Toronto Blue Jays Offseason Update: The Importance of the MLB Winter Meetings

Throughout the next week, Alex Anthopoulos, general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, will convene with all other GMs in Dallas for the winter meetings.

This will be an interesting week of baseball, especially for Blue Jay fans, as many believe that Anthopoulos is looking to add players via the trade route rather than sign free agents.

It was right around this time last year that the Jays got a shot of young blood when they traded Marcum for young phenom Brett Lawrie. What could be in store during this year’s winter meetings?

Anthopoulos recently said that the trade route is his “preferred route,” yet in the same breath stated that he isn’t “close to doing anything." AA is a very systematic GM who goes through the proper process of evaluating players, gathering information and then coming to conclusions. Every decision goes through a rigorous process and he is always very informed and does his homework.

So what can we expect?

Personally, I don’t think the Jays will make any big trades during the winter meetings. I think AA will use the time to gather information about possible trade options and look at which pieces he could pry away from teams. Everyone and their grandmother knows he is in the market for a closer and the name Andrew Bailey has been swirling around, but at this point it seems to me that this is just an information session for AA and his team.

I will keep you updated as news breaks during the week.