AA: No more major moves likely before Spring Training.

[rtcaino]

At end of interview:

"I think were going to be done, other than some Minor League free agents"

"We're not making anymore trades for a while."



Smoke screen or what?



http://www.fan590.com/ondemand/media.js ... 83342_3188

[SharoneWright]

MacDonald or McCoy on 3rd?

Or Jose on 3 with Rivera as an everyday player? (Rivera/Thames platoon?)

[Skin Blues]

John McDonald is a nice guy but he is a long, long way from being a major league third baseman. His career OPS is about 200 points less than it would have to be.

[SharoneWright]

... so Rivera as an everyday outfielder?

[DonYon]

pffttt he's lying.

[number15]

If they kept Napoli, they coould have done this:

C- Arencibia
1b- Napoli
2b- Hill
SS- Escobar
3b- Bautista
RF- Snider
CF- Davis
LF- Lind
DH- Encarnaccion


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...... we need a strong defencive 3B, to put Bautista in RF. otherwise i like this setup

[CapeCrusader]

Hopefully we sign Vlad to a one year deal. Two at the very most.

[guvernator]

trading napoli only makes sense if AA has his eyes set on Vlad, other wise, a stupid trade.
Put Encarnacion at 3rd until midseason or however long it takes lawrie to be ready for majors.

DH Vlad
1B Lind
2B Hill
SS Escobar
3B Encarnacion/Lawrie
OF Snider
OF Davis
OF Bautista

This lineup should score more runs than last year.

[hyper316]

trading napoli only makes sense if AA has his eyes set on Vlad, other wise, a stupid trade.
Put Encarnacion at 3rd until midseason or however long it takes lawrie to be ready for majors.

DH Vlad
1B Lind
2B Hill
SS Escobar
3B Encarnacion/Lawrie
OF Snider
OF Davis
OF Bautista

This lineup should score more runs than last year.

i'm fine with E5 starting out at 3B and Lawrie being called up later, but Rivera needs to go then, he'll be making too much for a 4th OF

[wlujaysfan55]

trading napoli only makes sense if AA has his eyes set on Vlad, other wise, a stupid trade.
Put Encarnacion at 3rd until midseason or however long it takes lawrie to be ready for majors.

DH Vlad
1B Lind
2B Hill
SS Escobar
3B Encarnacion/Lawrie
OF Snider
OF Davis
OF Bautista

This lineup should score more runs than last year.

i'm fine with E5 starting out at 3B and Lawrie being called up later, but Rivera needs to go then, he'll be making too much for a 4th OF

I'd love to see Vlad on this team as DH. JB at 3B & EE to pitch in against LHP where he either plays 1st or 3B and Snider sits out while JB moves to RF and Rivera to LF.

1. escobar
2. hill
3. lind
4. bautista
5. guerrero
6. snider
7. JPA
8. Rivera
9. Davis

[j127]

I can't trust AA anymore. He tricked me into thinking Napoli was going to be kept. Not that I'm disappointed in the trade, but I feel so manipulated and violated now.

I expect a big signing or trade soon.

[wlujaysfan55]

well, forget about vlad - pretty sure he's not in the picture after this comment:


“I told Lind and Edwin Encarnacion that they would be playing every day,” Anthopoulos said. “One will be at first base, one at DH.”


http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/ ... -francisco

[Randle McMurphy]

well, forget about vlad - pretty sure he's not in the picture after this comment:


“I told Lind and Edwin Encarnacion that they would be playing every day,” Anthopoulos said. “One will be at first base, one at DH.”


http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/ ... -francisco

Edwin Encarnacion is going to be playing full-time at a position that's not 3B?

Talk about poor value, especially when a guy in Manny was available for less.

[J-Roc]

AA was on the Krystal show this morning. Krystal and Greg Brady actually had AA laughing like a guy in his 30's. Rare.

- They mentioned to AA how Francisco tosses a chair into the crowd a few years ago. AA started off with a mature GM response by just talking about him as a pitcher, but after a few jokes by the morning crew, AA was laughing and saying something about you don't need to go to MMA now. He broke character for a second.

