Toronto Blue Jays Morning Brew: Samardzija, Navarro, Sanchez, Stroman

Catcher Dioner Navarro is “moving to a resolution” according to Peter Gammons of MLB Network. Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Blue Jays News and Rumours

Shark week continues…

MLB Trade Rumors picked up on a tweet from MLB Network’s Peter Gammons who says catcher Dioner Navarro could be “moving to resolution” and that the Boston Red Sox were “not in pursuit”. This prompted Andrew Stoeten at DJF to wonder if the Jays were possibly a team courting his services. Navarro’s widely considered the third best free agent catcher still available (behind Jarrod Saltalamacchia and A.J. Pierzynski) and would most likely serve as an upgrade over current backstop J.P. Arencibia. I just hope the Jays don’t end up overpaying after what was nearly a career year (136 wRC+, .192 ISO in 266 PAs) for the switch-hitting, lefty-mashing Navarro.

Stoeten also links to several different opinons at DJF about the Toronto Blue Jays rumoured interest in Chicago Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija.

Steve Buffery at the Toronto Sun has some harsh words for the Toronto Blue Jays and their deep-pocketed owners Rogers Communications.

Ian Hunter at the Blue Jay Hunter says that the Blue Jays are built to win now and closes by saying “if Aaron Sanchez or Marcus Stroman aren’t going to factor into getting the Blue Jays to the postseason right now, they need to trade them for players who will.” I don’t necessarily subscribe to his theory mostly because I like organizations having at least a couple of “Top 100” caliber prospects in their system. Too much of the future was sacrificed last winter for what I consider a short competitive window. The Blue Jays already have one of the oldest teams in baseball and trading their two top prospects could lead to even further problems down the road. You can never say for sure and neither player is perfect but in my opinion both Sanchez and Stroman have an excellent chance at becoming effective MLB starters and the Blue Jays should be very cautious before thinking of moving either.

Ewan Ross at Blue Jays Plus has some serious questions about the supposed “rumoured” payroll reduction and if it makes sense from Toronto’s perspective. I basically agree with what he’s saying – it can’t happen. At the same time with a new CEO at the helm I guess anything is possible but the idea of the Blue Jays budget going backwards or even staying constant is unlikely.