G-Snarls

Sign with the Jays or Kawasaki will hurt you!

I think he just might be... But I still don't see him choosing Toronto and I don't see AA outbidding the teams he'd rather play for by 20-30% Would love to be wrong but...

I really do think AA/Beeston/Rogers are seriously interested in signing him. AA has been pinching pennies this off season. I just don't think Tanaka will want to come here for the same $ that NYY or a west coast team might pay. And no way the Jays are willing to go Mariners-style in outbidding those teams.

Will be moved to OT once we've had our hunting debate LOL

We allow angrioter some slack for exactly that reason -the LOL's

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 34s Sources: #Rays to sign free-agent IF Jayson Nix to minor-league deal.

Hopefully AA and Beeston are off to California as we speak

BEN NICHOLSON-SMITH JANUARY 9, 2014, 11:15 AM Masahiro Tanaka is in the United States to meet with interested teams, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported Thursday. The Japanese right-hander will meet with as many as 12 teams in the Los Angeles area by Friday. The Toronto Blue Jays are among the many teams that have had multiple discussions with Tanaka’s representatives at Excel Sports Management, according to Heyman. However, it’s not clear if the Blue Jays have an in-person meeting planned. Many of the organization’s top team executives were in Toronto Wednesday at the club’s rookie camp. The Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Angels, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks are believed to have meetings planned, Heyman writes. Teams will have access to a medical report on the 25-year-old Tanaka. Any team can bid for Tanaka as long as the club is prepared to pay a $20 million release fee to his former team, Japan’s Rakuten Golden Eagles. Most observers view Tanaka as the top available arm and expect him to obtain more than $100 million on a long-term contract when he does sign. Agent Casey Close is meeting with teams today and may meet with as many as five or six teams per day, Heyman reports.

Some news tidbits He's in North America meeting with teams: http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/report-jays-among-teams-talking-to-tanaka/

AA's patient approach this off season may just pay off yet

BNS on expected costs for remaining FA pitchers: http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/asking-prices-of-top-remaining-mlb-pitchers/

Sounds like a LOT of this (and the NHL deal) have to do with securing rights for online distribution. Rogers is preparing for people doing more and more entertainment consumption through the internet on computers and tablets and less via cable/satellite. Bell could suffer greatly if they get locked out of this sort of thing. Given that Rogers is also a large internet provider then can package stuff like this in subscription based services. Very smart IYAM.

Pirates pitching coach says it's looking like AJ Burnett will probably retire

They need to generate some buzz Seriously

I must have misheard on ESPN radio on way to work Maybe they're just speculating that he'll lose it

http://www.thestar.com/business/2014/01/09/rogers_adds_baseball_tv_rights_to_hockey_with_wideranging_mlb_deal.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

So Dan Le Batard was the guy His vote has (of course) now been taken away for the future Should be some great debates over this in the media

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/10263950/dan-le-batard-gives-baseball-hall-fame-vote-deadspin

Sounds right. It's just suddenly so quiet. I guess teams REALLY don't want anything leaked and I can totally understand why.

Y U hate Melky so much? Dude can HIT

So are teams actively negotiating with Tanaka now?? Or is the posting decision still to be made? Seems very secretive all of a sudden.

Goddamn conspiracy it was!

Dat lineup! C Darrin Fletcher 1B Cliff Floyd 2B Mike Lansing 3B Sean Berry SS Wil Cordero LF Moises Alou CF Marquis Grissom RF Larry Walker SP Jeff Fassero SP Butch Henry SP Ken Hill SP Pedro Martinez SP Kirk Rueter RP Gil Heredia RP Mel Rojas RP Tim Scott RP Jeff Shaw CL John Wetteland

He'll always be a Rockie to me http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8pOYMmKSMVY/TzfoDtXJwqI/AAAAAAAACE4/bRJp3f2R03Y/s1600/rockstar14.jpg

I didn't realize he was playing in Japan... Andruw Jones Re-Signs With Rakuten Golden Eagles By Steve Adams [January 8 at 9:24am CST] Former Major League All-Star Andruw Jones has re-signed a one-year deal with Nippon Professional Baseball's Rakuten Golden Eagles, according to a report from Nikkan Sports (Japanese link). Rakuten has since announced the deal's value at 400 million Yen, or roughly $3.8MM. Jones is represented by agent Scott Boras. Jones played for the Golden Eagles last season alongside new Marlins third baseman Casey McGehee and the offseason's hottest commodity, Masahiro Tanaka. In 604 plate appearances with Rakuten, Jones batted .243/.391/.454 with 26 home runs. He struck out in more than 27 percent of his plate appearances but also walked at a whopping 17.3 percent clip (in addition to getting hit by 15 pitches).