- Is this legal? AA says he had Bautista contact Frank Francisco earlier in the offseason, to convince him to come to Toronto. Something about not being sure if he'd be given arbitration. Again, AA sounded kind of loose, so I feel like he said something he shouldn't...but maybe it's all on the up and up. I have no idea, so just asking.

- Napoli was scheduled to be on the morning show, I think they said yesterday morning. In any case, last minute AA told his media guys to cancel the radio show, so Napoli wouldn't go on and talk about how excited he was to be a Blue Jay. The Fan guys might have expected something was going down. But on the flipside, for the Jays to book Napoli with the radio station, does that mean they didn't have this deal planned right away. So all AA's quotes the day before were real?

- He expects 30 HRs from EE

- We can replace Vernon's offence with Hill and Lind getting back to normal. And he expects Juan Rivera to go for 25HRs at the Dome

- Rauch, Dotel and Francisco will battle for closing duties

- Francisco is a righty but can get lefties out. Otherwise Purcey is our top lefty out of the pen

- Generally sounds like he doesn't want to put too much pressure on young pitching staff, so he wanted a good bullpen

- In talks with some GM about a deal, but last night they decided to put it on hold until spring training

- Expects more from Snider this year. Some of you have been very patient with Snider. Is this really the first season we can make judgments on him?

[LittleOzzy]

Thanks for the recap J-Roc.

[Michael Bradley]

Expected more from Snider this year. Some of you have been very patient with Snider. Is this really the first season we can make judgments on him?

Yes. Under Gaston he was platooned (2009) and given infrequent playing time (2010), coupled with injuries. With a new manager in town who doesn't hate rookies, he should be able to get everyday playing time. It wouldn't surprise me if he has a Jay Bruce type season in 2011.

[luvtheteam]

well, forget about vlad - pretty sure he's not in the picture after this comment:


“I told Lind and Edwin Encarnacion that they would be playing every day,” Anthopoulos said. “One will be at first base, one at DH.”


http://www.thestar.com/sports/baseball/ ... -francisco

Edwin Encarnacion is going to be playing full-time at a position that's not 3B?

Talk about poor value, especially when a guy in Manny was available for less.

AA said he needed a guy that could DH and spell Lind at first from time to time and that Manny couldn't do that so was not a good fit. As well, he's very high on EE and think his productivity can go up.

[Lateral Quicks]

Hopefully that's not the case. An outfield of Snider-Davis-Rivera does not inspire great confidence, though I'm quite hopeful Snider will have a great year.

I'd much prefer keeping Bautista in right and getting a real 3B. Heck, I'd prefer putting Encarnacion back at 3rd to free-up Bautista.

All in all it's been a great offseason for AA (I say great - not good - primarily due to the miracle Wells deal). The only two questionable moves in my book are signing Rajai Davis and Octavio Dotel. Dotel's splits suggest he isn't good closer material, and now with all the subsequent moves he's redundant out there. For example, I'd take Frasor over him. As for Rajai Davis, he just doesn't get on base enough to be the kind of prototypical leadoff batter the team needs. I don't understand this move when we had a guy like Mastroianni tearing up double A with a .390 OBP and 40+ SB last season. I'm confident Mastroianni could replicate Davis' OBP of .330 last year if he were given a full-time shot. At the very least hopefully he makes it as the 4th OF rather than Patterson.

As for the Encarnacion bashing, I agree he's a frustrating player that hasn't played up to his potential. However, this is a guy who has put up .350 OBP multiple times in his relatively young career and shows glimpses of monstrous power. He's certainly well worth taking a flyer on for $2.5M this year. Maybe DH'ing will allow him to focus more on hitting and he can live up to his abilities there.

The bullpen is looking quite good at the moment. Frasor/Rauch/Francisco/Dotel are all proven 8th inning guys, all of whom have varying experience in the closer's role. Purcey and Camp have potential to be good late-inning guys. If we hold a lead going into the 7th, other teams could be in trouble this year...