Blue Jays: Pivotal week in store for front office at Winter Meetings

The Toronto Blue Jays front office are in store for a pivotal week at the Winter Meetings in determining the success of their offseason.

It has been reported that the Blue Jays have been one of the busiest teams courting free agents this offseason and yet the brain trust has yet to sign any of the available players on the dotted line to bring their talents north of the border.

This week kicks off the annual winter meetings in San Diego where it is anticipated another round of free agents will come to agreements with new their suitors. It would be in the Blue Jays best interest not to leave the meetings empty-handed if they are going to shore up their starting rotation via the free-agent route.

The Jays have already missed out on the likes of pitchers Zack Wheeler, Kyle Gibson, Michael Pineda, Tyler Anderson, Cole Hamels, Kendall Graveman, Drew Pomeranz and Adam Wainwright who all have inked new pacts this offseason.

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The brain trust is rumoured to have a keen interest in southpaw Hyun-Jin Ryu, however, so do the Twins and according to Jon Heyman, a reunion in Los Angeles is still not out of the question. The Jays will have to pull the trigger before the pool of players dries up and they are left searching for reclamation projects and dumpster diving.

It appears Gerrit Cole is destined for the Yankees as contract numbers floating around are in the 250+ million range. The Jays have the financial flexibility to make it happen but they would have to overpay huge to convince Cole to cross the border.

The market on Dallas Keuchel has been quiet of late but he makes sense considering his propensity for the groundball which would bode well at the Rogers Centre. Keuchel turns 32 in January so he would be a short term solution on a two or three-year deal.

As we know, talk is cheap and the brain trust needs to do a better job of sealing the deal this week before they are the last one standing alone at the dance.