J.P. Arencibia received assurance earlier this offseason that he is not only the starter of the present, but that the Blue Jays wouldn't trade him.

Toronto traded catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud to the Mets in the R.A. Dickey trade last week, further solidifying Arencibia's role.

"As a player, it just shows the class of people that you're working with," Arencibia said of his talk with Anthopoulos. "They've been nothing but honest with me. Throughout the whole thing, he was able to calm me as far as just tell me, 'Hey, this is what it is. We believe in you and you're our guy.'

"Not only does that make me feel good, but it makes you want to go out and work harder, go the extra mile and go the extra distance for this organization. If they tell me I need to run through a wall, I'm going to try and run through that wall."