Toronto Blue Jays Morning Brew: Fabricated Rumors, Trade Targets and Free Agent Offers

Toronto Blue Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia follows through on his swing for a solo home run against the Texas Rangers. Credit: Jim Cowsert-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Blue Jays News and Rumors

Yesterday was interesting for fans of the Toronto Blue Jays to say the least…

Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi quite adamantly shot down what he says were “baseless” trade rumors made by Howard Eskin of Philadelphia’s Fox 29 yesterday. To recap, Eskin tweeted not only that the Jays were involved in “serious” talks about moving Jose Bautista for Domonic Brown “plus” but also that the Blue Jays made an offer to catcher Carlos Ruiz. Davidi provides quotes at Sportsnet from Blue Jays’ GM Alex Anthopoulos who says the rumors are “totally false, fabricated, ridiculous” and states he has not made an offer to any free agents.

Davidi also writes that the Blue Jays will most likely exhaust all options on the trade front before pursuing any of this year’s free agents and it will most likely be a slower moving process than last winter.

Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports says his sources are telling him that the Blue Jays have contacted all of the free agent catchers but have yet to make an actual offer. Rosenthal also shares that “multiple teams” have expressed interest in current Jays’ catcher J.P. Arencibia.

Dave Cameron at FanGraphs gives us his thoughts on the Jose Bautista/Domonic Brown rumors and reminds us that although Bautista’s numbers are regressing from his unbelievable 2010 and 2011 campaigns it doesn’t necessarily mean we should expect further decline going forward. Cameron points out Jose’s Steamer projection predicts better results from the right-handed slugger next year than in either 2012 or 2013. Personally I’m a bit concerned with the drop in Jose’s isolated power (.357 in 2010 to .239 in 2013) but I’ll take solace that “Bautista’s remarkable 2010 and 2011 seasons still hold some predictive value” according to Cameron.

Jeff Blair at The Globe and Mail says that the rumored deal to trade Bautista doesn’t make sense (yet). Blair also spoke with the notorious rumor-mongering Howard Eskin on The Fan 590 yesterday.

Nick Ashbourne at Bluebird Banter asks if the Toronto Blue Jays could possibly catch lightning in a bottle with Jeremy Jeffress as a starting pitcher in 2014.

John Lott at the National Post shares that former Blue Jays infielder Mark DeRosa will start as a studio analysts for the MLB Network at the Winter Meetings, which kick off on December 9th.

Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times tweeted that he’s heard the Tampa Bay Rays have hired former Blue Jays hitting coach Chad Mottola as a minor-league hitting coordinator.

Jim Bowden of ESPN spoke with Jays’ manager John Gibbons on Sirius/XM radio, who said the Jays are “looking to add pitchers, not swap outfielders” and that Brett Lawrie “will play third base full-time in 2014.”

Gregor Chisholm at BlueJays.com has highlights for the Toronto Blue Jays 2014 Spring Training schedule, which was announced yesterday morning.