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FanSided

Jays Notes: Brian Tallet a fraud victim, Cooper, Marisnick, Ortiz, Ledezma

By Jared Macdonald

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In what we knew was coming for over a week now, the Rays officially signed Jose Molina for a guaranteed $1.8 million. The deal pays him a $1.5 million salary in 2012 plus a club option for the same amount the following year with a $300k buyout. Many are sad Molina’s gone, but the draft pick will be nice and it will be interesting to see who backs up JPA next year, whether it’s Jeroloman or someone else.

Here are some other Jays-related tidbits with links:

  • In an unusual piece of news, former Jays left-hander Brian Tallet was a victim of cheque forgery while he was with the Cardinals before being traded back to Toronto. The full article is available via the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where a man by the name of James Deal Cole tried to cash a cheque from Tallet’s account:

"Cole told authorities he had been approached by a man in a landscaping company truck while begging for money in St. Louis. The man, who Cole said identified himself as Brian Tallet, wrote Cole a check and offered him a job doing some landscaping work over the summer. Cole said the man wrote a $2,000 check, telling Cole to keep $1,500 and give the other $500 back.Brian Tallet, who finished the 2011 season in Toronto and is now a free agent, told authorities he never met Cole, nor did he hire the man for work."

  • FanSided’s MLB prospects site, Seedlings to Stars, recently ranked Jake Marisnick 40th on their top 100 prospects list.
  • SI’s Jon Heyman reported out of nowhere on Twitter this afternoon that the Jays are “open to moving PCL batting champ David Cooper”. While I remember thinking back in August that Cooper would be part of an offseason trade this year, I also think he has more value than many people think, and his MLB experience this season will help his trade value as well. In addition to being brought up in last week’s article about Yonder Alonso, I took a look at Cooper’s status back in early October.
  • An unnamed source told Mike Silverman of the Boston Herald that free agent DH David Ortiz “has a lot of options” and is receiving “serious interest” from more than one team. If the Jays weren’t counted out after the Red Sox offered Big Papi arbitration, the fact he’s looking for a three-year deal should do it.
  • Robert Ray, the Jays’ seventh-round pick in the 2005 draft, recently signed a minor league deal with the Miami Marlins, according to Baseball America’s Matt Eddy. After seeing limited big league action with the Jays in ’09 and ’10, Ray spent all of the 2011 campaign in the minors, compiling a 6.75 ERA in 12 starts between Double-A New Hampshire and Triple-A Las Vegas.
  • Speaking of Triple-A Las Vegas, Wil Ledezma is close to signing a deal with the Dodgers according to Jon Morosi of FOX Sports. Morosi initially reported that the deal was done but corrected himself moments later, saying that it’s near completion and Ledezma is telling friends that he’s going to sign with the Dodgers.
  • The Orioles officially hired Jays professional crosschecker Gary Rajsich to be their new director of amateur scouting, says MLB.com’s Brittany Ghiroli.
  • The Rangers have expressed interest in bringing back Frank Francisco, according to a mailbag on the team’s official site. Frankie would be a good option for the Jays’ bullpen next year, but signs point to collecting a draft pick for him instead when he signs elsewhere.

    • -JM

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