Toronto Blue Jays Morning Brew: Bautista Baloney, Free Agent Catchers and “Grinders”

Credit: Marc DesRosiers-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Blue Jays News

John Lott at the National Post writes that according to Toronto Blue Jays’ GM Alex Anthopoulos improved depth will be a big help for the starting rotation next year. AA specifically names Kyle Drabek, Drew Hutchison, Sean Nolin and Marcus Stroman as players who could make an impact in 2014.

Tom Dakers at Bluebird Banter asks if the Blue Jays lost this year because they are a bad team or because Jose Bautista is a bad influence? It references comments made by Blue Jays play-by-play announcer Jerry Howarth on the Jeff Blair Show at the Fan that I fortunately missed or probably would have went on a midday rant about it myself. I know not everyone agrees but come on people – do you really think that Jose’s “attitude” has any significant impact on anyone other than himself? And he probably plays better when he’s mad anyways.

Malcolm Kelly at CBC Sports writes that the Blue Jays most likely won’t be rebuilding in 2014 but does provide a quote from bench boss John Gibbons that I found interesting.

"“It’s not a rebuild. We need to add to some spots to get younger.”"

According to ESPN’s MLB Roster Analysis the Jays have the third oldest team in baseball with an average age of 29.3, which is tied with the Boston Red Sox. Only the New York Yankees (30.1) and LA Dodgers (29.4) have older teams.

Matthias Koster at Mop-Up Duty looks the Blue Jays’ record against the AL East and how it appears to be going backwards since 2010, which was Anthopoulos’ first season as GM.

Andrew Stoeten at DJF take an in-depth look at the upcoming free agents market for catchers.

Okay so I’m going to have to stop after this one as I die of laughter but Don Cherry says the Blue Jays need more “grinders” according to Anthony Vasquez-Peddie at Canoe.ca. It was a response to Bob Elliott’s article in the Sun, which included a quote from an anonymous player about all of the empty lockers in the Blue Jays locker room to close out the season. Cherry calls the players “rats deserting a sinking ship.”