TSN Baseball Insider Steve Phillips answers three questions each week. This week, topics covered are the Jays declining to make qualifying offers for Josh Johnson and Rajai Davis, the Jays deciding to pick up options on Casey Janssen, Adam Lind and Mark DeRosa but declining to keep Munenori Kawasaki, and if a new hitting coach can make that big a difference. 1) The Jays declined to make qualifying offers for Josh Johnson and Rajai Davis. Was that the right call in both cases - the Jays will get no compensation when they sign elsewhere. The Blue jays did not make a $14.1M qualifying offer to either Josh Johnson or Rajai Davis therefore they will get no compensation for either player if they opt to sign elsewhere. They can still sign the players if they so desire. The Jays decided that the risk of offering either the money is that they would take it. Rajai Davis has visions of getting a multi-year deal from someone who looks at him as a starter. His stolen base numbers (45 of 51) are attractive but his on base percentage is not (.312). As they say, "You cant steal first base." Davis made $2.5M is 2013. He is a decent 4th outfielder on a good team. The Jays made the right decision not to make a qualifying offer to him. If he wants to return to Toronto he may be worth a two-year $5M deal but I would have no interest in anything more than that for him. Josh Johnson made $13.75M in 2013. He was injured half of the season and didnt perform well. He was significantly overpaid considering his 2-8 record and 6,02 ERA. If the Jays had offered Johnson $14.1M for 2014 he would have taken it. Considering his health issues Johnson will most likely be looking at free agent offers that include a base salary in the $6M range with incentives to earn more if he stays healthy. The Jays should not try to resign Johnson for any price. He is too unpredictable. That is the last thing Toronto needs again is uncertainty in its rotation. In their division the jays need bang for their bucks. They cant afford to have dollars wasting away on the DL and they had a bunch of that this past season. Of course, things happen and players get hurt. But if you sign Johnson you have to expect that he will not make 33 starts for you. That just doesnt work. So, yes, it is a bummer that the Jays wont get compensation for either guy but it is the nature of the beast in baseball today. 2) The Jays decided to pick up options on Janssen, Lind and DeRosa but declined to keep Kawasaki. Do you like those decisions? (many fans wanted to keep the younger and enthusiastic Kawasaki). I absolutely agree with all of these decisions. Casey Janssen had a terrific season. He is slated to make $4M in 2104. That is an absolute bargain for a closer that was 4-1with a 2.58 ERA who converted 34 of 36 save opportunities. Whether the Jays want to keep Janssen or trade him he is a real value to the franchise at that price. Adam Linds salary next season is more than Janssen. He is slated to make $7M. That is a bargain as well, though, for a .288/.357/.497 slash line as well as 23 HR and 67 RBI. Plus being able to have a power bat for one year allows the Jays flexibility with the payroll moving forward. Lind is a trade chip for the Jays if it fits as well. He gives Alex Anthopolous an option to consider moving in a trade for a pitcher. He is affordable power. Small, medium and large market teams alike could have interest in Lind. Mark DeRosa will be 39 in February. He still has value to a team however. He is versatile. He is a quality veteran player who understands his role and is a leader. With a salary of only $750,000 he barely impacts the budget. Although health was an issue last year, DeRosa still had an impact. He is a guy that is good to have around during tough times. He offers stability and perspective gained through his years of experience. There will always be trade interest in a veteran guy like DeRosa There has been some speculation that DeRosa might retire but so far his return to Toronto is likely. I know there are plenty of fans who fell in love with Munenori Kawasaki last season His passion for the game was obvious. He doesnt hit for average or power and doesnt possess any great tool for the game beyond his passion to play. Overall he is short on talent and talent wins in the big leagues. His $1M price tag became too much once the decision to keep DeRosa was made. This doesnt preclude the Jays from signing Kawasaki to a minor league deal and bringing him into camp for a chance to compete however. 