TORONTO — Alex Anthopoulos says he’d like to add to his major league bullpen from outside the organization, and will look to do so shortly after the MLB Draft early next week.
“If there’s a bullpen piece out there, we’ll look to do something,” the Toronto Blue Jays general manager said before Friday night’s series opener against the Houston Astros. “I know there’s been reports about us inquiring about guys, and that’s fair to say. I wouldn’t deny those.
The Blue Jays have been strongly linked to free agent reliever Rafael Soriano in recent days and Anthopoulos confirmed the club has interest in the former Washington Nationals closer. Soriano recently changed agents and will hold a throwing session for a number of teams in the Dominican Republic on June 11.
“We’re trying to get stronger in that area,” Anthopoulos said of his bullpen. “If we can add to the bullpen and get better, we’d look to do that.”
Anthopoulos says he and the rest of the Blue Jays front office has been immersed in draft preparations recently, which is the case across baseball. But he has noticed trade talks have picked up in recent weeks.
“We’re starting to engage a little bit more on trades,” Anthopoulos said. “I’m not trying to foreshadow that something’s going to get done. But talks are starting to move at a little bit more of a pace.”
The Blue Jays’ most evident trade chip is Dioner Navarro, the back-up catcher who asked for a trade during spring training. At that time, Anthopoulos made it clear he would move Navarro for the right price.
Earlier this week, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Seattle Mariners pulled off a six-player trade that saw slugger Mark Trumbo going to Seattle and catcher Welington Castillo heading to Arizona.
Anthopoulos said he had dialogue with the Diamondbacks during the winter about Navarro, but couldn’t reach an agreement. According to Anthopoulos, he spoke to the Diamondbacks again about Navarro a week ago, but they indicated the Blue Jays backstop wasn’t a fit for them.
“We like him on the team. He’s valuable. I’d rather he’s on this team,” Anthopoulos said of Navarro. “But if there’s an opportunity where we improve the club and it gets him an everyday playing spot, we would do that.”
Asked to sum up the first third of the Blue Jays’ season, Anthopoulos pointed to inconsistency in the starting rotation, bullpen and batting order as the main reasons why the team hasn’t enjoyed the start it was hoping to.
He also said the team’s run differential—an AL East best plus-35—is an encouraging sign his team will play better as the season goes on.
“When I look at the club overall and I look at the division and where we’re positioned and the upside, I still think we’ve got a very good team and the chance to make a run,” Anthopoulos said. “The fortunate thing for us is no one really took off in the division. It’s going to be an interesting summer.”
On the injury front, Anthopoulos said Devon Travis will remain sidelined until Monday when he’ll be re-evaluated by Blue Jays trainers. The second baseman has been out since mid-May with a shoulder injury and was recently shutdown while on a rehab assignment when the injury flared up once again. There is still no timetable for his return.
“He’s making strides. He’s feeling better,” Anthopoulos said. “He’s moving in the right direction.”
Anthopoulos spoke to Travis earlier this week and the 24-year-old expressed a desire to play through the injury, as he did for most of May, but Anthopoulos put a stop to it.
“I told him, we’ve already come this far. Let’s just get this completely resolved and completely healed. Let’s not try to grind through this,” Anthopoulos said. “Hopefully it’s not that much longer.”
Meanwhile, Miguel Castro continues to recover from a thumb and index finger injury that flared up during a recent start in Buffalo. It’s a similar issue to one he had last April and doctors expect it to resolve itself in time. Going forward, Castro will make some adjustments to his weight lifting routine between starts in order to use less grip strength and put less stress on the area.
Anthopoulos also offered his thoughts on Jeff Hoffman, the club’s first overall pick in 2014 who made his pro debut last month after recovering from Tommy John surgery. So far, Hoffman has made three starts, pitching to a 5.02 ERA with 10 strikeouts and one walk in 14.1 innings. His most recent start was his most impressive, when he allowed just two hits and no runs over five innings.
“His last outing was outstanding. He threw really well—a lot of strikes,” Anthopoulos said. “If he gets hot, and he gets on a roll, we’ll have him moved [up in the system]. But for right now, there’s no harm, especially coming off the Tommy John, in leaving him down there in the Florida State League to continue to get acclimated to pro ball and get reps and so on.”
Hoffman earned poor results in his first two outings, allowing four runs in each, but Anthopoulos said he was happy Hoffman faced that adversity.
“He won’t agree with this, but it’s probably not the worst thing in the world to get hit a little bit at some point in your career,” Anthopoulos said. “You realize that no matter how good your stuff is or how much it moves or how hard you throw, you still need to command the ball. If you miss spots, professional hitters will hit the ball hard.”
