Blue Jays Morning Brew: Sanchez, Norris, Anthopoulos, Options and Ice Buckets

Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun dissects all that has gone wrong for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2014. He forgot about this.

John Lott of the National Post looks at Aaron Sanchez‘s successful internship in the Blue Jays’ bullpen but says don’t expect him to stay there as Sanchez “is almost certain to be a starter next season.”

Ken Fidlin of the Toronto Sun looks at four players with team options that total $28.5 million next season – Brandon Morrow, Adam Lind, J.A. Happ and Dustin McGowan. The only option I could see the Blue Jays picking up is Lind’s but even he comes with the caveat of an injury-prone platoon player. However replacing his production for less than $6.5 million will be tough so if he finishes the season strong the Jays would probably be best served to keep him.

Scott Ferguson of TSN 1050 is impressed by the solid starting pitching staff in Triple-A Buffalo and specifically likes the upside of Daniel Norris and Kendall Graveman. Now if only the rotation had room for Scott Copeland, who was demoted to Double-A then named the Triple-A International League’s player of the week. Awarded but not rewarded.

Brendan Kennedy of the Toronto Star has more on Norris, who is turning heads at Triple-A and could be called up in September.

Scott C. of Bluebird Banter asks what moves do you want Alex Anthopoulos to make during the rest of the season?

Anthopoulos deserves to an extended stay with the Blue Jays writes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.

Ben Lindberg of Grantland looks at the most moves made by MLB managers this season and none other than Blue Jays’ skipper John Gibbons tops the list. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up for debate but with the way this roster has been compiled the higher than average usage of pinch hitters and defensive subs makes sense.

Kyle Matte of DJF examines Marcus Stroman‘s potential historic, by Blue Jays standards, season. Before Stroman’s last start he was on pace to produce the third highest wins above replacement total by a Blue Jays rookie ever and still has a shot at surpassing Gustavo Chacin‘s 3.3 WAR, which Stroman would do in far fewer starts if it’s accomplished.

Over at Blue Jays From Away, Shaun Doyle explores the possibility that Alex Anthopoulos is now forced to pay “AA tax” based on his past history of shrewdly gaming the system.

On Monday night, Brent Cardy of The Cardy Show was kind enough to have me on his podcast to talk some Blue Jays. Brent’s been killing it with some top notch guests lately (myself excluded) so make sure to check him out weekly on Monday nights or Tuesday mornings if you don’t stay up late.

And closing out, one of our staff writers, Eric Elliott, completed his Ice Bucket Challenge in support of ALS. He nominated our fellow FanSiders over at BoSox Injection but I have yet to see them step up. Clock is ticking guys…