3) They Jays hired Kevin Seitzer to be their new hitting coach - the third in three years. The Jays were disappointing .252 hitters last year - can a new hitting coach make that big a difference and what are your impressions of Seitzer in that capacity? I played in the minor leagues against Kevin Seitzer in 1984. I was in Class A with the New York Mets in Columbia, SC and Seitzer played for the Royals Class A team in Charleston, SC. I remember Seitzer as a player almost as much as I remember the swarms of Palmetto bugs at night games and the amazing quarter beer night crowds that came out to the ballpark. Back then Seitzer was a smart player who had a good eye at the plate. He didnt have much power but he did have quality professional at bats day in and day out. He hit from line to line using the entire field. He walked more than he struck out and was a good situational hitter. He went on to have a solid major league career over a 12-year span. His major league numbers never deviated much from what he showed as a minor leaguer. So why is a guy who had such little power in his own career a good fit for a team full of power hitters? Because he can instill a new fresh perspective and approach. The Jays have been a "grip it and rip it" mentality over the last several years. They have scored their runs via the home run. There is nothing wrong with that but the game offers so many more opportunities to score besides the home run. If hitters make small adjustments in their swing and their approach they can make significant improvements in certain situations. The Jays need to be better at advancing runners with productive outs. Seitzer can help. With a man on second and no one out a batter should be looking to advance the runner to third with a ball hit to the right side of the infield. The Jays of recent past have struck out or popped up too much in those situations. With a man on third and less than two outs hitters need to put the ball in play and drive in a run. The Jays have been too prone to striking out in those situations. The hitters need to think differently and cut down their swings a bit to make more contact. Hitting is more mental than physical at the major league level. When a batter is struggling it is rarely his swing that is the problem. More often than not it is his head that is causing him problems. Players over think or under think. They get caught in between pitches; behind the fastball and in front of the off-speed pitch; unable to hit either. Seitzer will be more of a hitting psychologist than mechanic for the Jays. If they listen to him and make the appropriate adjustments they could lead the league in runs scored. Fair or Foul Baseball fans are in hibernation now. The weather is getting cold and it is the heart of the NHL season. The players and coaches have all returned to their hometowns. They are hunting and fishing and taking vacations with their families. The guys are able to take their kids to school and do many of the husband and dad things that they dont do during the season. They will start getting in shape after Thanksgiving for the 2014 season. As a member of the front office the work never ends. Its 162 games and then the work starts. Alex Anthopolous and his staff dont have an off-season. This is as busy a time of the year as there is in a baseball front office. Anthopolous is reading reports from his Instructional League program in Florida. He is perusing the game reports and scouting reports from Winter Leagues in the Caribbean and Mexico and the Arizona Fall League. He and his staff are evaluating the players on the major league and minor league rosters. He is deciding which players he is going to protect on the roster and which he will not. He is evaluating the arbitration values for the applicable players on his roster. He is negotiating with agents in advance of arbitration to see what deals can be made. Anthopolous is discussing with his minor league director the needs for his AAA team next season, as he will need depth and inventory to compensate for injuries in Toronto. He is negotiating contracts with agents for these non-roster invitees to major league camp. He is analyzing off-season conditioning programs for all of the players with his training and medical staff. He is calculating his payroll budget for next season with ownership. He is studying every team in baseball to identify which clubs the Jays match up with in trades... ... and finally he is deciding what he wants for dinner at the end of this very full day. The job of a general manager is 365 days a year and 24 hours a day. You are on call all the time. If a player needs you then you take the call. If an agent calls you always call back for fear that you could lose out on a deal. If another GM is on the phone you drop all that you are doing just in case he has a trade proposal that could make your team better. Let me correct myself; it is not a job being a general manager. It is a lifestyle. It takes a very understanding family. The demands are never-ending and at times it is all-consuming. I know there are so many of you that would kill to be a GM but just remember it is a job. Like any other job, there are things that you like about it and things that you dislike. I was a GM for the Mets from July 1997 to June of 2003. When people ask me how long I was a GM I joke that I did it for 42 years. It was six years but they were like dog years. I started out with brown hair and ended up with it being almost completely white. I for one would never take a GM job again. The next step would be to lose my hair and I just cant take that chance. So