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Despite the lacklustre season, a change at catcher is still a long way from guaranteed. Anthopoulos likely will explore every avenue, but free agent Brian McCann is expected to generate a lot of interest this offseason while Texas' A.J. Pierzynski and Boston's Jarrod Saltalamacchia could be equally difficult to lure away from their respective teams.

Washington's Wilson Ramos is known to be of interest to the Blue Jays but would cost a lot through trade. There isn't an easy fix, but expect this situation to remain a hot topic until Anthopoulos either makes a move or comes out and definitively says that Arencibia will be his starting catcher again in 2014.

BigLeagueChew wrote:I will not watch the Jays next year if Arencibia is our starting catcher! Trade prospects for Ramos or sign McAnn/Pierzynski?

Michael Bradley wrote:Unless the Nats have a back-up option at catcher that I am not aware of, I'm not sure they have any reason to trade Ramos. He is young, puts up solid numbers, and is cheap.

The fact that the Jays are looking to upgrade from JPA in itself is a positive. I can't believe they wasted one season of this short window period with him catching as many games as he did.

Kurtz wrote:How come Ruiz isn't being bandied about? He's got about 2 years of juice left in him, which should be perfect for us.

Michael Bradley wrote: The Tigers have an expensive and possibly expendable #5 starter in Porcello who looks like he is on the verge of a breakout

Skin Blues wrote:

Michael Bradley wrote: The Tigers have an expensive and possibly expendable #5 starter in Porcello who looks like he is on the verge of a breakout

He's been on the verge of a breakout for the past 5 seasons, it seems. Since he was a Super 2 he's gonna be expensive in his final 2 arb years. If they don't have to give up anything special then sure, why not give him a shot? But I doubt they'd trade him for a relief pitcher.

The Blue Jays might go in on Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, but in the meantime, when do we find out if the, erm, Price is right?

Has Anthopoulos hit a Homer yet with the Cincinnati Reds?

“As a courtesy, you’ll wait until a team is out of the playoffs and, even then, you’ll give it a good amount of time,” Anthopoulos said Wednesday.

“I just think it’s a courtesy not to talk to guys when they’re in the playoffs. So, my calls now are to teams that are out.”

Anthopoulos’s off-season wish list couldn’t be clearer: a couple of starting pitchers and an upgrade behind the plate.

He has some commodities: in particular, bullpen depth and some cost-effective outfielders.

While it’s nice to have Steve Delabar setting up Casey Janssen, Delabar is an arm that could provide a contending team immediate ninth-inning help in 2014. The Rays can’t run Fernando Rodney out as a closer in 2014. The Reds are mulling over putting Aroldis Chapman in the rotation, especially if they decide to move starter Homer Bailey thinking he won’t be inclined to sign a multiyear contract. Other teams that are still in the race – the Detroit Tigers, for example – have expressed past interest in Delabar.

Wo1verine wrote:Isn't A.J. Pierzynski the perfect fit for the next 2 years? That's pretty much our window for winning with this current group.

He's also a winner and obviously knows how to run a staff.

Many of the team’s top players, including Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Jose Reyes, Brett Lawrie and R.A. Dickey remain under team control for at least three more seasons. Others, such as Colby Rasmus and Brandon Morrow, have just one more guaranteed year in Toronto.

Since so much of the Blue Jays’ core remains in place for three years—an eternity in the fast-paced world of MLB transactions—Anthopoulos is positioned to keep this team in place if he wants. If he prefers to re-shape the roster, as he did last winter with blockbuster deals with the New York Mets and Miami Marlins, then that option also exists.

“The core that we have in place from a contractual standpoint speaks for itself,” he says. “That’s not to say that we would rule anything out. No one has a no-trade clause. Clearly, with players that are productive if you move those players you don’t want to fill one hole to create one in another area. But I don’t think we ever enter any discussions saying we’re unwilling to discuss any player.”

The Blue Jays may consider trading players including Bautista this winter, but assuming the right fielder stays put along with Encarnacion, Anthopoulos can keep two of the top right-handed bats in MLB for the next three years. That’s a good starting point for any lineup.

The Blue Jays’ pitching staff needs work, though, so the front office must make changes leading up to the 2014 season, a reality acknowledged by Anthopoulos, manager John Gibbons and the Blue Jays’ players.

It’s now a question of how much change is required. If Anthopoulos wants to keep the core of this team in place, he can do so for another three years, supplementing the roster with starting pitching and a position player or two in the hopes of better health and results in future seasons.

And if the disappointment of 2013 has weakened Anthopoulos’ belief that the core currently in place will yield a winner, he can make larger adjustments such as the deals he made a year ago. Change is on its way one way or another, it’s just a question of how far the Blue Jays decide to go.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ longstanding interest in left-hander Brett Anderson hasn’t disappeared, even after an injury-plagued year. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday that numerous teams are interested in acquiring Anderson from the Oakland Athletics, particularly the Blue Jays.

The Blue Jays have pursued Anderson for two years and had a scout following him at the end of the 2013 season, according to Slusser. MLB teams routinely scout potentially available players, so the Blue Jays are not necessarily targeting the 25-year-old

“Very few players are, for lack of a better term, clean in terms of their (medical) file,” Toronto general manager Alex Anthopoulos said on the final day of the regular season. “If we are willing to take (a health risk), maybe that will influence us in terms of the acquisition cost, or what we would pay.”

Anderson started 30 games as a rookie in 2009, but has started fewer than 20 games in each year since.