Blue Jays Morning Brew: Jose Reyes In The Snow Edition

Jul 14, 2013; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Chicago White Sox third baseman Brent Morel (22) throws to first base during the fifth inning against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Good Morning fellow Toronto Blue Jays fans. We stand on the cusp on the 2014 Major League Baseball season, and with the Blue Jays reporting to camp in just 12 days, things are about to get a bit more exciting.

Hopefully, that means a lot more things to talk and about for the Blue Jays and their long-suffering baseball fans.

To start us off today, we’re going to jump on something a bit fun. Jose Reyes, fresh off a season where a freak injury stole a good portion of it, isn’t about to let a little bit of snow stand in his way. As seen on his Instagram account, Reyes isn’t waiting to hit sunny Florida to start getting his work in. Instead, he’s taken to throwing in the snow, and loving every minute of it.

Jose Reyes In The Snow

From Jose Reyes to another Blue Jays player that is psyched to get back on track, we check in with MLB.com where Gregor Chisholm has an excellent profile on Blue Jays catcher of the future A.J. Jimenez. After losing parts of two seasons with arm issues, Jimenez is finally feeling 100% and ready to put his name back on the map for the Blue Jays.

Another Blue Jays player that could make some surprising noise in camp could be Brent Morel, according to Andrew Stoeten at Drunk Jays Fans. Stoeten sees Morel as a “sneaky good” pick-up by the Jays and likens him to a poor man’s Mark DeRosa. Given the fact that Toronto has already discussed working him out at second base, along with his work at third base, Stoeten may not be far off. If his bat can come around, he could prove to be a valuable depth piece for Toronto.

Speaking of depth pieces, former Blue Jays utility-man Emilio Bonifacio is drawing a ton of interest around baseball, according to Mike Petriello at FanGraphs. There is no doubt that Kansas City’s release of Bonifacio comes as somewhat of a surprise, and teams looking for a super-utility man (i.e. every team) will be lining up at the door to make a deal for him. I still doubt the Jays will be involved here again, but given the course of this winter, you never truly know.

Now to a post with no discernible segway, we check in with our buddy Jay Blue at Blue Jays from Away, who has an excellent post examining playoff caliber rotations and why the Blue Jays are way behind the curve. I’ll let you read the piece to find out, but it appears that there is something to be said about landing pitchers early in their development phase.

And finally, we pay some final homage to the Blue Jays State of the Franchise. Brock Pickens at The Blue Jays Dugout does a complete wrap-up of the event, as well as providing a video of the Q&A session, for those that have not yet seen it.