Saturday Bantering: Jays week in review

After coming back from a week away in the sun and warmth of Bahamas, to the cold and snow of home, I thought I'd spend the morning catching up on the the Blue Jays news.

Let's see.

The Takashi Toritani saga is still in the exact same spot as when I left. I'm getting the feeling that he's going to decide to stay with the Hanshin Tigers. I think that, if he was going to sign with a MLB team, it would have happened by now. Maybe, he hasn't received the offer he was expecting. Alex made it pretty clear that the Jays had made an offer, back when he talked to Jeff Blair, on December 17th. If he was going to sign with us, you'd think it would have happened by now.

But saying that, the Jays will likely announce his signing tomorrow.

Beyond that? Well, Jays coaching staff was announced, as Minor Leaguer posted. The big news, is we have an official assistant hitting coach, for the first time, though, Dwayne Murphy worked as unofficial assistant hitting coach for Chad Mottola.

I'm also kind of curious about Dane Johnson moving from minor league pitching coordinator to bullpen coach. I have a hard time believing that this is a promotion. For years now, every time I've talked to someone about the Jays pitching, I've been told what a tremendous job Johnson has done and how important he's been to the organization. I would have thought that job would be more important than answering the phone in the bullpen (yeah I know, the bullpen coach does more than that).

And, of course, Luis Rivera keeps his job. I do figure his work with the infielders is likely more important than his work as third base coach, as much as we like to complain.

Other than that?

Well, when I left, all the talk was about how the Jays had to find a couple of right-handed relievers, and, yep, we still need a couple of right-handed relievers. I am really hoping we get Casey back, but I get the feeling bridges have been burnt.

The Rays signed Asdrubal Cabrera to a one-year contract. I was hoping the Jays might sign him to the same sort of deal. Everyone is thinking that the Rays this means the Rays will look to trade Ben Zobrist. I'd think he is valuable to the Rays as an outfielder and utility player, but either way, they won't be trading him to the Jays. Can you imagine the Rays calling up Alex "Hey, it seems like you have one hole in your lineup, since you are our rivals, we'd love to fill that hole for you." It ain't going to happen.

Let's hope the next week brings us some real news. Pitchers and catchers are to report on February 27th, so we are less than 2 months away from at least the beginnings of real baseball.