Blue Jays Morning Brew: Elliott reports adding payroll now possible

Here are the latest Toronto Blue Jays news and rumours:

Leading off, according to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, the Blue Jays have possibly received approval from Rogers to add a $10 million contract before the waiver trade deadline. However, as Elliott asks, “might it be a tad too late?”

It also might be too little as Scott Ferguson of TSN.ca compiles a list of players fitting that perceived payroll parameter. It’s far from an inspiring group and the only player Ferguson sees as a hit is Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Aaron Hill, who has a pro-rated $11 million salary for the rest of this season and $12 million the next two.

Not that the Blue Jays need any more outfielders for 2014 but one player they won’t be getting is Josh Willingham. Willingham was claimed off revocable waivers by the Kansas City Royals, who were then able to work out a deal with the Minnesota Twins to acquire the free-agent-to-be.

Good news on the injury front, which Kyle covered for us late last night, as Gregor Chisholm of MLB.com tweets that Edwin Encarnacion is expected to rejoin the Blue Jays on Friday in Chicago while Adam Lind could be activated before tonight’s game.

Liam McGuire of the Canadian Baseball Network wonders how long Juan Francisco will remain a member of the Toronto Blue Jays. Now that both Lind and Encarnacion are starting to heal up, the Blue Jays will soon be forced to trim some fat from their active roster. Francisco, who has produced just a 62 wRC+ since the All-Star break, could be headed for DFA land but I have a feeling the Blue Jays keep him around at least until Brett Lawrie is able to return.

After Chad Jenkins pitched one of the best games in Blue Jays history on Sunday, Richard Griffin of the Toronto Star had some strong words for the team saying that he “will lose respect for this team” if they optioned Jenkins for a fresh arm. And sure enough as Griff later tweets, manager John Gibbons admitted “it could have been a morale killer” if he was sent down after such a gut-wrenching performance.

And closing out, here’s a highlight from Sunday’s 19-inning affair worth re-watching. In an attempt to pass the time, Ryan Goins and Nick Castellanos played some rock-paper-scissors from opposing sides of the field during an at bat in the top of the 17th. You’ll notice in the video that Josh Thole had to ask for timeout when it was going on, which I assume was only because he wanted to see who won (it was Castellanos).