Blue Jays Morning Brew: Beeston, AA & More

It is a bit of challenge to read anything online about the Toronto Blue Jays that doesn’t involve their search for a new president, but here goes:

While many fans are eager to blame Rogers (specifically, Ed) for botching this pursuit, at FoxSports.com, Ken Rosenthal says that all parties involved deserve an “error” for the way this whole situation has been handled. The Blue Jays, Dan Duquette AND Peter Angelos all deserve criticism for their roles in all of this. 

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It seems like so long ago that Paul Beeston said he was going to stay with the Blue Jays for the 2015 season. A few month, and some really messed up negotiations, later he is indeed staying with the club. But, as Scott Stinson of OCanada.com points out, that doesn’t really solve anything. What happens at the end of the season when Beeston retires, Stinson asks? What does the club do then?

That begs the question as to where they look for a new president in a year’s time, but it calls into question the future of GM, Alex Anthopoulos. He’s in the final year of his deal too. Rogers showed an interesting implication by pursuing a hands on guy like Duquette. How much faith do they have in AA to push this team forward? Do they trust him if this club goes south? Will they allow him to go into “sell mode” with his tenure possibly ending? Wouldn’t that be left for a guy who is going to be there down the road? Does that push him out the door sooner?

Speaking of Beeston, he says that there is certainly a situation where payroll could go up! Hello! The Blue Jays continue to be linked to free agent James Shields and that comment will do nothing to quiet those rumors. To wit:

Not that we should take that as a sign that the two parties are going to come to an agreement, but it is interesting. The question is: what is it that they “want to do” and what would be a fit for that? Maybe it is the closer role that would be a fit. The Zo Zone, a MLBlog by Todd Zolecki reminds us that the Blue Jays are still talking to the Phillies about Jonathan Papelbon. The price tag for him is high. It will not just cost $13M in 2015, but his vesting option for the same amount in 2016 kicks in if he finishes just 48 more games. He hasn’t finished under 50 since 2006 (49).

At Sportsnet.ca, Greg Mercer profiles New Hamsphire FisherCats infielder and his speed. Berti stole 40 bases for the AA FisherCats last season. In this piece, we learn that assistant GM, Tony LaCava thinks that Berti could even see time in AAA Buffalo this season. Stay tuned to see where we have him ranked in our Jays Journal Top 20 Blue Jays Prospects list. 

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Aside from suggesting the Major League Baseball abandon the shift, new commissioner Rob Manfred has earned some brownie points with Canadian fans. Through the Tampa Tribune, we read that Bud Selig’s replacement said that Montreal could very well successfully hold a MLB team. He said that the games played in Montreal by the Blue Jays last spring clearly showed that there is heavy interest in baseball there. And, speaking of the shift, Lowell Cohn of the Press Democrat says that instead of banning the shift, baseball just needs its hitters to adapt. Think of Jose Bautista going the other way to beat a shift. Pure joy!

Robert MacLeod of the Globe and Mail tells us that Canadian Dalton Pompey has his sights set on the starting CF job in 2015. The profile piece tells us that Pompey has been switch hitting since he was 4 years old and has impressed ever since. In fact, manager John Gibbons has been so impressed by the 22 year old that he has already said that he’d like to see Pompey start. Later in the piece, though we get a quote from Alex Anthopoulos that says “just because you win a job in the spring, doesn’t mean you keep it”. This suggests that there may not be hesitation by the club to turn to Kevin Pillar if Pompey struggles.

Finally, if you are interested the Blue Jays J-Force is hiring! Yes, you could be a member of the team that enhances the game experience for fans. For more details, go HERE.

Next: Blue Jays Top 20 Prospects: #19 Matt Dean