What did the Blue Jays do on Day 2 of the Winter Meetings in San Diego? Nothing!
Things have happened and the rumour mill has been churning but almost nothing has anything to do with the Blue Jays. We have heard, for instance, that the Blue Jays were in on Luke Gregorson who is signing with the Astros. The Houstonites have been busy, locking up another reliever, Pat Neshek, as well.
Chicago has been taking a lot of attention away from the rest of the baseball world. The White Sox brought Jeff Samardzija back to Chicago, giving up much less than the A’s did to get him from the Cubs during the season, and also signed reliever David Robertson for a big money deal. The Cubs, not to be outdone, traded for catcher Miguel Montero (of the Diamondbacks) while nabbing the biggest-name pitcher out there, Jon Lester, for what is rumoured to be a six-year, 155-million deal with a vesting option for seventh year at $15 million. The Cubs also made some news when they signed Jason Hammel to two-year, $20 million deal. It’s structured to be two years at $9 million per year with a third year at $10 million with a $2 million buy-out (bringing the guaranteed value to $20 million).
Will we see anything happen today? Some of the big names have signed (Lester, Andrew Miller, Robertson) which means that players who were waiting for them to set the market have started to sign as well (Gregerson and Neshek, for example). The Blue Jays could be more active because, with the top end of the market now less fuzzy, the players who are expecting middle or lower end contracts have a better idea of where they slot in.
So that’s the big news from the Winter Meetings but none of it pertains to the Blue Jays. Hopefully there will be more going on today to write about. If you ever need more footage of Wilner, Davidi, Nicholson-Smith and Davis standing around a marina with golf shirts on, check it out (but you might have to wait for the ads to finish playing).
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Who are these players? Find out in The 2014 Toronto Blue Jays Minor League Handbook, now available as an ebook at Smashwords.com, now at a reduced price of $2.99 US. You can purchase and preview the book at our Smashwords.com page!
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