The Daily Duce: Thursday, November 3rd

From the this can’t possibly be real, can it? file…

Jays Journal offers up a piece vaguely about “culture change” on the Blue Jays that I feel may have been written specifically to bait me. LOVE ME SOME GRINDERZZZZZ.

And then over at the Toronto Star we have Richard Griffin, who says that the Jays may have their own Andrew Miller in the form of… Aaron Sanchez? It’s not quite as odd as the title suggests — Griff doesn’t mean having Sanchez as a reliever for the long term, but thinks that he could take on the Miller role next September and October, after spending the bulk of the season at the front of the club’s rotation. Has Griff finally gone crazy? Yeah, like a fox!

Bob Elliott tweets about some Jays front office departures on the business side, informing us that VP of marketing and merchandising, Anthony Partipilo, and Jason Diplock, VP of ticket sales and service, have departed the organization. The evil Americans strike again!

Kyle Matt of BP Toronto explores the idea of the Blue Jays trading for Andrew McCutchen of the Pirates, which is an idea that’s both fun as hell (just don’t touch Vlad Jr.) and one I am in no way going to hold my breath over. A left-handed bat would seem to be the priority here anyway, and… y’know… maybe let’s use money instead of prospects to build the Jays for the next little bit? Y’know? Money? That stuff the club made a shit-tonne of this year?

Elsewhere at BP Toronto, Evan Peaslee looks at the relationship between the Jays’ most intertwined battery-mates, Josh Thole and R.A. Dickey, and their legacies here, as they get set to ride off into the sunset.

The Tao of Stieb wonders if the Jays should look to make Roberto Osuna and Joe Biagini 100-inning relievers, to which I say: Hulls yeoahhh!! Or, more precisely: yes.

Elsewhere at Sportsnet, Shi Davidi dips his toe into the offseason waters and throws out some intriguing free agent names for the Jays — Dexter Fowler (yes, please), Mike Napoli, Brandon Moss, Ian Desmond, etc. Meanwhile, Jon Morosi said some shit in a radio hit that we’re supposed to pretend is news.

MLB Daily Dish looks at five possible landing spots for Jose Bautista, one of which is Toronto! He’ll be a great villain no matter where he goes, of course — but if it’s not here, I’m especially favouring Houston. Because that means he’d have to live in Houston. (Though the idea of him breaking down and being shitty in Boston intrigues as well!) (Note: Please don’t leave, Jose.)

Handy stuff from Bluebird Banter, as Matt W takes a look at the Jays’ impending minor league free agents. And elsewhere at BBB, Cole Shelton talks to former Jays reliever Steve (Lisa needs braces) Delabar.

Back to Jays Journal where Jim Scott gives us an intriguing idea for a Blue Jays target — made perhaps more intriguing by a comment from Ross Atkins about considering all angles, including “someone who’s not currently playing domestically” — in the form of Korea’s Ah-Seop Son. (Jim also has a piece looking at Mat Latos as a Jays free agent option, which… ugh.)

And elsewhere at Jays Journal, Chris Hernandez wonders if the Jays might only shop for one outfielder this winter, with an eye to giving Dalton Pompey a look in the outfield, which… would surprise me. Pompey had a down year with the bat in 2016 and I just don’t think he profiles as a corner guy. Plus, I think the new regime is much more inclined to make a guy force his way into the mix than the previous one — though that will all depend on how the budget gets spread around. I still think Pompey is a nice piece, I just don’t think he’ll be handed anything.

Anthony Alford is dazzling the Arizona Fall League with his loud tools, says a headline from Mike Rosenbaum of MLB.com, which I can only then presume means it’s true!

Lastly, the Blue Jay Hunter has a clip of Marcus Stroman and Josh Donaldson hitting the links, which… is cool, and also a thing that happened.