If you were following along on Twitter yesterday afternoon, you might have noticed us back-and-forthing with a few fine chaps on what the future holds for Jason Frasor in Toronto. But if you had better things to do, we'll bring you up to speed.We think this is it for Jason Frasor in Toronto.
There. You're up to speed.
"But wait!" you say. "They offered him arbitration! Does that not mean that they had some interest in retaining Frasor's services?"
To which we respond: No. To us, it means that they wanted the draft picks that they could get for him, and that they took their chances on him accepting. Which he did, which meant that they had to go through the whole charade of negotiating with him up until the deadline.
"No! You're wrong! And you're stupid and ugly too! Jason Frasor will fosh the shit out of hitters once the Jays and Frasor bridge the tiny little gap between the $3.25 Million they offered and the $3.75 Million he requested! How can they not come together?"
We may be homely (joli-laid!), but momma didn't raise no dummies. If the Jays held firm on their offer and wouldn't split the difference on what seems to negotiable divide, then we're getting the sense that they wouldn't feel especially brokenhearted if Frasor were to take his deep, spittle-drenched late-inning exhalations somewhere else next year.
"Well, Frasor's probably going to win in the arbitration room, so we'll see him back anyways. So there!"
Sometimes, losing is winning. (Wait, did we just channel The Manager?) If the Jays lose, they can still release Frasor and owe his only a marginal severance. Or they look to trade him. Or they add him to the ever-growing list of right-handed arms populating their bullpen.
Or maybe they win, and they have a guy who they didn't especially want for $3.25 Million on their roster, which could happen. But what we have a hard time envisioning is them sticking with him through the season on the off-chance that he performs well enough to ensure them a draft pick in the 60's or 70's in 2012.
Besides: If dollar bills equate in any way to respect, it's worth noting that the Jays have given more of them to Jon Rauch and Octavio Dotel (Correction! Just Rauch...see comments) in the offseason than they were willing to offer to Frasor.
