Anyways I figured instead of trying to sort through all the things were said over the course of numerous media interview all day I would focus on an interview that Alex Anthopolous gave with Prime Time Sports on the Fan 590 in Toronto. i'm choosing to give 5 thoughts on this interview as it covers a great deal of different topics. Give it a listen....It's good
http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/prime-time-sports/blue-jays-gm-alex-anthopoulos-on-prime-time-sports/
1. AA mentions early on in the Interview that in their office that they track current Free Agents as well as the next year's Free Agents, which should actually put some additional perspective into why the Martin deal was made even with a capable starting catcher already on the team. Navarro is a free agent next year and if the Jays didn't think that anyone who would be available next year would match up to Russell Martin, you might as well get the best available guy when you can.
2. AA goes onto mentioning that the Team has gone to great lengths to investigate the so called " high taxes" issue that may be one of the reasons for players not wanting to sign in Toronto. Well long story short....because half of games are played in the US for some reason this actually works as a benefit to exempting players from some taxes and actually makes them fall in the middle of the pack for income tax deductions among major league teams! Now.....AA said that they've paid companies to figure this all out and that's awesome, but NOW all they should be doing is sending this information to each and every agent that has a Major League Ball player on their roster.
3. During a part of the interview the topic switched to how this World Series showed the value of the bullpen, which was obvious, however one thing I found interesting was that AA went on about how due to the weather change in the playoff season it was important to ensure that you have contact hitters on your team! Agreed....100%, but shouldn't automatically make you think that AA would really want to get Melky signed? He was arguably their best contact hitter all last year and I don't know of that many other great contact hitters that are available on the market.........................Whatever we already know Aoki looks good in blue and white.
4. Anthopolous talked about the trade market and gave the sense that it was still in the exploratory phase. Other Gm's asking more than the Jays are willing to give, since the Jays were always trying to get a better player nothing was going to happen right away. Yeah deep insight I know! Anyways....Said he know which guys are available but unfortunately the deals all seemed to have to include a kicker that the Jays are not willing to give up, but they are still interested in negotiating. Something tells me the Winter meetings are going to be a fun one. Hopefully Sportsnet takes notice and sends down a few people to cover everything properly!
5. Here something to ponder. AA mentions that before the interview started he has to cut a phone call short! He said that he was on the phone with a player agent who was trying to see if there was an interest in his client! Who was this Agent's player? I am going to say that it was Jason Grilli's agent. I listened to him give an interview on TSN radio last night and he was all but asking for a contract from the Jays!
Alright...Good talk! Go Jays
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