TwistedLogic

That quote to me sounds like he might be willing to lose a trade to make space for a free agent signing. And yeah, I still don't know how I feel about that.

Winter Meetings Wrap By Gregor Chisholm The Winter Meetings have officially come to an end but not before a Thursday morning that included the minor signing of RHP Tomo Ohka and also the Rule 5 Draft. When the Draft wrapped up, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos made himself available to the media for one last scrum at the Walt Disney Swan & Dolphin Resort. Here’s some of what he had to say: On trading Rule 5 Draft pick Brian Moran to the Angels for international bonus pool cap space… “We knew we weren’t necessarily going to be active in the Rule 5. We have a bunch of out-of-option guys in the bullpen already, that we’re going to look to keep, plus Sierra is out of options. We weren’t so compelled with what was out there, we didn’t think it was an upgrade over what we had. Just tried to turn the asset of having a spot and convert it into something.” More on the trade… “When we did the deal with the Phillies, we tried to get international cap space in that deal but they wouldn’t do it. It’s not the easiest thing to trade for, how do you quantify it, how do you evaluate it? It’s from the July 2nd signings, a lot of teams at this point have said we’re done spending money and we’re waiting for the next one. Any money that we spend are players that are eligible to sign right now.” Recapping the Winter Meetings… “I actually get relieved when we leave the Winter Meetings because we can get back to work. There’s too much going on here with every team. They have agent meetings and I think people, including us, can get paralyzed. You get back, you take a breath and I think you can get back on the phones and try to narrow your focus a little bit and get deals done.” On where things stand now with trade talks… “There’s definitely a lot of dialogue. I’m kind of anxious to get on the plane and sort through some things. Sometimes you have too many balls in the air and you need to start making some decisions. There’s a scenario where you walk away with four or five things and there’s a lot of moving parts. You need to make sure, if you’re not going to have them all line up at the same time, that you put them in the right order and the dominoes fall correctly if you get it done.” On asking prices… “We have certain deals that we could probably do tomorrow, we just don’t like, either, if we’re trading someone away we don’t like what the return is and if we’re trading for someone we don’t like what the acquisition cost is. If we have to be forced on a free agent and someone has interest in one of our players and we have to clear a spot, we can do that, it’s just that we might take 20 cents on the dollar to do it fast. But at the end of the day, we might say our total return with the free agent we’re a stronger club and we’d be open to doing that.” Coming in you said there were three pitchers you were working on, is that still the case? “Probably three to four. I’d say more in the four. We’re not going to close the door on the fourth. The fourth is a little more challenging but I think there could be a domino effect with the fourth and if we do some other things then the fourth becomes more realistic.” How does the end of this Winter Meetings compare to years past in terms of where you stand with things that need to get done… “Similar. I think there are some things that we can do. We’re trying to do more than one thing, especially on the trade market. We have so many assets so we’re trying to figure out, okay, how do we divide up these assets and make sure that we get these two or three things rather than use too many assets to get one and then we’re stuck. There’s ways to do it, we just have to kind of clear the deck a little bit.” Deadline for getting things done? “We’re comfortable going into any time. There’s no timeline of December, January, whenever it happens, it happens. We did the Vernon Wells deal in late January, not that we were expecting to do that. I was talking to a GM and he was telling me how a few years ago he made a bunch of important moves and it was January when they all presented themselves.” Do you expect January to be a busier month than years past for teams across the league? “It seems like the guys that have draft picks attached to them, free agent wise, could be out there in January. Not that they will be, but they could be. It definitely seems to be slower. I don’t know, though. I get the sense that it will be busy the whole way through. It seems like there is enough activity with all of the teams. I think the expanded playoffs, everyone has a chance. I think there will still be strong activity in January.” Does the bonus pool money impact the Cuban shortstop that has been working out in Mexico? “No, he’s too old, it’s irrelevant. Sometimes you have guys that are out there, we’ve signed some guys for less money, we’ve spent the bulk of our July money, there are some guys that are still out there, depth guys, and how many times have we seen international signs, $80,000, $100,000, $200,000 that emerge and become really good players. There are some guys out there that we want to take a shot on and why not if we can get the cap space.”

f*** Phillips. The guy is such a douchebag. The Reds were going to trade him to the Yankees and he said he'd only waive his no-trade clause if they re-opened his contract and gave him more money. He's already overpaid, and I wouldn't be surprised if Infante outperforms him next year, while being paid less money and without costing any valuable players in trade. f*** Phillips.

From the beginning of documented MLB history (1871) till now (2013), without any requirements for plate appearance (0 PA), there have been 78,673 different player seasons. Maicer Izturis's 2013 season was the 93rd worst overall season in that time. Every year of documented baseball, every player, every position, no requirement for minimum PA. There were 78,580 times out of a possible 78,673, where a player was more valuable than Maicer Izturis was last year, putting his 2013 season in the bottom 0.1%, in the very anals (sic) of baseball history. It was the 18th worst season by a second baseman, ever (out of a possible 7,222). Over the past three seasons, Izturis has provided a total of 0.7 WAR, while Infante has provided 8.1 WAR over that time. After comparing those two players and saying "pass" on Infante, you could eat s*** and your mouth would probably be cleaner.

