free agent…

“If I had to pick one, I’d say we’re unlikely to do either right now. But I’m always going to say the trade front.”

Does it bother you Yunel is back in the division? Would you ask a team not to flip a player to a division rival?

“You can do that. But when you’re making a trade, you’re making a trade with that team. You can’t try to start to control what happens after the fact. And how long does that last? Is it an agreement with the GM and he’s not there anymore, if things change. So, no, that’s just part of the game.

“At the end of the day, you can’t worry about what everyone else is doing. Yunel’s a good player, Reyes was a better fit for us. I’m not surprised that he got traded. I think there was a very real scenario he was going to get traded.”

Are you surprised the Yankees’ money doesn’t seem to weigh as much anymore?

“I know there’s been a lot that has been talked about. It seems odd. I’ll believe when I see it at the end of January or when Spring Training hits. They’re still going to have a healthy payroll, it’s going to be high. I can’t tell you that I know what the Yankees exactly are doing. Maybe they’re waiting for the right deals.

“I think they have been very specific. They’ve spent money, you look at Kuroda, he got a pretty good contract, it’s a one-year deal. Andy Pettitte. I think they’re just being very specific in where they’re spending their money. That’s just from an outsider.

“I know a lot has been written about and talked about on front. It’s not like they haven’t spent money. Three signings they made free agency wise were $10-million or more. They’ve already spent $38-million or whatever it was on three players and that’s pretty good.”

Is filling important positions on one-year contracts a problem? They seem to be trying to get their payroll down by next year.

“Yeah, I read that too, 2014. I think for the Yankees it’s not because they’re a great organization, they’re a winning organization. They’ve made the playoffs every year in the last 18 years or so except once and these are all older, more experienced players. It’s very similar to Toronto in the early ’90s. They had a lot of established stars that took shorter term deals because they wanted a chance to win. Or you see a guy like Torii Hunter go to Detroit on a two-year deal.

“Those winning organizations, they get those players on shorter-term contracts because most times those players have made their money, they’ve had their accomplishments, winning’s the last piece that they want and those organizations are in a great spot to sign those guys.”

Josh Hamilton seems to be having difficulty securing a long-term contract. Are the days of seven or eight-year deals coming to an end?

“They continue to happen because Ryan Braun was extended last year, Troy Tulowitzki, Evan Longoria, David Wright. Seven-year deals, they’re latched onto deals that are already existing but those deals are alive and well.”

Are those better deals to sign when they’re your own player?

“I think any time you’re signing your own player you have more information than on a player from the outside and there’s normally an age component there because the free agency component, you’re only older. We feel pretty strongly, I know Paul definitely has been the biggest proponent of it, is term. We’d rather pay a higher rate on a shorter term than doing an incredibly long deal. Things change.

“I’ve come around to it, I really have. I know that it was more of a wait and see approach at the beginning but I’ve really come around to it. Players change, things change fast. Even five years in this game is a really long time.”

Does A-Rod deal lend credence to that?

“I think the injury component. Eric Chavez signed a deal with Oakland a long time ago and people talked about when Longoria signed his deal, he looked at guys like Grady Sizemore. I think the health is the biggest thing. Even from a performance standpoint things change as well. The longer you go on a deal the more things change. We’re dealing with human beings.”

Contracts Boston gave to Victorino and Napoli does that put Bautista’s contract in a different light?

“I think the biggest thing to look at, Jose, his contract was after one year of performance at the age of 31. At the time of the signing, the free agents at the time, Victor Martinez had a long career at a premium position and he got $12.5 million. Paul Konerko was a multiple All-Star for years, consistency of performance, he got $12.5 per year. Dan Uggla, years of consistent performance, got 12 something. Adrian Beltre, who was a great player for a long time and a Gold Glove third baseman got only $2-million more than Jose per year after a lot of years of great production at a premium position.

“Even if you look at David Wright’s deal right now, the extension, the average annual value is $17-million. I’m not saying it’s a small amount of money, that’s years of performance there, Zimmerman, Longoria. I think someone said it best, there’s no one in the history of the game that made more money off one year than Jose Bautista. That’s not to disparage him.

“I’ve said this before, I was uneasy with the contract. Two or three days later I doubted myself and wondered if I did the right thing. I’d like to sit here and say, we knew all along he was going to perform well. But I still think the way things are, those deals are shorter-term deals and obviously Jose’s was a five-year deal, but look at what Beltre since he has signed his deal, he has been unbelievable and he is making $2-million more.”

