• J.P. Howell considered outstanding guy in clubhouse

• Possible set-up man or late-inning option

• Struggled against left-handed batters in 2016

When reports surfaced Tuesday evening about the Toronto Blue Jays agreeing to terms on a one-year deal with J.P. Howell, Blue Jays fans scrambled to their Google machines to see what they could find on the left-handed reliever.

Call it a coincidence or call it kismet, but minutes after the report first surfaced, former Blue Jays GM and current VP of baseball operations for the Los Angeles Dodgers Alex Anthopoulos was a guest on Prime Time Sports. Howell had spent the previous four seasons with the Dodgers and Anthopoulos got to know him well in 2016 in his first post-Blue Jays season.

“He’s a great guy,” Anthopoulos said. “The first thing that comes to mind is outstanding guy in the clubhouse. Great influence to the guys in the bullpen. One day whenever he’s done playing–which is hopefully a long time–I could see him being a coach and doing some things in the game but great competitor, not afraid at all. I remember seeing him out of the draft [in 2004], so I’ve been familiar with him for quite some time.”

Howell had a down year in 2016, posting a 4.09 ERA in 50.2 innings with left-handed batters racking up a .762 OPS against him. However, overall, the 33-year-old has put up solid numbers in recent years.

“It’s not big stuff but if you look at the results each year he gets very good results out of the bullpen even though there’s not a lot of power to his stuff,” Anthopoulos said. “He can really pitch and he’s not afraid and he brings great experience to the bullpen…It seems like a great move [for the Blue Jays].”

Anthopoulos added he feels Howell has the ability to excel in any role he’s given, be it as a set-up man or as a late-innings option.

“The thing with J.P. is he’ll take the ball, you ask him to go three innings he’ll go three innings,” Anthopoulos said. “You ask him one [he’ll go one], so he really can do anything at any time and he won’t say no to anything. He’s a manager’s dream in that respect.”