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The avenue in which Anthopoulos expects to be most active is the trade market, where he will try to leverage his growing stockpile of young talent into more core parts. Fans pining for a splashy free agent addition or two – say Prince Fielder, C.J. Wilson, or Heath Bell – should brace themselves for disappointment unless a great opportunity presents itself.

“Philosophically speaking, if we want to improve the club, free agency is the last area I want to go to,” says Anthopoulos. “I prefer to use free agency as a market to finalize the team rather than build the team. I just think it’s a harder to try and build a winning team through free agency.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2011/09/22/davidi_anthopoulos/

Everyone asking for/expecting Fielder on this board will probably be disappointed this offseason.

Such a cop out on behalf of Rogers IMO. Going after a name like Fielder builds a stronger team for years to come and he is much better than any option at first that we have in the entire organization, period. Let's face it, we do not have any player in our system that projects to be the type of masher that Prince is. If Rogers doesn't want to spend money then I'd prefer a direct statement saying that we are going to do what Tampa did as opposed to AA ducking questions about Beeston saying "there is no budget" and players can be signed on a case by case basis.

If we are not ready to contend I believe trading Bautista is the best bet. Not from a PR perspective, of course but if we are stacking young players then stick to it. There is no need in pretending to be a fringe contender at this point; either your in or you are not.

rarefind wrote:Such a cop out on behalf of Rogers IMO. Going after a name like Fielder builds a stronger team for years to come and he is much better than any option at first that we have in the entire organization, period. Let's face it, we do not have any player in our system that projects to be the type of masher that Prince is. If Rogers doesn't want to spend money then I'd prefer a direct statement saying that we are going to do what Tampa did as opposed to AA ducking questions about Beeston saying "there is no budget" and players can be signed on a case by case basis.

If we are not ready to contend I believe trading Bautista is the best bet. Not from a PR perspective, of course but if we are stacking young players then stick to it. There is no need in pretending to be a fringe contender at this point; either your in or you are not.

You are getting way to far ahead of yourself. The off season has not even begun and you are already talking about cop outs and rogers not willing to spend. Not only does AA keep his cards close (smokescreen?) but I trust he knows what he's doing. I really don't care how he assembles the team for next year as long as it's playoff caliber. Also, just because he's trading doesn't mean we aren't taking on alot more salary or getting better players.

Rogers would be silly not to capitalize on the growing hype and support around this team. I am sure they know if they stand pat the stands will be empty again next year, merchandise sales will be stagnant and that's not good business for them. At least give Rogers and AA the off season before you rush to conclusions.

The problem with the trade route is that people forget how much it takes to get a top level talent, unless we keep hunting for bargains a la Rasmus and Escobar. It took the Brewers a top 15 prospect just to get a quality 2/3 pitcher in Shaun Marcum. We're not going to get what we need by some Snider/Drabek/single A guys package.

Attonitus wrote:

rarefind wrote:Such a cop out on behalf of Rogers IMO. Going after a name like Fielder builds a stronger team for years to come and he is much better than any option at first that we have in the entire organization, period. Let's face it, we do not have any player in our system that projects to be the type of masher that Prince is. If Rogers doesn't want to spend money then I'd prefer a direct statement saying that we are going to do what Tampa did as opposed to AA ducking questions about Beeston saying "there is no budget" and players can be signed on a case by case basis.

If we are not ready to contend I believe trading Bautista is the best bet. Not from a PR perspective, of course but if we are stacking young players then stick to it. There is no need in pretending to be a fringe contender at this point; either your in or you are not.

You are getting way to far ahead of yourself. The off season has not even begun and you are already talking about cop outs and rogers not willing to spend. Not only does AA keep his cards close (smokescreen?) but I trust he knows what he's doing. I really don't care how he assembles the team for next year as long as it's playoff caliber. Also, just because he's trading doesn't mean we aren't taking on alot more salary or getting better players.

Rogers would be silly not to capitalize on the growing hype and support around this team. I am sure they know if they stand pat the stands will be empty again next year, merchandise sales will be stagnant and that's not good business for them. At least give Rogers and AA the off season before you rush to conclusions.

Not exactly getting ahead of myself based on AA's comments from a couple days ago actually. Ultimately, I do hope it is indeed a smokescreen but with the kool aid being offered up by Davidi and co. I wouldn't be surprised at this point either way. The money is indeed there, curious if the willingness to spend it matches up though.

I don't see how going the trade route is better than free agency. AA argues that he is able to target the player he wants better via the trade route. Which may be true because I guess theoretically speaking, the available player pool is larger.

However, when you can get your hands on a young talented player and all you have to do is shell out money, you do it. Obviously we don't want Toronto giving out a blank pay checks to would be free agents, they still have to be smart with their money, but as a fan I would much rather have Rogers spend a little extra when the alternative is selling the farm system.

Toronto should still be targeting Fielder this off season. It makes no sense not to. The Yankees and Bo Sox have their first basemen so at least Toronto wouldn't have to compete with them. Who would we be competing with? Texas, Anaheim? Rogers is one of the richest owners in Baseball. We have no first basemen that are game changers in the minors. Give fielder a 5 or 6 year deal and be done with it.

