Jays sign Omar Vizquel

[HangTime]

It's a great signing.

The non-guaranteed contract will keep him competitive, which should keep the young guys competitive. Solid Defender, Veteran leadership. It's a Win-Win

[Lateral Quicks]

If the team carries 2 outfielders, there is only room for one infield utility man. AA already has McCoy, Valbuena, and possibly even Diaz in the mix. Later in the season one hopes Hech will be pushing for a spot.

Not sure how Vizquel fits into that mix. He's still passable off the bench though, and maybe AA is concerned about the relative lack of veterans on the team.

[RaptorKenny]

He does bring leadership and experience to a relatively young clubhouse.
And eh, at least we signed a big name free agent

[baulderdash77]

If this was 2001 it would be such a huge deal for us.

[Randle McMurphy]

So instead of McDonald, who was apparently a clubhouse mentor figure, they just get McDonald's baseball mentor to do his job for cheaper. I'm good with that.

[Homer Jay]

I think AA is beaming for a distinctly Latin bent to this team ala the Mets and Marlins. I wonder if what Sheffield said is true about Latin players underselling themselves because of financial insecurity?

[spykelee]

So instead of McDonald, who was apparently a clubhouse mentor figure, they just get McDonald's baseball mentor to do his job for cheaper. I'm good with that.

haha, I forgot about him mentoring Johnny Mac... Makes a decent signing, even better.

[CapeCrusader]

Had no idea he was active.

[hyper316]

omar vizquel going in the hall as a jay

[Michael Bradley]

The Blue Jays signed veteran infielder Omar Vizquel to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training on Monday night.

[Lucky26]

As per Jerry Crasnick

Apparently the Jays are trying to sign every old player left in the MLB this offseason.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/01/blue-jays-closing-in-on-deal-with-omar-vizquel.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

AA is talking to BC (Magloire & Carter)

Edit* except Oliver and Vizquel are still good and serviceable

[LBJSeizedMyID]

I love my character vets. Need someone to lessen the blow of losing Johnny Mac, and I'm sure if he earns a spot he'll be well received by fans.

[Wo1verine]

I think Vizquel is very likely to win a bench spot out of ST.. I mean, at least he can still hit .250..

[Mike Hunt]

I like the move because I can't see anything negative about it. I wonder if some of the motivation is for Vizquel to help Lawrie defensively (can't hurt). The Jays might look very old when the season rolls around.

As an aside:
The other day, I got in the mood to watch a couple Jose Canseco homers (he was my favourite player to watch, as a kid). I found a clip and was glad to see him from his Jays days. One of his bigger homers of the clip was off of a soft throwing lefty. That man turned out to be Darren Oliver and it made me realize just how old he is. Vizquel trumps him by half a decade. Crazy.

[BobbyBoy]

I still think Johnny Mac would have been better. He would of been nice for Lawrie, but what ever.

[SharoneWright]

I think AA is beaming for a distinctly Latin bent to this team ala the Mets and Marlins.

Not saying I agree, but now,,,, Cordero.

[Geddy]

So I hear Otis Nixon is coming out of retirement.

[Mad Prophet]

Maybe he'll be the reverse Stieb - come to spring training as a player and leave as a coach.