The Blue Jays are in the market for an infielder. On June 18th, Ben Nicholson-Smith of SportsNet.ca reported that the Toronto Blue Jays would like to add an everyday infielder between now and July 31.
“We’ve absolutely had some dialogue about some position players that could come in and be an improvement or an upgrade over what we have now,” Alex Anthopoulos, GM and Senior VP of Baseball Operations, said.
The Blue Jays have a record of 41-33 and are barely holding on to a 1 1/2 game lead in the American League East. After just being swept by the Yankees, the ball club could definitely use an infusion of stability at second base. In my feature article yesterday at sportsrumoralert.com, I offered a list of four infielders that I believe are ripe for the taking.
The opening day payroll for Toronto was a tick above $137 million with only about $4 million allocated to the position of second base. After only 11 games,Maicer Izturis went down with a tear of his lateral collateral ligament in his left knee. Currently, the Blue Jays are relying on the platoon situation between Munenori Kawasaki and Steven Tolleson . Unfortunately, their offensive totals are anemic. With combined splits of (.219/.274/.386), 10 extra base hits, eight RBIs, and eight runs scored, the team is definitely in need of a change.
The boys from Canada have not had the opportunity to partake in a “Fall Classic” since 1993.
Last month, Peter Gammons quoted the GM: “We are pretty much maxed out in terms of payroll, but more important, we cannot keep trading our young pitchers”.
The question now: are the Blue Jays ready to become contenders or stay pretenders?
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