Blue Jays Morning Brew: Melky Cabrera Fallout & More

It’s probably a sign of boredom when the biggest news out of Blue Jay Land is that your former left fielder signed elsewhere. It means that the Blue Jays haven’t made any news themselves. But, let’s take a look at some of what has been put out there.

Richard Griffin offers his take on Melky signing with the White Sox over at The Star. In it he references Alex Anthopoulos’ original reasoning for signing Melky Cabrera to the 2yr deal worth $16M. Apparently, AA had his staff do up a study of those who were even suspected of using PED and how they fared. The study found that the first two years of being caught or suspected, players generally produced near their norms.

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Then, the results get murky. There is no telling what the Melkman will produce in the next year (or 3). So, it may be that AA never planned on having Melky stick around for more than 2 yrs anyway.

As well, Griffin says that there are still needs to be addressed: “Anthopoulos still needs an upgrade at second base, a short-term veteran, mid-rotation starter, a couple of good experienced relievers with big arms and a new home for veteran catcher Dioner Navarro.” Wait. Did he say a starter? I tend to agree. I’m not sure a mid-rotation starter is what they need, though. They have R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle who are mid-rotation at this point in their careers. They have Drew Hutchison and Marcus Stroman, who very well could be front line starters. COULD. Then there is Aaron Sanchez, who will be penciled in as the 5th starter right now. I don’t think a mid-rotation starter is enough. 

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At Sportsnet.ca, Shi Davidi gives us an explanation of the draft pick fallout from Melky’s departure. Basically, it goes as follows: the Blue Jays lose their first round pick (18th overall) for signing Russell Martin. They will pick up a ‘sandwich’ pick as compensation for Melky declining the qualifying offer and signing elsewhere. This pick will come after the first round and before the second in next June’s draft. The supplemental pick currently sits at 31st overall, but could change depending on the rest of the signings this winter.

Here’s something from newly acquired Josh Donaldson. Apparently, he got some new duds for his birthday.

They aren’t the home whites that he called sexy, but he looks good, no?

The Blue Jays Winter Tour will feature some young faces this year.

It’s probably a good idea to get the young kids out there. Let Canada meet Marcus Stroman and aaron Sanchez in person. We’ll probably be seeing them for a long time. Hopefully, anyway. Oh, and Kevin Pillar is going on the tour too. Other guests include Hall of Famer, Roberto Alomar and rookie, Dalton Pompey. As of now, the only dates that have been posted are: Toronto- Jan 16-17, Calgary/Banff- Jan 20-22, Vancouver- Jan 23-34.

Apparently, there is another baseball executive who has had to shoot down rumors about possibly heading to Toronto to replace Paul Beeston. This time it is Mike Rizzo of the Washington Nationals. James Wagner of the Washington Post tells us that Rizzo denies any contact from the Blue Jays and is ‘focussed on his current team’. Did we really expect him to say anything else?  This would be an interesting choice on the part of the Blue Jays. He has done a great job in Washington building the Expos…uh, I mean Nationals.

Finally, I’d like to mention the class that former Blue Jay (and my man-crush) Brett Lawrie showed recently. After a video went viral of a little girl (from Langley, BC) bawling like me over his trade to Oakland, Lawrie wasted little time in reaching out to her. The Huffington Post gives us a brief summary of the event. Lawrie took her to Boston Pizza and brought her a Blue Jays jersey. Well done, sir.

In case you missed it, here’s the video:

And, here’s the class:

I just hope he didn’t hurt his oblique reaching for the ketchup or something.