Skip to main content

Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Yunel Escobar throws to first for the out on Baltimore Orioles' L.J. Hoes during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012, in Baltimore.The Associated Press

Surprise, surprise: the Miami Marlins are already trying to trade shortstop Yunel Escobar, who was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays as part of that 12-player mega-deal.

That's no surprise, since the Marlins have told people they are prepared to go with Adeiny Hechavarria as their Opening Day shortstop, and even before the Blue Jays moved him they believed that the market for infielders was so shallow Escobar would have value to a team willing to look beyond the off-field baggage.

Twitter was made for the winter meetings, and among today's hash-tags of note are:

#surprise team: several media outlets are reporting that the Seattle Mariners have emerged as a player for free-agent Josh Hamilton;

#knuckledown: discussions between the New York Mets and R.A. Dickey continue to be paralleled with Mets trade discussions about the knuckle-baller;

#thanksforcoming: Boston Red Sox's manager John Farrell faces the media this afternoon, part of a series of individual managerial news conferences;

#royalsflush: Everybody expects the Kansas City Royals to make a move, given their depth of prospects and willingness of ownership to up the ante.

As for the Blue Jays? Carlos Delgado had a chance to talk to Jose Reyes briefly last week – the two players have kept in contact since Delgado was with the New York Mets – and Delgado said in a text message that Reyes was "looking forward to playing with his new team." Most importantly, Delgado said that Reyes did not mention the Rogers Centre's artificial turf.

Indeed, any conversation about Reyes with people within the industry gets back to the Rogers Centre turf; that emerges as a concern as much as the teams chances of signing Josh Johnson or Mark Buehrle's lack of happiness with Ontario's pit-bull ban.

Two Marlins sources, who did not want to be identified, said that Reyes's presence around the clubhouse will be missed. "The guy never had a bad day," said one person, who had daily contact with him. "He's a high-energy guy who was just a joy to work with. I know the training staff had no issue with him; they kept him healthy, but it wasn't like it was a lot of work."

Interact with The Globe