Blue Jays Winter Meetings Notes: Live Blog Day 4

Dec 9, 2013; Orlando, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos talks with reporters during the MLB Winter Meetings at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. Mandatory Credit:

-USA TODAY Sports

Well folks, the final day of Major League Baseball’s winter meetings are upon us. Today will likely be a mostly quiet day, as the rest of them have been for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Rule 5 Draft is later today and Toronto looks to do something there, especially with a 40-man roster spot open. Toronto has the ninth pick in today’s draft, which features some decent talent, but not necessarily anything that will make this team better in 2014. However, as we noted last night, the team has had success in the past with finding a few hidden gems.

10:40am: The Blue Jays have selected right-hander Roberto Espinosa in the Triple-A portion of the Rule 5 Draft, per Gregor Chisholm.

Espinosa, 21, has spent the last 5 seasons in the Pittsburgh Pirates system. In 80 career appearances (37 starts), the right-hander holds a 17-7 record, a 3.42 ERA, and a 7.0 K/9 ratio. He has spent the last two seasons strictly as a reliever and the move appears to have paid off for him. His work in 2013 was definitely a game-changer for him, with Espinosa posting a 2.30 ERA in 21 appearances, growing his K/9 ratio to 10.2 in the process.

9:30am: General Manager Alex Anthopoulos feels like he’s laid down some decent groundwork for moves this winter, but it doesn’t appear like he expects to get anything done before leaving Orlando, according to a pair of tweets from Shi Davidi.

9:00am: The Blue Jays selected Left-handed Pitcher Brian Moran with the 9th pick in the Rule 5 Draft, according to Shi Davidi.

However, before you get too excited, the team swapped the lefty with the Los Angeles Angels in exchange for international cap space, as reported by Gregor Chisholm.

The money must be used on players this season, so the thought here is that the Blue Jays have their eyes set on someone in particular. More on this as it comes in.