Jays End of Week Review and Preview

As we wait for Cliff Lee to accept an offer for well over $100 million, here is a review of the what has occurred recently and the expectations we can kook forward to this upcoming week:

• The Jays were part of many rumors this past week – most notably for Russell Martin, Derek Lee, Jesse Crain, and Matt Guerrier – but mostly remained out of the FA market thus far;
• The Diamondbacks stated that only the Red Sox contacted them about a possible trade for Justin Upton, indicating that the Jays did in fact decide to move on from that option;
• The only deal that involved the Jays was for Brett Lawrie, and it’s funny how different each side of the fans see the trade. The Brewers fans seem to be excited about finally having another credible pitcher to call their own, while Jays fans are mostly happy to finally have a top prospect that hails from Canada and has as much flexibility in the field as Lawrie does. Most agree that – for now – it’s as close to a win-win deal as you can get. However, when Shaun Marcum becomes a FA after his 2012 season and asks for over $10 million per season, just as Lawrie hits his stride as a controllable asset with the Jays – I believe the table will lean well towards the Jays side of the deal.
• With many big name FAs off the list and signed to lucrative contracts, the Lee signing seems to be holding up the remainder of the signings. We can expect a ton of signings and trades once he decides to go to……Texas would be my guess.
• Russell Martin is said to have a 1-year offer on the table from the Yankees but is also said to prefer the offer he has received from the Red Sox. Either way, the Jays seem to be the under dog in the Martin chase.
• Scott Downs signed with the LA Angels, meaning that the Jays will at best get a pick well above #70 overall as compensation for his loss. At least the Jays automatically receive a sandwich pick after the 1st rd is completed.
• The Jays established their plans to lay the foundation for the remainder of the time before the next season begins.
• By the end of this week, the Russell Martin, Derek Lee, Carlos Lee, and quite possibly the Zack Greinke situations may have played themselves out. Add in all of the pen FAs the Jays could be after, and the Jays news should be coming in quite steadily all week long.
• As if you needed more reasons to check into Jays Journal, Jared and I will be putting out our first “Top 50 Jays Prospects” editions, with #50 due out Tuesday to kick things off. We’ll do our best to make it as thorough as possible and do believe they’ll make for great conversation pieces!
• I decided to establish a new “International Signings” page for everyone to enjoy in the “Prospects/Affiliates section of Jays Journal. It is a work in progress as much of the information is hard to gather, but rest assured that we are working towards having the best “all in one place” international signing information on the web for Jays fans. I decided to add it after spending way too much time researching who the Jays had signed internationally during one particular season. While Baseball America does a great job covering the signings each year, there is no single database to access to review who signed who. It should be completed by the new year.