The Jays had a pretty busy Monday.
There was the Ben Francisco trade. Not that we gave up all that much, though Frank Gailey has been kind of a favorite of mine, he's had success each of his 5 seasons in our system, minor league relievers are rarely prospects and at 25 he just made Double-A last year, but Francisco is incredibly average. We have, roughly, a dozen guys that could play in the outfield and we trade for an incredibly average 30 year old?
Alex said that that plan, at the moment, is to have Ben and Rajai Davis on the bench. Our outfield looks to have 2 left-handed hitters, so they could platoon a bit and maybe we can rest Lind against most lefty pitchers. I have a hard time believing that there isn't another move on its way.
Alex said that the plan is to have a four player bench with Davis, Francisco, Mathis and either Mike McCoy or Luis Valbuena being the likely members. Since McCoy can play outfield too, I don't see why you would want half your bench to be guys that can only play outfield. And the Jays have made a point of telling us that Edwin Encarnacion and Kelly Johnson could play outfield. You'd think there has to be moves on the way.
We also picked up 6'6" right-handed pitcher Jim Hoey off waivers from the Twins. He can take Jon Rauch's spot as 'scary guy that can throw the manager around'. Really he is just a tiny improvement to the 40-roster. There will be more moves like that before spring training starts.
In unsurprising news, we didn't non-tender anyone. Jesse Litsch ($975,000), Dustin McGowan ($600,000) and Jeff Mathis ($1,500,000) all signed one year contracts. Brandon Morrow, Casey Janssen, Kelly Johnson, Colby Rasmus and Ben Francisco will all either be signed or go to arbitration.
The Jays completed the Colby Rasmus trade by sending money to the Cardinals, so no more players will be involved.
And the Jays' Winter Tour is heading east this year after coming out west last year. As much as I'd like to see them here again, it is good that they are going to different places.