Anthopoulos Talks Offseason Approach, Closers, CBA

Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos spoke to Sportsnet's Shi Davidi at the GM meetings and commented on a few hot stove issues. Here are some highlights:

• Anthopoulos said there are still so many options available that he doesn't expect to be too active this week, since it would close the door on too many other possibilities.
• The Jays are doing their due diligence on closers, having looked into health records for a few of the big-name free agents. However, Anthopoulos hasn't found any deals to his liking yet: "Some of them I'm fine with the terms and I'm not fine with the dollars, some of them I'm fine with the dollars and not fine with the terms."
• Anthopoulos is very wary of making the mistake of signing or taking on a bad contract, since that would limit his freedom for other roster changes: "Cash, spots open on the roster, I think for the most part we have tradable players, tradable contracts. We've got the ability to go in a lot of directions."
• We heard earlier today that free agent compensation could be modified this offseason as part of the new CBA, which could hurt the Blue Jays' chances of landing draft picks. But Anthopoulos thinks "the league is going to consider their impact on clubs" and isn't worried about the changes.
• Davidi indicates the Jays' desire for a closer may be slightly overblown. He says the club would like to have one guy for the ninth rather than an ever-changing rotation of arms like they had last year with Frank Francisco, Jon Rauch, and others. However, they're not interested in committing to any reliever for the four years that Jonathan Papelbon received from the Phillies.