Blue Jays: Throwing some cold water on Cespedes rumours

The Blue Jays were linked to free agent outfielder Yoenis Cespedes as a “mystery team” recently, but a second report now says that was not the case

There’s a safe way to operate in regards to Major League Baseball rumours: If only one person is saying it, wait for a second. Or a third.

On Saturday, a tweet from Christopher Meola suggested that the Blue Jays were the “mystery team” in on outfielder Yoenis Cespedes. While this wasn’t a link I saw much traction in, the potential that financial flexibility existed did hold importance.

Today, however, Jeff Blair of Sportsnet cites a source of his own to refute the report. Furthermore, it doesn’t seem like the money is/was there.

This does seem more in line with the indications that we have been getting from Mark Shapiro and the Blue Jays front office over the past month or so. While there does appear to be room for financial flexibility, that seems to be more in terms of depth pieces, not impact outfielders in their prime.

Any increased budget would likely need to come at the cost of a rostered contract at this point (someone like R.A. Dickey and his $12 million).

There’s also the short-term 2016 future to consider, as well. Alex Anthopoulos learned the hard way that money should be left on the table to adjust the roster in-season or ahead of the deadline, which he was then able to do in 2015. Expect the Blue Jays to operate similarly in 2016 and leave themselves with options should injury or underperformance come in to play.