When the Blue Jays signed Maicer Izturis to a three-year deal, $9 million deal in November the assumption was that he’d be their starting second baseman, but then two weeks later Toronto pulled off the blockbuster trade with Miami that brought in another option for the position in Emilio Bonifacio.
Yesterday manager John Gibbons told reporters that the position “is up for grabs” and “we’ll see how it plays out.”
Gibbons did admit to John Lott of the National Post that Izturis is the front-runner because he has more experience as a middle infielder--3,500 career innings, compared to 1,300 for Bonifacio--but it sounds likely that neither guy will be an everyday starter there.
Also of note: According to Lott general manager Alex Anthopoulos “indicated that he might not have signed Izturis to a three-year contract if he had known in advance that he could pull off a blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins.”
