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Jays were apparently within 600k of the winning bid.

That was based off a report that wound up being edited after but it wouldn't surprise me if they were close. I'll be interested to see what terms (if any) Darvish agrees to. He won't get the $20 mil per year he reportedly is currently seeking but I suspect 5/65 could be the deal.

Edit: Or, apparently they weren't even close.

The Rangers easily out-bid the Blue Jays and the Yankees bid in the $15-17MM range, according to Heyman.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/12/rangers-won-darvish-bidding-easily.html

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Oakland continues to blow up their decent rotation, sending Gio Gonzalez to the 'Natinals' (I'm never going to forget that screw-up) for 4 prospects, 3 of whom have a shot at being solid major leaguers. This coming about a week after dealing Trevor Cahill to Arizona for a group of not-so-good prospects (in my opinion). Some say it's tough being a Jays fan right now but how would you like to cheer for the A's? Spend nothing, deal major leaguers for prospects and then when they get good, trade them for more prospects. Kinda reminds me of the old Expos days.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2011/12/nationals-to-acquire-gio-gonzalez.html

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  • 2 weeks later...

Part of me thinks that the bullpen is better but then I remember we were saying that last season. Consider the following as the 7-8-9 inning guys:

This year: Santos (CL), Oliver (LH), Janssen, Frasor

Last year: Francisco (CL), Rzepcynski (LH), Rauch, Dotel

Frankly, last year's back end of the bullpen looks better although it's much better than what it looked like at the end of last season.

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Litch adds to this bullpen, and isn't a big question mark like the previous years. I expect at least one of our starters to end up in pen. Starters are more of an issue.

I think Litsch is a huge question mark as in whether he'll make the team or not. With Frasor back in the fold, Litsch won't be the 7th inning guy and although he's a converted starter, he won't be the long guy either with Villaneuva. If they want to preserve his value, it may be worth starting him in AAA rather than making him a mop up guy or a one batter RH specialist. It wouldn't surprise me to see him dealt too, they have a few extra depth RH bullpen arms.

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I think Litsch is a huge question mark as in whether he'll make the team or not. With Frasor back in the fold, Litsch won't be the 7th inning guy and although he's a converted starter, he won't be the long guy either with Villaneuva. If they want to preserve his value, it may be worth starting him in AAA rather than making him a mop up guy or a one batter RH specialist. It wouldn't surprise me to see him dealt too, they have a few extra depth RH bullpen arms.

You may have a point. But I would say at this stage having extra guys that can fill rolls adequetely is a good thing. Litsch has been on the disabled list for so long I am not sure his value has been assessed completely. I wouldn't count him out of mix just yet.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey Brian, worst Blue Jays offseason ever?

I wouldn't say so, no. The depth is improved and they finally look to have a long-term closer. That's not overly exciting but still effective. The team in essence should be better simply not running Jayson Nix and Corey Patterson out on a regular basis, that's where the improved depth will help in particular.

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Hey Brian, worst Blue Jays offseason ever?

I wouldn't say so, no. The depth is improved and they finally look to have a long-term closer. That's not overly exciting but still effective. The team in essence should be better simply not running Jayson Nix and Corey Patterson out on a regular basis, that's where the improved depth will help in particular.

Can you remember a worse offseason?

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I can't say I've followed the team in depth long enough to say for certain but I'm sure there's been at least one slower offseason. The 2010 one was dull aside from the Halladay deal, lots of underwhelming moves there (Gonzalez, Buck, Gregg).

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I wouldn't say so, no. The depth is improved and they finally look to have a long-term closer. That's not overly exciting but still effective. The team in essence should be better simply not running Jayson Nix and Corey Patterson out on a regular basis, that's where the improved depth will help in particular.

Did they play 80 games between the two of them? I expect their Achilles heal to be in their young pitching. An injury here or there and somebody not coming around and they are in deep dodo. I don't see anything better than a fourth place finish and fans starting to call for AA's head.

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Did they play 80 games between the two of them? I expect their Achilles heal to be in their young pitching. An injury here or there and somebody not coming around and they are in deep dodo. I don't see anything better than a fourth place finish and fans starting to call for AA's head.

Patterson played more than 80 games himself (89) with 346 appearances and a piddly 0.3 WAR. Nix played less (46 GP) with 0.2 WAR. Lawrie over Nix's 30% of the season will easily be worth another win or two itself while anyone could be better than Patterson's half season (Snider or Thames getting the extra time probably). Rasmus starting over Davis is a big help too. I think that improved depth alone will offset some of the possible struggles of the young pitchers if some take a step back. They're not a playoff team and with the division they're in, 4th is very much a possibility but they're in the right direction.

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Jays sign Omar Vizquel, likely spelling the end of McCoy's spot on the 25 man roster. He'll turn, wait for it, 45 in mid-April. It's a minor league deal but he still should supplant McCoy or Valbuena whose claim to fame is a Cleveland colour guy going nuts postgame on him. I posted the YouTube video a couple years back in that thread.

There are also rumblings that Toronto has acquired (Japanese report says it's done, others saying it's close) RP Koji Uehara from Texas which would be a nice add-on to the bullpen if true. A terrible, terrible Google translation of the report suggests he has a partial NTC with Toronto on his blocked list of 6. Brendon Morrow is reportedly close to a 3 year, $20 M extension as well. Busy day of rumours in Toronto...

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Jays signed Francisco Cordero to a one year 4.5 million dollar deal to be the setup man.

Cordero has a long career as a closer and even had 37 saves for the Reds last year, but his strikeout/inning ratio is rapidly declining and he's 37, so its a risk. Still its one year and not that much money, and he might be a good trade piece at the deadline if he Jays are out of it.

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I'm guessing the Uehara deal is a no-go then. Having Cordero as a setup guy will really help the BP depth.

Tim Lincecum gets 2 years and $40.5 million (buying out 1 free agent year). I know he's a former Cy Young winner but ouch. That's a little pricey even for my liking.

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I listened to the Fan 590 with the interview with AA. It sounded like Visquel would leave if he doesn't make the Jays but AA reminded us that McCoy still had options. Muddling this up is the fact that they just signed Woodward.

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Yeah, Vizquel is on a minor league deal so that they don't have to drop anyone off the 40-man roster. If he doesn't supplant McCoy/Valbuena, he'll likely retire. Woodward is on a minor league pact too I believe, he's just AAA depth as more or less a player-coach.

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Yeah, Vizquel is on a minor league deal so that they don't have to drop anyone off the 40-man roster. If he doesn't supplant McCoy/Valbuena, he'll likely retire. Woodward is on a minor league pact too I believe, he's just AAA depth as more or less a player-coach.

Blue jays had state of union address yesterday. As far as I know, this is for season ticket holders who have already bought into the new season promotion/rhetoric. I would not expect anyone to really take the jays to task in this group. On the Bautista drug testing, it makes sense to ensure that the star players are really scrutinized with the testing; however the number of tests would suggest that the randomness has been thrown out. If the league can select who should get tested the most, it follows that they can also select who can get tested the least. Just a bit of a problem.

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  • 2 months later...

Opening Day for the Jays today, I'll need something to follow with the Habs done in a week. Loria's taxpayer robbery was on full display yesterday as Miami debuted (and was 2/3 of the way to being no-hit, no less). Little too green for my liking though I get why they did that (green screen for networks to advertise on).

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