On Red Sox plugging holes one at a time and whether the Blue Jays could have taken a similar approach or if they needed to get everything done at once…

“We talked a lot. We had people in the office that would have not done that trade, which was an indication that it was a fair deal from a baseball standpoint. It’s very hard to give up that kind of talent. One of the big talking points internally was, rather than give up the players, we were taking up a lot of dollars, let’s go spend it in the free agent market and we’d get to keep our players.

“In theory, that’s outstanding. That is the way to go, in theory, if you can guarantee getting the free agent players. The problem, as I even saw last year, there are two examples but one especially, there was a reliever that we tried to sign last year that I must have called the agent 80 times. We were offering more money and we just ultimately, it was geography, it was family, it was all of those things. Sometimes even though you have more money and more years there’s no guarantee you’re going to get the player.

“We sit here sometimes now and talk about, let’s go sign this free agent, and I remind everybody, a bunch of other teams are having the same conversation we are. There’s value in getting the bird in the hand and that’s sometimes where you don’t haggle as much if you’re close to being able to get something done.

“In a perfect world you keep the young players, you sign the free agent if you can get the right value. But from that standpoint it was the certainty of acquiring the players carried a lot of weight.”

But would you have been able to get the money if you did it piece by piece or would you have had to go to ownership each time?

“I would have been on my own to a certain point and once I reached that point, now I’m going over, that’s when I pick up the phone and call. But it’s pretty fast. I don’t have to go up to Rogers and put up a PowerPoint slide presentation and spend days doing it. Obviously I have a direct line with Paul and Paul takes care of that.

“It’s pretty seamless and it’s pretty fast. Nothing should develop so fast that I don’t have 30 seconds to make a call.”

But would it have been a tougher sell to keep going back to repeatedly as opposed to the one-stop shopping?

“We had a pretty good amount of money to spend coming into the offseason one way or the other. I would have brought Paul along ahead of time. It wouldn’t have been all of a sudden something came out of nowhere. Free agency wise you always have a game plan. We wanted to get at least two starters. We wanted to fill certain spots, utility infield, shortstop, all that kind of stuff.

“We had meetings right after the season, we had targets in free agency we were going to go after. We had made calls on the trade front. That’s what I talked about at the GM meetings, there were a lot of other balls in the air, there were a lot of other free agents we could have engaged in, but the Marlins trade was clearly the right fit.

“We had the right players for them and they had the right players for us. It made all the sense in the world. Rather than try to spend time on this and that, to focus all of our energy on that. We talked out of the Marlins suite, I said this is the deal we’re going to spend our time on. We’re going go at it hard, spend the week or five-six days and there was value in getting it done early. We couldn’t leave it hanging around with all of the other things going on.”

On whether there’s a specific type of player he’s looking for as the 25th guy…

“There’s value in keeping that spot open. You may, for whatever reason, carry one more guy in the bullpen. You may want to have someone that could be on option that you’ve got the flexibility to have someone go up and down if there’s a need there.

“We’ve picked up players each year at the end of Spring Training. Whether it was (Jayson) Nix or Fred Lewis. Guys become available at the end of Spring Training when they don’t make clubs.”

On Escobar (question asked on behalf of Tampa media)…

“Good player. Good defensive player. Outstanding hands, outstanding arm strength. A guy that has the ability to get on base and has very good raw power, pretty good gap power and has a lot of ability. A lot of talent, very talented shortstop.”

On how the AL East changed with the moves in the Winter Meetings…

“I still think there is so much more to be done on all levels. We up making a transaction early. Not by design, it just worked out that way. There’s no doubt those teams, not necessarily the Rays, but those teams do have dollars to spend, they have holes to fill. They’re going to keep doing it. Normally New York and certainly Boston can be big players in free agency. I expect that to continue, I don’t expect that to change.

“We made a big transaction early but there are still a lot of very good free agents that are out there. We’re done not, those teams are going to continue to get better.”

Leaving here closer to a free agent or a trade?

“If I had to pick one I’d say we’re unlikely to do either right now.”

So you’re set?

