Blue Jays Morning Brew: Fall Ball, Offers & Playoffs

Good Morning. Wipe the sleep from your eyes because we’ve brewed up a fresh pot of Blue Jays goodness to start your day. Here’s your Blue Jays Morning Brew.

At the Vancouver Sun, Charlie Caskey gives us a bit of a rundown of Blue Jays players who are participating in the Arizona Fall League. Since there is no playoff baseball being played in Toronto, the true Blue Jays fans will have to look away from the center stage to find their players in action. Dalton Pompey, Roberto Osuna and Sean Nolin are just three of the names of interest. Alex Anthopoulos seemed determined to get Pompey as much playing time as possible despite getting reps at every stop on his way up to the show and seeing more time than we thought at Rogers Centre he’ll get a lot. It looks like AA really wants to see what he’s got with Pompey to make a decision going into the off season about how the outfield shakes out. Part of me hopes Pompey is in the Blue Jays outfield in 2015, but the bigger part of me thinks that might be forcing things.

Caskey also goes on to suggest that if things go well for Osuna, he could be knocking on the New Hampshire door for this coming season. Despite being 20 and coming off Tommy John surgery, this would be exciting news! What’s more, Caskey doesn’t think Osuna would be out of place pitching in an older environment like AA.

First baseman, Dan Johnson is looking to add “tricks to his bag” by learning…the knuckleball. Ben Nicholson-Smith fills us in at Sportsnet.ca.

More from Toronto Blue Jays News

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Considering the Blue Jays and Johnson have recently parted ways, the 35 year old will need all the tricks he can muster to impress potential suitors. But, there may be a niche for a player who can hit AND pitch. Nicholson-Smith brings up a good point: this year managers appear to be going to position players in out of reach games instead of wasting bullpen arms. Interesting.

Recently, Shi Davidi (Sportsnet.ca) shook things up a bit when he told us that there was a lack of trust at 1 Blue Jays Way. He says that it started after an inactive off season and continued through the Ervin Santana debacle and kept on festering through the trade deadline silence. I wouldn’t really call this “news” per se. It is something the players have been hinting at all year. They have been subtly pointing the finger at the front office. From Casey Janssen to Jose Bautista to Adam Lind, players have been voicing disappointment. If that is what we are hearing through measured, tactful comments, the truth is liable to be much more fiery. My question would be: “Why would the players be any different?” The fans have been feeling this way for a long time. Welcome to the club! It just must be hard to work for a boss that doesn’t really show their unwavering support.

If you have time (just under 4 minutes), check out Barry Davis’ interview with Erik Kratz about being traded from Toronto to Kansas City and how it has worked out quite well for him. Aside from listening to Barry’s questions that are too long and full of what he knows, Kratz gives a pretty good interview. When he is allowed to speak, he is quite honest about his trade. At first, he thought it was a pretty lateral move for him. He also talks about connecting with former Blue Jays like Jason Frasor and Scott Downs.

Richard Griffin says that the Blue Jays should have pushed for the Wild Card spot.

Birds Watcher

He argues that throughout the history of the Wild Card position (1995- present) teams have done well at making the most out of that one and done game. Because of the “you never know what can happen” rule of thumb, he feels the Blue Jays should have pushed to be one of the teams fighting for one more chance. Considering the success of the Giants and Royals this year, he probably has a point.

Finally, I’ll leave you with a bit of news from Mike Wilner  in case you hadn’t heard, but need your mind settled. The Blue Jays won’t be extending qualifying offers to Colby Rasmus or Casey Janssen. Considering the QO is $15.3M this year, this will come as a surprise to no one. In fact, it would be news if they decided they WOULD extend an offer. Alex Anthopoulos loves his draft picks. Not that much, though.