July 2012 - Toronto Blue Jays Wiretap

There have been rumors that the Blue Jays may be interested in a right-handed slugger like Vladimir Guerrero or Magglio Ordonez, but that doesn't appear to be the case. "Right now, we don't have any talks going on with anyone," Alex Anthopoulos said. "But if somebody were to fall in our lap, would we take a look at it? Yes." The general manager later defined "fall in our lap" this way: "If someone were to say, 'I want to come in to camp on a minor league deal,' we'd say we're open to [bringing in] pretty much anybody. But in terms of adding a free agent on a guaranteed contract, we won't be doing that."

Shortstop Omar Vizquel says he will likely retire after this season, according to an ESPN.com report. The 11-time Gold Glove winner is in the Blue Jays' spring training camp on a minor league deal. He said Thursday that he'd like to be a manager.

Rod Barajas is excited to reunite with former teammate A.J. Burnett on the Pirates. The pair formed a battery with the Blue Jays before the right-hander signed with the Yankees as a free agent a few years ago. "Ending up on the same team with him is definitely exciting," said Barajas, who joined Pittsburgh this offseason. "We had fun. It was a great relationship." Burnett was 14-6 with an ERA of 3.49 in his 25 starts paired with Barajas in Toronto.

Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos and members of the team's front office watched Jorge Soler work out on Wednesday morning. Toronto also evaluated Cuban pitcher Armando Rivero, outfielder Henry Urrutia and left-handed pitcher Omar Luis, according to a source. The Yankees, White Sox, Phillies and Cubs have also expressed interest Soler. A source said that the reports the Cubs have an agreement in place for $28 million for the outfielder are false.

Right-hander Casey Janssen and the Blue Jays have avoided salary arbitration, agreeing on a two-year contract worth at least $5.9M. The Blue Jays said Monday the agreement includes a $4M team option for 2014. It was not clear whether there was an additional buyout of the option.

The Athletics remain the front-runners to sign Manny Ramirez, but they want to sign a reliever first, according to sources. Meanwhile, the Orioles have backed off on the slugger and talks between Ramirez and the Blue Jays, who showed interest at one point, have failed to progress, according to sources.

Free-agent Manny Ramirez is trying to decide whether he'll sign with the the A's, Orioles or Blue Jays, a source told ESPNDePortesLosAngeles.com on Friday. Once Ramirez chooses a team, his agents will then begin contract negotiations with that team.

The Blue Jays are thinking about installing a natural-grass surface at Rogers Centre. The team has examined the possibility of replacing the current AstroTurf surface with real grass. The hope would be to have a more player-friendly field that limits the wear and tear on athletes and makes Toronto a more desirable location for free agents. "We're actually examining the ability of bringing grass in here," Blue Jays president Paul Beeston said. "This is a multi-purpose facility -- it doesn't mean we're going to do it, but we're looking into the possibility of doing it. "We've brought grass in here before for soccer, so it can work. We can bring grass in here if it was just [for the] baseball season and we did not have football, we did not have concerts, we didn't have those other things."