“I know we love to put words in my mouth but no I would say we’re going to try to continue to do things. I just don’t see there being anything right now. I think the Winter Meetings is tough. We’ve inquired on players, we’ve talked about things. But we don’t have anything that’s remotely close or that we’re really having a debate. I think there’s a bunch of deals that we can make at prices that we definitely do not want to pay.”

Long question about whether there’s a specific type of hitter for the 25th spot. A versatile player or a guy who can hit with some power, etc…

“We’ve had a debate about the 25th guy. I know it’s the 25th guy, but because of the versatility of the guys on the roster with Bonifacio, Izturis, obviously guys that can play all three outfield spots with Davis and Cabrera. We just don’t know how much the 25th guy is going to play and how he’s going to fit.

“We think Davis is certainly a bat that can hit against left-handers because he’s had some success doing that. The debate has been, do you keep the spot open? See how things go in Spring Training. Guys on Minor League deals that are performing well, guys that are out of options that don’t make teams. We can just take a wait and see approach. If we go sign someone to a guaranteed deal, and if we do, do you take someone that has more ability or someone that has a better clubhouse dynamic. Realizing that there isn’t going to be that many at-bats unless of course everybody gets hurt.

“That’s kind of the debate. Do you get someone that can help the dynamic of the clubhouse or be strictly the best player.”

Beeston talks current state of affairs

As promised yesterday, here is the transcript of a brief scrum with Blue Jays president Paul Beeston. It’s obviously much, much shorter than the 6,000-plus transcript of Alex Anthopoulos‘ media availability but there are still some interesting nuggets to take out of this:

Can you do an all-dirt infield?

“It’s not going to happen for the next five years, four years, or until we deal with the Argos situation. Because of the way the stands move, because of the fact it’s multi-purpose, that’s not going to happen. The way we’d like to see it is an all-grass field, we would put it in on March 1st and leave it there until the end of the baseball season. It can be done.”

Is there more money available for this team?

“In all honesty, I think we have to look at each case and whether or not it makes sense. We have a great owner. What I said before, we’ll spend money when the opportunity is right. The opportunity has been right before and we actually didn’t get the deal done. So, when Alex did this deal, and when he signed Melky Cabrera, the reality of the situation is that we had been down this path before. It didn’t get done, but we knew we had the support of Rogers and Rogers is 100% owners, they don’t have to go to anybody else.

“From the point of view, if there is more and it makes sense and you can improve the team I think the answer to that is yes. I don’t know that but I have absolutely no reason to say the answer is no. They have been terrific all the way along. We didn’t execute for a lot of different reasons.”

Learn lessons from the last spending spree (A.J. Burnett, B.J. Ryan, etc)?

“I don’t know if they learned, I learned. There’s no use in spending money just for the sake of spending money. There’s smart money and there’s dumb money. We want to spend smart money, we think we spent smart money. But we don’t start Spring Training until Feb. 15, we’ll find out whether it’s smart money or not at that time.

“But we actually believe we improved the club. Our goal is to be a team that wins on a sustainable basis. He didn’t give away the farm system but he gave away potentially great players in the sense of the way they project. And I think the reason we were able to do it, is the money that has been spent in the last three years in the farm system. I would think maybe Washington spent more than us, but I don’t know anyone else that spent more than us in the farm system.”

In terms of players or?

“In terms of dollars. We’ve been spending, $15,16,17-million a year. So from the point of view, the way that we would sign guys that we picked up as a sandwich pick, I think Sanchez came that way, Nicolino. So, I don’t have any question that Rogers …. (inaudible) … because I think Rogers wants to win but you can’t just go buy a team.

Last winter, you said in the three of next five years Toronto would make the postseason. Do you still stand by those comments?

“The way that question went, we had one-year, three-year, five-year, and I said two-to-three years actually and I still believe that. That’s the goal. We’re not spending this money guaranteeing we’re going to win, but we’re not spending this money expecting we’re going to be an also-ran either. That’s the truth.”

Whether TV deal for MLB helped the funds become available this offseason…

“No. The real reason is that we have to show the fans there’s a reason to come out. We have a lot of empty seats that we fill, we have a lot of suites that we can fill. We’ve got a lot of things that can generate revenue and we’ll put it back into the baseball team. I don’t worry about that, we can play with the big boys financially but we’re still going to spend smartly and we’re not going to have really long-term contracts. I like three years, now they’ve talked me into five, but I can’t see us going to like 10-year contracts.”

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