this off-season when you are watching hockey and you have a passing thought of the Blue Jays, please know that Alex Antholopus and his staff are working tirelessly to prepare for next season. Brad Wing Giants Jersey ., for the next three years with the signings on Monday of Daryl Townsend and Michael Carter. Markus Kuhn Giants Jersey . Luis Suarezs double powered Liverpool to a 4-0 victory over Fulham, and Southampton easily overcame Hull 4-1 to continue the south coast clubs impressive start to the season. Liverpool and Southampton sent Chelsea down to fourth place as the west London club was held to 2-2 at home. http://www.giantsauthenticshop.com/Youth-Will-Johnson-Giants-Jersey/ . That left plenty of energy for pitching books and swatting away free agency questions. Anthony had 24 points and nine rebounds, and the Knicks avenged an embarrassing home loss with a rout of their own, beating the Boston Celtics 114-88 on Wednesday night for their third straight victory. Landon Collins Giants Jersey . -- Aldon Smith believes he is on the path to being sober for good. Keenan Robinson Giants Jersey . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday.LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Jim Furyk will have to wait one more day to try to end three years without a PGA Tour victory. The final round of the BMW Championship was suspended Sunday because of steady rain that left too much water on Conway Farms. Furyk, who has a one-shot lead over Steve Stricker, was still about two hours away from even teeing off. Watch the final round of the BMW Championship live on TSN and TSN Mobile TV, today at 10am et/7am pt. "The bad news -- obviously, Im anxious to get out there and play, as is everyone else," Furyk said. "But the good news is no one wants to go out and play in this and slop it around in bad weather on a golf course where were playing the ball down and its probably a little too wet out there." Rory McIlroy found one small consolation to the end of his PGA Tour season -- he was one of six players who finished. McIlroy had yet another double bogey -- thats 12 double bogeys and a triple bogey in three FedEx Cup playoff events -- but holed out from 164 yards for eagle on the 12th hole and had his second straight 68. It was the first time he had back-to-back rounds in the 60s in the same tournament this year on the PGA Tour. Furyk was at 13-under 200 and in the final group with Stricker. Brandt Snedeker was two shots behind at 202, followed by Zach Johnson at 203 and Tiger Woods at 204. Woods was penalized two shots on Friday when his ball moved as he was removing a small branch next to it behind the first green. Dustin Johnson closed with a 72 and had to wait to make sure no one bumped him out of the top 30 in the FedEx Cup, which would keep him from the Tour Championship. Johnson tried to hit 3-wood into the par-5 18th green and produced two splashes -- one from water getting between the club face and the ball, the other when the ball came down well short and into a creek. "It just came out dead," he said. Everyone else was tto return to Conway Farms on Monday morning and act like Sunday never happened.dddddddddddd. "I think we got the better end of the deal by not even playing in it," Stricker said. Slugger White, the vice-president of rules and competition for the PGA Tour, said the forecast was for a half-inch of rain over six hours, which would not have been enough for water to accumulate. Instead, there was an inch of rain and so much water that there would have been no place to take relief from casual water. The problem holes were Nos. 3, 9, 10 and 12. "Casual water was going to take us to where we couldnt play," White said. The tour chose to play the ball down, meaning players could not lift, clean and replace their golf balls through the green. Play was stopped for 3 1/2 hours in the late morning, and then it was called again for good after the round resumed for just under an hour. Of the 48 players who at least teed off, none were within 10 shots of the lead when they started. Even so, the conditions were difficult for those who still had something at stake. Charles Howell III started the week at No. 31 in the FedEx Cup standings. He was 1 over through four holes. Rickie Fowler had a chance to get into the top 30 and advance to the Tour Championship. He shot 77 in the first round and bounced back with a pair of 68s. Fowler was 2 under through four holes Sunday. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., made it through just two holes after entering the day at 2 under. Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., played seven holes and began play at 2 over. The final round was to resume at 8 a.m. with a reasonable forecast. It will be the fourth time this year that a PGA Tour event had to go an extra day. The Farmers Insurance Open (fog) and Arnold Palmer Invitational (storms) ended on a Monday. The Tournament of Champions had a Tuesday finish after being shortened to 54 holes because of high wind. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '