12.19.2009

Alex Anthopolous Chat Info

I'm pretty certain every Jays blogger will be sifting through the chat AA held with fans a short while ago. I picked up on 3 very telling points that I thought I'd share, and enjoyed getting to know exactly what direction Alex sees the team going in from here on out.

Here are the 3 points that stood out in my mind:

1. When asked about whether or not he'd include some top-end pitching talents like Cecil in a trade, he responded with "Our young pitching is very sought after and though we'd like to keep all of them I'm very open to moving any player if it can make us better in other areas."


Translation: we have some pitching depth and would be open to dealing some in order to resolve our issues elsewhere. I would like to think that Alex would be more open to dealing Ricky Romero than Bret or Marc, but you never know. It's interesting that even after dealing Doc, he's open to moving a SP. On a similar note, later on in the chat, he added that the organization view Zach Stewart as a SP and with a ceiling as a #3 starter. I guess that would make him a #1 starter on our staff. And he later adds that the Jays need to resolve the left side of their infield, with Brett Wallace viewed as an above-average 1B defensively.

2. When asked about his thoughts on Aroldis Chapman, Alex responded with the fact that the Jays had sent 2 scouts to watch him pitch last Tuesday. He added that "we will be on top of every amateur player that is available".

Translation: Too bad the session went so well that he'll be priced out of our range, because we would have loved to come out with a surprise offer. If he had shown mediocre stuff that needed polish, and his price had remained in the 5 - 15 million range, the Jays may have wanted to move in. But there's just no way they could be expected to fork out 30-40 million for the Chap.

3. My favourite, he was asked about keeping quiet instead of speaking to the media and the fact that some U.S. networks seemed to be more effective in getting information about ongoing negotiations. He responded with "It's important to me that I treat everybody fairly and also extremely important that I don't lie to anybody. That being said, with the nature of these jobs it's very difficult to be completely candid. So, if I'm faced with lying or not commenting, I'll choose to not comment every single time. Also, over the years that I've been a part of trade talks, I've seen a lot of trades fall apart because of reactions to reports in the media. I certainly understand that there is interest from the fans and the media is just doing their jobs but from my perspective, it makes it easier to do my job which is to make the best trades and signings that we can."

Translation: Suck it up everyone, it's not going to change, and it makes me a better GM. I really do believe that the way the previous Doc negotiations were handled fell through the way they did simply because every time a team was rumoured to be offering players X-Y-Z, their fans and media threw fits and talked about the "rental" of a player. Dealing through the media just isn't smart. I'd say that some GMs are so uncomfortable dealing without knowing how their fans and media will react, that they actually leak the information out themselves and react accordingly. Either have the kahunas to make the deal, or don't, but either way it has nothing to do with the fans or media until the deal is done. Then it can be dissected as much as possible.

I'd also like to add that at the end of his response, Alex say "it makes it easier to do my job which is to make the best trades and signings that we can." We. It's a terms that has not been used very much in Jays language in recent years. The old GM seemed to have it his way or the highway, and it was detrimental to the efforts people under him made to gather information on players, imo. Alex has a team concept in terms of finding talent and weighing options, and I do believe he;s made a ton of smart choices so far, including leaving the media and us fans to wait for news of trades and signing until they actually happen.


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