Daily Duce: Zack Wheeler signed a big deal with Philly. What now? (Ryu? Keuchel? Pineda? Lindblom?)
Daily??!?!?!
Josh Donaldson: “They don’t want me back in Toronto. Trust Me.”
We’re just over a month into the off-season and I’m already bored to death of the daily dose of the Blue Jays are kicking tires on X pitcher without any tangible evidence of genuine interest or actual contracts being offered, so let’s go in a completely different direction today.
Transactions! Blue Jays non-tender three, sign some minor-league deals, and Aaron Sanchez and Kevin Pillar get cut loose
The deadline to non-tender players ahead of arbitration was last night, and the Blue Jays made it through without doing anything controversial. Ken Giles, Matt Shoemaker, Brandon Drury, and Anthony Bass were tendered contracts for 2020, while Luke Maile, Derek Law, and Jason Adam were cut loose to free agency.
Daily Duce: Pitching, pitching, and more pitching
Daily?!?!?!?!
Daily Duce: Baseball America’s new Top 10 list and the Rule 5 Roster Shuffle
Roster transactions galore! With the Rule 5 draft around the corner, the Blue Jays had to add some guys to the roster and they also had to remove some guys as well. If you like minor transactions, well, today is your day.
Let’s find a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates
As you know by now, Ben Cherington has left his gig as the Blue Jays’ vice president of baseball operations in order to become the new general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Ben Cherington to be named Pirates’ general manager
A significant part of the Blue Jays’ front office is set to move on. According to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Ben Cherington, the senior vice president of baseball operations, has accepted the Pittsburgh Pirates’ general manager role.
You can cross Jake Odorizzi off your free agent wish list
One of the names the Blue Jays had been linked to early on this off-season — and a name many fans had been talking about for months as an ideal fit — is off the free-agent list before things even got rolling. Jake Odorizzi has reportedly accepted his qualifying offer from the Minnesota Twins.
Daily Duce: Ross Atkins speaks at the General Managers Meetings, updates on Shoemaker, Smoak, and Giles, and more!
Major League Baseball’s annual General Managers Meetings in Arizona kicked off this week, so we’re starting to get an idea as to how things are going to play out this off-season. Ross Atkins had quite a bit to say about what the Jays might be up to, so let’s get into all of it.