Jays Notes: Oakland A’s, Tony LaCava, J.P. Arencibia, Trystan Magnuson

Some Jays notes worth bringing up on this Friday afternoon:

• According to Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal, the Oakland A’s will listen to offers on almost everybody on their roster except for Jemile Weeks as they wait on MLB for a ruling about their potential move to San Jose. Why’s this on our site then? Because the A’s have an excess of starting pitching, and two of their starters in particular could be nice fits for the Jays. Articles to follow later this weekend.

• In what will likely be the last Baltimore link about the Tony LaCava situation, CBSSports.com’s Danny Knobler mentions how although LaCava has reiterated that his decision was more about the Blue Jays than the Orioles, that’s not exactly the case. “Specifically, sources said, LaCava wanted to clear out some long-term front-office people whose jobs have been protected by Angelos,” Knobler says in the article, among other things.
• The Jays hired Chuck LaMar as a special assistant with an emphasis on amateur scouting, according to Jays beat writer Gregor Chisholm. LaMar has over 25 years of baseball experience, including a 10-year stint as Tampa Bay’s general manager. Moves like these are a reason why the Jays are considered to have one of, if not the top farm system in baseball, and LaMar should help the Jays with the 2012 Amateur Draft.
• The Jays also reacquired reliever Trystan Magnuson from the A’s for cash after shipping him along with Danny Farquhar to Oakland in the trade that brought Rajai Davis to the Jays last year. After the Jays reacquired Farquhar in exchange for David Purcey earlier this season, the Jays have now basically sent Purcey and cash to the A’s for Davis.
• John Lott of the National Post has a nice interview with John McDonald with a few interesting quotes.
• The Toronto Star has an odd poll asking readers if J.P. Arencibia is the new Johnny Mac, if that makes sense.
• LaCava was on Sportsnet Radio (the Fan 590) on Wednesday morning to talk to Greg Brady and Jim Lang about various things, including a surprise blurb about “hoping fans don’t give up” on Kyle Drabek. Give it a listen, but advance 3/4 of the way to bypass the Martin Brodeur/hockey stuff.

-JM

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