Paul Beeston talks

Paul Beeston talked to Jeff Blair on this morning's Jeff Blair show.

You got the usual stuff, Rogers will give them all the money they want (yeah sure), but here are some highlights:

• Did he sign a new contract? 'I'm here as long as Rogers wants me. I'm here. I'm in the last year of my contract. I have no intention of changing anything I've got.'
• He figures he'd be consulted on who would replace him, but it would be up to Rogers.
• Asked if Alex will be back: "Alex, I can say for a fact is back". "He has done a very good job". "We were all in on the trades last year", meaning that it wasn't just Alex's fault that he made trades that didn't work out.
• We can read into that the Gibbons will be back."
• "We are trying to build something that is sustainable".
• "We gotta be in the playoffs next year".
• "We found out we had some young stud pitchers coming up".
• Blair said TV and radio ratings were through the roof.
• "We had 13 sellouts this year". "I'm not worried about attendance". "Young people go to the games.""
• Would you start games later to miss traffic? He didn't answer that particular question, but talked about how much construction cost them in attendance.
• "Payroll is going higher next year". He didn't say how much higher. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up in the $145 to $150 million range.
• "I told Alex that if you want Jon Lester, we will get you the money."
• But he also restated that they won't go past 5 years on any contract.
• He figures they will get Cabrera back: "Melky wants back and we want him, that should put you in the deal zone to begin with".
• Why wasn't he signed mid-season? "You'd have to ask Alex". Kind of an interesting answer.
• "We want grass for 2018". "Grass needs air currents". "We need big fans". I didn't know that, I knew that they need sun or artificial sun and water, didn't know they need wind.
• "We have new turf next year".
• "We have plans to request the All-Star game in 2018", though they haven't made the request yet. It seems to depend on whether they actually do have grass by then.
• He says that new commissioner Rob Manfred won't hold it against the Jays that Beeston didn't support his run at the job, that he (Beeston) gave Manfred is first job in the MLB office.
• He figures that winning baseball will fix any real or perceived problems in the clubhouse. I think that's a logical statement. I thought that he also, slightly, criticized Gibbons saying that there was a problem in the clubhouse, instead of fixing the problem.