Throughout the off-season, I’ll provide commentary and links related to the Toronto Blue Jays and MLB every weekend.
Alex Anthopoulos knows that trade talk and free agent speculation has a place in the game. It fuels fan interest and keeps baseball in the headlines year-round.
But as a general manager the chatter can be particularly frustrating, as the Blue Jays found last week when Jose Bautista’s name surfaced in trade rumours. Anthopoulos estimates that he spent hours discrediting the report when he could have been working on improving his team.
What’s the best way for a general manager to balance the need to inform fans with the need to get work done? It’s a question I asked Anthopoulos at last year’s general manager Meetings in Palm Springs, CA.
“I think ultimately you’re not going to satisfy everybody — it’s just the reality of it,” he replied. “But everyone cares at the end of the day about how good the product is on the field. So if you win it takes care of itself. I’m a sports fan, I understand the hot stove and everyone being involved, but I’ve also seen it where thing get put out there and people try to run interference as well which makes it complicated. I don’t worry about it other than trying to make the team better.”
One of Anthopoulos’ counterparts, Tampa Bay Rays executive VP of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, aims for candor rather than secrecy. He speaks openly about off-season plans, reasoning that an honest dialogue engages fans and keeps potential trade partners well-informed.
“I think we are an open book with what we’re looking for,” Friedman said in 2012. “I don’t think it does any good to disguise that to the extent that someone reads something somewhere and it gives them an idea that might be able to help us — that only benefits us. Guys that we’re interested in we probably play a little closer to the vest, but what our needs are and what our areas of depth are are things that there’s only upside in our mind of having it out there.”
This winter, for example, Friedman has made clear his intention of adding a catcher, a first baseman and relief arms. A third AL East GM, Ben Cherington of the Boston Red Sox, said it’s about balance. There’s the need to communicate and the risk that spreading information can backfire.
“We understand the importance of communicating with the media and ultimately to our fans about what’s going on, and it’s important to do that,” Cherington said. “On the other hand there are times when you need to keep things more in private. There are times you’re talking about deals and it’s at a critical stage and if certain information gets out it can hurt a potential deal. So it’s a balance and we try to strike that balance. We probably don’t always strike it perfectly, but hopefully we try to find the right balance.”
Ultimately there’s only so much a general manager can do to limit leaks. Agents talk, players talk and other team executives talk. Plus, as Anthopoulos experienced last week, general managers must contend with the false rumours as well as the legitimate ones.
With that in mind, here are some items of interest related to the Blue Jays from the past week…
DL DATA: Anyone who watched the 2013 Blue Jays knows that they spent a lot of time on the disabled list. Now we have the numbers to back it up. The Blue Jays had the second-most DL stints in all of baseball and spent the fourth-most days on the disabled list in 2013, according to Jeff Zimmerman of FanGraphs. It’s no wonder the Blue Jays will make an effort to manage risk effectively in 2013.
TOP PROSPECTS: Blue Jays pitching prospects Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman were among the most promising pitchers to appear in the Arizona Fall League. MLB.com ranked Sanchez fourth and Stroman 12th among all AFL prospects.
INFIELD MARKET: One agent described the free agent infield as “one big chess match” this week. So will the Blue Jays be players after losing Mark DeRosa? Mark Ellis could be a fit in Toronto, though it’s not clear if the Blue Jays have interest. The often under-rated Ellis owns a career .330 on-base percentage and can be trusted at multiple positions.
NOTES: In case you missed it, the Dodgers discussed Matt Kemp with the Blue Jays this month, Shi Davidi reported. While the centre fielder’s $160 million contract looks unappealing, we’re talking about a 29-year-old who owns a career OPS of .844… Jeff Blair wrote in the Globe and Mail this week that his sources believe there’s a chance the Blue Jays could trade Mark Buehrle this winter. The left-hander is set to earn $37 million from 2012-13… Finally, free agent starter Ervin Santana knows big walk years lead to big contracts.
