30 Days till Pitchers and Catchers report.

Into the dog days of winter, there is precious little to write about. The Jays continue to be linked to every free agent with a pulse, so I guess I should weigh in on that:

Eric Chavez is a great buy-low candidate. I would expect him to accept a minor-league deal for one year, and he would have a great chance to rebuild some value here. LAA could use him more, and may be willing to give him a major league deal, so I'm not getting too excited yet.

Brian Fuentes is not someone that I care to discuss. The Jays have enought quality arms at this point, and signing more veteran relievers, just to have veteran relivers, seems like a waste of money to me.

There are more reports (from Enrique Rojas of ESPN Deportes) that the Jays are still talking to Manny Ramirez. Where would he play? I'm committed to Encarnacion as the primary DH, and bringing in Manny pushes him to 3B, and we've all seen how that story unfolds. Pass (Unless the price tag is under $3M, and then, Why not? he'd at least bring a draft pick...)

Somehow I missed the Jays' signing of Chad Cordero. 2008 me is exstatic. 2011 me thinks he could still have something left, and there is no risk. Shrewd move? You never know with relievers.

1 Blue Jays Way caught wind of a list of 13 Blue Jays Minor Leaguers that got invitations to big-league camp (Here) I was surprised to see Deck McGuire on the list, maybe he makes a strong case and ends up as this years' Mike Leake? I was curious to see that AJ Jimenez (Catching prospect) got invited, but Carlos Perez (A more highly-touted Catching Prospect) did not. I wonder what the motive behind that was? I will be cheering for Eric Thames to earn a roster spot, and to prove that last year was no fluke. If he ends up in Vegas, I am predicting that he will win the PCL MVP. Keep up that Yoga Eric!

Also, it turns out that Tom Verducci, of Sports Illustrated doesn't like Brett Cecil's chances for the 2011 season. (Full Article Here) Brett increased his innings total by over 40 innings from the previous season, and Verducci says that almost always leads to injury or regression. I tried twitting Cecil, but he has been unavailable for comment to this point. (Or he doesn't want to get into it with Tom Verducci, who is a credible analyst...)

As the title indicates, there is only 30 days left until the unofficial start of Spring Training. There is still a plethora of unsigned free agents, so there should be more rumors to comment on. Until then!