So you wouldn't take a 3rd and 4th year, when in your scenario, they're essentially free. You're right. Derping it up real good.

You would have had so much more surplus value with a pair of cheaper signings like Kazmir and Infante than you will by going balls out in a trade for an SP like Samardzija and resorting to Izturis at 2B for a second year.

I love how people are scared shitless about AA getting raped in a trade for an SP, while desperately rallying for him to trade assets for Billy f***ing Butler, a guy that the Royals notoriously over-value. But where, oh where, will we find a 1.5 win player that can only DH?

Then that GM would be smarter, because it's idiotic to pass up on a guy if, in your scenario, you can get a 4th year out of him for just 3M. When you get a 4th year for that low of a cost, the GM should be the one asking for that extra year, not the player. It makes no sense to offer 3/33 when 4/33 would likely have him sign.

No.

Why not 4/32? You get an extra year at 2M, and it beats the Yankees 3/24 offer by a full year on the same AAV. It also makes him happy for getting a 4th year. Yes.

He will sign for 4/32. The Yankees offered him 8M AAV for 3 years, giving him a 4th will get it done. 4/40 is just the asking price the way Cano had a 310M asking price. Free agents never get what they ask for. That being said, I'd gladly give him 4/40. And cut it with this Espinosa s***. I don't want to see us trade assets for a player that everyone will bitch about all f***ing year long when he doesn't produce.

Ruggiano is gone. f***.

That's kinda f***ed up. That was literally exactly what I was going to say.

I didn't watch any of the games in which Goins played, so I have no idea what kind of player he is beyond his fangraphs page, but I already hate him.

I wish that he does. I don't want anything more for this team than an upgrade at 2B, but I'm going to say no, just because if he does, it'll be a pleasant surprise, and if he doesn't, it'll be same s*** that I expected.

Zaun's reaction to this will be priceless.

*makes wanking motion* That's f***ing classic LOL.

lmfao I f***ing love Ruben Amaro Jr. Such an excellent GM. He drove a 100-win organization into the cellar.

According to Elliott (facepalm) the Jays were actually in on the DBacks pitchers until the Angels stole them away with Trumbo. http://www.torontosun.com/2013/12/10/blue-jays-trade-talk-with-dbacks-scuttled Note: Jesus christ, does nobody edit this guy's articles?

It's not my fault that you misinterpreted my post. I never implied anyone had an opinion one way or another about Bonifacio. I stated simply that without him, it would have been one fewer asset that the Jays acquired, and that would make the trade look even worse than it did. Your post also makes absolutely no sense in the context of the trade. You say that you "hated Bonifacio" and give his BABIP-inflated outlier of a season as a reason. He wasn't acquired for his BABIP-inflated season because he wasn't acquired for his bat. Anthopoulos wanted him to serve as a backup utility player with excellent speed and a decent career OBP. This would have given him a fallback option in case Izturis didn't work, it would have given him a guy he could have preferred over Rajai Davis in the event that Davis walked, and it would have made Anthony Gose just a wee bit more expendable. That was the reason he wanted him. It's irrelevant whether you liked him or hated him because he was brought him as a utility player. If Izturis wasn't one of the worst f***ing players in the Major Leagues, Bonifacio's inadequacy in filling in for him would have been far less magnified.

No, he's not out of his mind. Yeah it sounds stupid that a role-player kind of guy like Bonifacio was held in such regard in a trade that involved Johnson, Reyes and Buehrle, but that's only if you choose to use your narrow-minded hindsight. Except hindsight tells us a lot more than just the fact that Bonifacio sucked for the Jays in 2013. AA was not only losing Escobar, he was losing Hechavarria as well, a guy that he expected would have at least been good enough for a utility role in the near future. Bonifacio had just come off two years where he posted 2.8 WAR in one, and stole 30 bases in 60 games in the other. That is a valuable asset. The fact that Bonifacio came here and played like a f***ing mudkip doesn't mean that AA had a bad valuation on him, especially because when he went to the Royals, he immediately became that same significantly valuable player that he had been in Florida. There are a lot of reasons to be upset with AA, but this is one of many that are completely stupid and overblown. You guys are crucifying him for having given too much in that trade as it is, had he accepted the trade without Bonifacio, it would have just looked even worse, which would only make you guys bitch about it more. The Marlins trade was a good one. It was the Dickey trade that was f***ing dumb.

Nothing really, he could have. I just see a 6th year for him being the thing that seals a deal. Sort of like "fine we'll give in for a 6th year if it gets a deal done now". I don't expect him to be leaving an offer like that out on the table especially when it's an exception to everything him and Beeston have ever said in the past.

He's always keeping everything hidden and up his sleeve and this he lets out. How good of an idea is it to let guys like Garza know that you're suddenly flexible about your 5-year limit. It looks a lot better to them when you're talking to them and bring it up at that point "well look, we usually don't do this, but we like you so much that we're willing to add a 6th year".

This is the exact deal that I assumed they were talking about, the Gentry one. Though I'd have much preferred to be the ones landing Gentry. Don't care much at all for bringing in another china doll into the rotation to take a spot away from Hutch/Drabek/Happ. We still have no idea what those guys are worth and if they can put it together.

There is only one particular you need to know to write off any trade: Andrew Friedman