Report: Blue Jays request medicals for Jimenez but not Santana

According to reports, the Toronto Blue Jays have requested medicals records for starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez but not yet for Ervin Santana. Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

After I had somewhat promised myself to quit writing about Ervin Santana and Ubaldo Jimenez, here I am yet again talking about the Dominican duo that has been getting so much attention from fans (and presumably the front office) of the Toronto Blue Jays.

A.J. Burnett would be fantastic but after Peter Gammons tweeted yesterday that the Baltimore Orioles were “all in” on the Maryland resident I don’t think we should be bracing ourselves for a return to Toronto. Gammons notes it’s “still early” but at this time it looks like either Ubaldo or Ervin are far more likely to agree with the Jays.

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports gave us another scoop today and says that the Blue Jays have “checked in” on Santana but have yet to request his medicals, as was done by the Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins. Heyman admits “beyond that, not much is known”. Simply requesting medicals (or not) doesn’t necessarily imply a team’s level of interest and there’s also the chance that the Blue Jays were able to get a hold of Santana’s medicals without Heyman (or his bud, Scott Boras) knowing about it.

As for Jimenez, Heyman says the Blue Jays are believed to be “one of three teams in the mix.” He also shares “Toronto is said to be waiting before making offers considering the unknown market to date.” He then goes on to say that “one exec who knows Jimenez well said he believes Toronto would be an ideal fit for Jimenez”. Anyone who is a regular reader here at Jays Journal knows that I would probably second that opinion. We already know from of Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports that the Blue Jays have been digging through Jimenez’s medicals but his source says it doesn’t necessarily indicate he would be the team’s preference.

It makes sense that the Blue Jays would look a little harder at Jimenez’s medicals based on his wonky mechanics and velocity decline but I doubt they would sign Santana without at least looking at his medicals, but then of course they could always agree with the “pending physical” tag if they are trying to keep teams in the dark about their true interest in Ervin.

Heyman also talks about Stephen Drew, who he says wouldn’t be an ideal fit in Toronto since he would have to play second base, and Kendrys Morales, who he says a trade of Adam Lind would likely have to preface that move. Neither sounds likely to end up landing with the Blue Jays.