I'm also on the Yu Darvish bandwagon and think he should also be looked at very closely. The revenue generated from Japan would most likely offset any cost associated with his negotiations.

I think if Toronto can somehow land both Fielder and Darvish, re-sign Johnson for a couple years and sign a capable reliever they are in great shape. Back in the day when Toronto was competing they had their young pitchers like Todd Stottlemyre in the bullpen so no reason to think they can't fill some spots with the young arms they have in the minors.

Anyways those are my two cents.

Cheers

Lawrie up earlier (instead of E5 and Nix at 3rd)? arguably 3 extra wins.
Cecil not sucking at the beginning of the year? Arguably 3 extra wins.

If we upgraded starting pitching by 1 pitcher (not even an ace) and had a good closer, we'd be in the wild card hunt. Look how the Sox are biting the proverbial nutsack

I see us going hard after Darvish, still.

"Speaking on behalf of Rogers Communications, if we want to improve the club, free agency is the last area I want to go to,” says Anthopoulos. “I prefer to use free agency as a market to finalize the team rather than build the team. When that time comes, Rogers will spend generously."

Fixed.

YogiStewart wrote:Lawrie up earlier (instead of E5 and Nix at 3rd)? arguably 3 extra wins.
Cecil not sucking at the beginning of the year? Arguably 3 extra wins.

If we upgraded starting pitching by 1 pitcher (not even an ace) and had a good closer, we'd be in the wild card hunt. Look how the Sox are biting the proverbial nutsack

Not to mention the starts of Mr. Reyes.

The Jays spent $7M to get Rasmus (in the form of Mark Teahen), so Rogers definitely has the money and it wouldn't surprise me if AA trades for a player with a bigger contract. The only reasons the trade route would benefit the Jays are: 1) a player already signed comes with cost certainty, and 2) AA won't have to outbid other teams from a salary standpoint which is all Rogers cares about anyway.

The question is, who is available? AA targeting young players who are out of favor with their current clubs (like Morrow, Escobar, and Rasmus were) may work, but at this point the Jays need a legit star. The closest thing to a star that may be out of favor with his current team is Hanley Ramirez, but I don't know if the Marlins would consider moving him.

Hopefully AA surprises us, but the only FA I can see him going after is Darvish, and that is only because it could make Rogers some money in the short and long term.

Let me ask you guys something. When was the last time we had a good idea of what was coming next for this team based on public comments by AA?

The guy is on record as saying that openly dealing with the media is a detriment to his success as a GM, isn't he? I think he we need to take most anything he says relevant to the Jays, good or bad, with a sizable helping of skepticism.

Too much speculation about the Jays trying hard for a free agent will just lead to more angry fans if said free agent does not sign. Let AA do his thing, say whatever and see how the team is assembled before "angrily blaming Rogers" for this. I hate Rogers as much as you guys but the article clearly states that this is AA's philosophy, not a Rogers philosophy.

The Jays do have more options now, so it only makes sense that AA might want to use these options to explore trade opportunities first, rather than have some of these guys rot in AAA.

YogiStewart wrote:Lawrie up earlier (instead of E5 and Nix at 3rd)? arguably 3 extra wins.
Cecil not sucking at the beginning of the year? Arguably 3 extra wins.

If we upgraded starting pitching by 1 pitcher (not even an ace) and had a good closer, we'd be in the wild card hunt. Look how the Sox are biting the proverbial nutsack

These types of arguments have been coming up at the end of each season for the past 5-10 years now. Next year the team will have some bad pieces, and we'll be saying "well if so-and-so wasn't on the team we would have had a few more wins".

Either way I think the writing is on the wall now and Pujols or Fielder will not be coming here. The promotion of next season with the young guys making the team contenders have already started. That commercial with the quote about the playoff drought coming close to an end gives me a good chuckle.

If they're going to go the trade route they better not target guys like Escobar or Rasmus, it's just not good enough!
We need guaranteed production, and if they don't get, we're yet again wasting another year of Bautista's prime.

If AA doesn't think that we can't compete next year, then so be it. My main issue, like others have mentioned, is that we'd be wasting Bautista in his prime. We've been a middle of the pack team for so long; it's frustrating. We never get a top pick and we're always far enough out that we're never in a playoff race either.

Hanley Ramirez or Joey Votto

Do it AA

I'm not sure this meshes with me. This isn't the NBA where improving a team via FA directly affects your drafting results a great deal.

Seems much better to add big talent via FA when the opportunity is there AND retain your farm system at the same time, instead of gutting the farm system earlier via trades and hoping you can get your FA later.

I would agree this team, barring a perfect storm, would not be in a position to compete before 2013...unfortunately AA is putting out signs that Rogers will not commit to FAs until they're shown results using internal assets first. Which seems akin to a dad not letting his son borrow the Lexus keys until he can drive the Hyundai for a year without incident.

I think if you have confidence in AA's development ability, you have to stick to that and let him spend when he can...I'm not sure AA's comment is not coming from Rogers' mouth.

as everyone else has said; its pretty obvious that free agency has far less negative impact on your team than a trade

Mattd97 wrote:as everyone else has said; its pretty obvious that free agency has far less negative impact on your team than a trade

But a far greater impact on Rogers' balance sheet.