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We are heading into day 2 of 4 of the Baseball Winter Meetings in Nashville. Again we'll leave this as an open thread for you to discuss the goings on of the day. At around 2 pm today, we hopefully can celebrate the naming of legendary Blue Jays radio broadcaster Tom Cheek as the Ford C. Frick Award winner. If we can't, we'll at least get to come on here to say how wrong the Frick committee was.
Let's recap what happened yesterday.
Blue Jays Related
Anthopoulos on Day 1 of the Winter Meetings - North of the Border
Alex Anthopoulos spoke with the media during day 1 of the Winter Meetings. Tom already covered several of these points here, but Gregor Chisholm give us the full transcript of the event (thanks!). An interesting point is how Buffalo is a more appealing place for minor league free agent pitchers to play in compared to Las Vegas. I just never thought about it that way, I had always assumed that minor league free agents were grateful for any contract. Also, the full quote about Adam Lind actually mentions Rajai Davis being a platoon candidate with him, but that AA would like to give him "one more crack" at facing "some left-handers early," "but clearly you look at left-right splits and we do have some options with some right-handed bats." How that turned into the big talking point on Twitter yesterday was pure media magic.
Baseball Nation's Steven Goldman talks to Blue Jays manager John Gibbons, who stubbornly refuses to promise contention.
Day 1 quiet at Winter Meetings - Sportsnet.ca
Mike Wilner gives a few snippets of what Gibby said in his scrum. Again, Gibby just said that Adam Lind will be given "early" chances at playing everyday. I'd like to interpret "early" as in "in March."
Gibbons looking forward to start of 2013 season - BlueJays.com (video)
Instead of reading it you can hear what Gibby said right from the horse's mouth.
The Jays claimed catcher Eli Whiteside.
Sportsnet's Shi Davidi shared with us some news of some staff movements that were announced today.
#BlueJays make change to training staff: Mike Frostad replaces asst Hap Hudson. Also, advance scout/video co-ord Brian Abraham not renewed
— Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) December 3, 2012
Hap Hudson was the Blue Jays' assistant trainer under George Poulis since 2011, having previously serving as the organization's rehab coordinator in 2010. He has worked in various athletic training roles in the minor leagues, spending 7 years in the Cardinals organization and 13 in the Phillies organization. Frostad was the Athletic Training Coordinator last year and has spent more than a decade on the minor league side of the Blue Jays organization. He is from Calgary, but lives in Florida, because who would want to live in Calgary during winter?
J.P. Arencibia steps away from Twitter and goes on TV to talk to Jamie Campbell about all the trade rumours surrounding him all offseason.
Hall of Famer Pat Gillick likes what Alex Anthopoulos has done with the team he once generally managed.
Around The League
Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is going to need surgery on his hip, and it won't happen until January. There really aren't a lot of third basemen on the market... Jayson Nix maybe you should call your agent.
The Giants are giving outfielder Angel Pagan a big, four-year $40 million contract.
Former Royals closer and former James Andres patient Joakim Soria is heading down south to Arlington where he will be playing for the Rangers for just $8 million over two years. Could the Royals be turning their attention to Anibal Sanchez?
Catching Soria will be Geovany Soto, who re-upped his deal with the Rangers for $2.75 million + incentives. The Rangers need a catcher because former Blue Jay Mike Napoli is set to play for John Farrell in Boston for $13 million per year for three years.
The Miami Marlins (Go Fish!) are reportedly to be putting former Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar on the store shelf, and the Tampa Bay Rays and the Oakland A's may be in a shopping mood. The Rays are also rumoured to be close to a deal with first baseman (Show Me The Meaning Of) James Loney.
The New York Mets may be interested in infielder Cesar Izturis, someone who was wrongly rumoured to have signed with the Blue Jays earlier this offseason.
Jason Marquis will not be moving this offseason after all, having agreed to a one-year, $3 million contract with the San Diego Padres.
Now that we've finished recapping, I'd like to add a poll just for fun. Do you think the next player the Blue Jays acquire (by any method) would be a pitcher or a position player? And don't forget to keep voting in our Hall of Fame polls!