Blue Jays Morning News: Holiday hangover roundup

It’s Boxing Day in Blue Jays land, and slowly but surely, we’re beginning to look ahead to the resumption of the
MLB offseason. Key word: slowly

The Holiday season has a different finish line for us all. For some, it’s nearly time to rush back to work. For others, there’s a week-long stretch of plans ahead leading into New Years, including a 4AM morning in a Best Buy line on Boxing Day because that new _____ is finally on sale.

For the Toronto Blue Jays, it should still be a day or two before we see the wheels creak back into motion. When they do, however, a strong remaining free agent crop and active trade market awaits.

So let’s kick off your weekend with the Morning Brew, wrapping up some of the stories you might have missed in the rush of the past few days.

More from Toronto Blue Jays News

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• Blue Jays: Adam Cimber, the unlikely decision King
• Toronto Blue Jays: Has the Shift Killed Kevin Gausman’s 2022 Cy Young Hopes?
• Blue Jays: What Yusei Kikuchi’s latest stumble should mean
• Blue Jays: Alek Manoah on pace to succeed in possible postseason

Game 5, Baby!  –  In the interest of starting things out on a positive note, check out this excellent feature on Game 5 of the ALDS by the .gif-master Ian Hunter over at Sportsnet. There’s a great closeup of a camera bay during Jose Bautista‘s bat flip where you can see Barry Davis and a Toronto Police officer celebrating the home run. That moment will never get old. Not in 2015. Not in 2016. Not in 3016.

Deadline Memories  –  Overshadowed by the beauty of Toronto’s playoff run was the madness we witnessed in the days leading up to the MLB trade deadline. Shi Davidi took a look back at the Troy Tulowitzki trade that broke in the wee hours leading into Tuesday, July 28th. I still remember stomping into the living room, both irritated and baffled as to why my phone was ringing at 6:00am. If Tulowitzki can stay healthy through 2016, we’ll be revisiting that day several more times.

Year of the Muni  –  Munenori Kawasaki had more fun than you and everyone you know in 2015. The Sportsnet staff rounded up some of his finer, more quotable moments from the year that was. When you look past the (irritating) “mascot” persona that’s been created around Kawasaki, isn’t it just fun to see a professional athlete having as much fun as you would be in their situation?

More blue jays: Help us name the greatest Blue Jay of all time!

Gibby Speaks!  –  Manager John Gibbons joined the Jeff Blair Show on Christmas Eve, and in classic Gibby fashion, it was a treat. For what it’s worth, the skipper sees the potential for his 2016 team to be even stronger than this past season’s.

“I’m excited for the fact that I have (Troy) Tulowitzki and (Ben) Revere for a whole year. The talk of our team last year was the offence, how powerful we were. I think we’re going to be even stronger because of those two guys, and (Kevin) Pillar is going to have another year under his belt.”