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While speculation persists that the team could sell, the Jays are not interested in trading potential free agents for long-range prospects, according to major-league sources. If they make deals, the idea will be to acquire players who could help them win next season.

The Jays’ preference, in fact, would be to retain potential free agents such as first baseman/DH Edwin Encarnacion, second baseman Kelly Johnson and reliever Jason Frasor rather than accept meager returns and weaken the club short-term.

And if the Jays buy, they are unlikely to make a “go for it” trade in which they would overpay, one source said. GM Alex Anthopoulos covets players that he can control, not rentals who would amount to temporary fixes.

In a recent notes column, I floated the idea of the Jays trading center fielder Colby Rasmus for a pitcher with comparable ability and service time. I didn’t mention names, but I was thinking of someone like Rangers lefty Matt Harrison or Nationals righty Jordan Zimmermann, not that either would necessarily be available.

Well, the Jays aren’t trading Rasmus, a source said.

The team has two highly-regarded center-field prospects – Anthony Gose at Triple-A, Jake Marisnick at Single-A. But Gose, 21, might not fully develop for several years. The same goes for Triple-A shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, 23, who — lest anyone forget — repeated Double-A and batted only .235 last season.

The Jays struggled to find a center fielder for the future even before trading Vernon Wells to the Angels in January 2011. Rasmus was their solution, and one club official describes him as “a totally different animal” than he was after they acquired him at the deadline a year ago.

Not only has Rasmus made changes to his swing, but he also has become even more driven, the club official said.

Lucky26 wrote:Well, respect to Rosey on admitting he was a tool on that Rasmus trade scenerio.