2012 payroll: Toronto finds itself in a unique position because the club does not operate under a set salary structure. The Blue Jays have possessed a payroll of at least $70 million since 2006, but president Paul Beeston said it's possible the club could spend close to $140-150 million in the future.

That's not expected to happen this season and it's likely the Blue Jays will need to see a jump in attendance before making that type of financial commitment. Until then, Anthopoulos will evaluate each move on a case-by-case basis before getting approval from Beeston and the Rogers ownership group to spend more money.

"I get asked all the time how much we have to spend and so on," Anthopoulos said. "And Paul's words to me are always, 'Make your case,' irrespective of who the player is.

"I don't believe you have 'X' dollars to spend so let's find a way to spend it. You're limiting yourself to one offseason and one pool of players. My case to Paul [theoretically] is this is going to make us a stronger team and the value of the contract makes sense, it lines up long term, it's not going to hamstring us, we'll be in a good position."