Blue Jays Morning Brew: Creating Hot Stove Options

Good Morning. Wipe the sleep from your eyes because we’ve brewed up a fresh pot of Blue Jays goodness to start your day. Here’s your Blue Jays Morning Brew. After a quiet lull during the post season, the Blue Jays are starting to make up for the quiet. There’s been a lot said and written about the club over the last few days. Let’s get to it.

At Sportsnet.ca, Ben Nicholson-Smith highlights options for the Blue Jays to target first in the outfield, then the infield. The ones that stand out for me are Justin Upton. I’ve liked him for years. Although, I’d like to see them go after Yasmany Tomas. Nothing would say, we’re serious about this than jumping on a Cuban unknown.

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But, realistically, I think they should attempt

. Obviously,

is also high on the wishlist. But, that will probably never happen. So, I’d like to see them convince

to waive his no trade clause.

Shi Davidi discusses that this coming season will be the “make or break”, the “all or nothing”, the “playoffs or bust” season. He points out that the Blue Jays have only Jose Reyes‘ $22M on the books in 2016, so they can afford to take on more guaranteed money this off season. Maybe the Pablo Sandovals are not so out of reach after all. Davidi suggests that the Blue Jays could use a boost to $145-$150M, which would give Alex Anthopoulos roughly $20-30M to play with. Trading J.A. Happ‘s $6.7M adds that much more. If Shi’s purpose was to get us excited, it kinda worked. On me anyway. 

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One free agent that the Blue Jays might want to consider is Nick Markakis. Kyle Matte (writing for DrunkJaysFans offers a compelling argument for the club to let Melky walk, take the draft pick and sign an equal, if not better bat and glove. It’s an idea that starts to make sense when you consider the fact that the Blue Jays seem willing to let Melky test the market and that Baltimore likely cannot afford BOTH Markakis and Nelson Cruz.

MLBTR.com breaks down upcoming expected arbitration salaries. Of note are the $3M for Justin Smoak and $4.7M for Marco Estrada. I thought these moves were meant to save money. $7.7 is MORE than Lind’s $7.5. Oh, and just for fun, Juan Francisco is projected to make $2.2M, or approximately ONE DOLLAR per strike out.

At MLB.com, Gregor Chisholm shares Adam Lind‘s thoughts on being traded. As we’d expect he was surprised. Yeah, we all were. Sort of. But, he also talked about getting off the turf of Rogers Centre. Yeesh. Hey, Adam, we’re trying to attract players. Could you ease up on the turf talk?

Roberto Osuna. If you don’t know this name, you might want to learn it. Carlos Torres Bujanda (writing for The Star) offers a brief summary of Osuna’s path up to this point. After Tommy John surgery put a wrinkle in his teenage dream, Osuna is getting back into the groove that had the Blue Jays brass so excited. They were excited enough to offer him a $1.5M signing bonus at the age of 17. He’s a kid to watch progress through the system in 2015.