Blue Jays Morning Brew: A.A., Shapiro, Loup and more

In today’s Blue Jays Morning Brew, we round up the
latest and greatest stories on Alex Anthopoulos,
Mark Shapiro, Aaron Loup and more

Good morning, Blue Jays fans, and welcome back to the Brew. Yesterday’s signing of Alex Gordon back with the Kansas City Royals should kick the outfield market back in to gear (perhaps Toronto gets some trade interest), and the still-floating rumor of the Blue Jays’ interest in reliever/archer Fernando Rodney will be something to monitor as we creep towards Friday. Elsewhere around the MLB and Jays land, here’s the buzz…

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Hall of Fame Results  –  Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza earned their Hall of Fame enshrinement yesterday, with Tim Raines falling just short. Three people didn’t include Griffey on their ballot, which is laughable, but I’m sure we’ll get some articles soon entitled “Look At Me: Why I didn’t vote Griffey.” Time marches on…

A.A. on TV? Almost!  –  An interesting tidbit here from Bob Elliot in the Toronto Sun on Alex Anthopoulos, who is joining the Los Angeles Dodgers and their crowded kitchen of former GMs. Elliot says that Anthopoulos was offered a television position by TSN in Canada, likely a big-money push by that network to cut into the Rogers/Sportsnet monopoly over the sport in Canada. The Dodgers surely had little issue out-bidding.

Shapiro in the NFL? Almost!  –  Another similar story here from Jeff Simmons of Sportsnet, as he reports the NFL’s Cleveland Browns offered a front office position to Mark Shapiro over the summer. Cleveland eventually hired longtime MLB exec Paul DePodesta. It’s safe to say that Shapiro landed in a more favorable environment.

Feeling Loupy  –  A good read here from Tammy Rainey over at Blue Jays Plus where she looks at Aaron Loup, one of Toronto’s many bullpen wildcards entering 2016. One number that really jumped out from this was Loup’s opponent BABIP from June 20th – October 6th: .471. We all hit some bad luck, but that’s going above and beyond.

More blue jays: Check out these prospects that just missed our Top-30

Doc chimes in  –  The usually-quiet Roy Halladay weighed in on the Hall of Fame debate early yesterday on Twitter, writing that “When you use PEDs you admit your not good enough to compete fairly! Our nations past time should have higher standards! No Clemens no Bonds!”  Personally I’ll be thrilled to hear nothing of the Hall of Fame for a while, but it’s always extremely interesting to hear the input of a prominent former player.

Chatting up Reggie Pruitt  –  Ryan Mueller over at Jays From the Couch spoke with Toronto’s 24th Round pick in the 2015 Draft, Reggie Pruitt. You’ll see Pruitt coming up on our Top-30 Prospects list, as the young outfielder’s talent is well above his draft slot.