Blue Jays Morning Brew: Santana, Anthopoulos and Prospects

Toronto Blue Jays News & Rumours

It’s old news by now but probably worth rehashing as Chris Cotillo of MLB Daily Dish shared on Sunday that the Blue Jays are one of the eight teams that are interested in starting pitcher Ervin Santana. According to “a source with direct knowledge of the situation” it’s “still early” in the process but another source says the Blue Jays “are the most obvious fit”. It seems more and more like Santana is the Blue Jays man but at this point who really knows what will happen.

Andrew Stoeten at DJF and Minor Leaguer at Bluebird Banter both digest the Santana rumour. ML’s piece links to a tweet from Seattle Mariners’ beat writer Bob Dutton who says “Magic” is unlikely to get more than $40 million over three years. The estimate seems a bit low to me but with draft compensation attached, again who really knows?

Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Marcus Stroman is ranked as the 27th best prospect in baseball, according to Baseball Prospectus. Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsJason Parks released his Top 101 Prospects list in a free article over at Baseball Prospectus. Three Toronto Blue Jays were represented led by Marcus Stroman, who Parks ranked as the 27th best prospect in baseball. Aaron Sanchez follows closely behind at 31st and Alberto Tirado rounds out the Blue Jays’ contingent at number 76. All are newcomers to the BP Top 101. Former Blue Jays prospects Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud were also recognized at #11 and #48 respectively.

Jay Blue gives us his thoughts on Parks’ list at Blue Jays From Away. Jay also started a new series called “Make or Break” prospects and starts with a look at OF Jacob Anderson.

Charlie Caskey over at the Vancouver Sun was in attendance at the Vancouver Canadians annual hot stove luncheon and was able to corner Blue Jays’ GM Alex Anthopoulos for some prospect related questions. Charlie was able to pry some very intriguing prospect related information out of AA including how they are planning to deploy their trio of talented shortstops (Franklin Barreto, Dawel Lugo, Richard Urena) and what level he expects Daniel Norris to finish at in 2014. He also gives us an update on Anthony Alford and had great things to say about rising star Mitch Nay.

Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports writes that the Blue Jays are one of the teams that appears willing to part with a draft pick in order to sign a free agent. He reminds us that the Jays would part with their second round pick (49th overall) if they choose to sign a free agent who has declined a qualifying offer.

Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet takes on the Santana vs. Ubaldo Jimenez comparison. Benny Fresh keeps it fresh with some cool interactive graphics but I really be really glad when one (or both) of these guys sign.

Matt Eddy of Baseball America reports that the Toronto Blue Jays have signed eight minor league players. LHP Erick Hurtado seems to be the headliner and I believe all of their additions are players from the Dominican Summer League.

Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star says the Blue Jays may not be done with Dunedin as their spring training facility after all.

1 Blue Jays Way caught up with Sean Nolin for an interview on their podcast.

Ian Hunter at Blue Jays Hunter.asks which Blue Jays could break out in 2014.

Bryan Cole at Beyond the Box Score uses Casey Janssen as an example of the closer mentality as he takes a look at closers in non-save situations.