A perturbed Alex Anthopoulos sat down to defend his franchise against allegations some mysterious man in the stands was relaying signs somehow to hitters and he made his point emphatically, right off the bat.

“This whole thing is stupid,” the Jays general manager said in the bowels of the Rogers Centre on Wednesday night.

The issue of sign-stealing blew open earlier in the day with an ESPN.com report suggesting someone in the centre field stands was tipping off Jays hitters on what pitch was coming.

There were four anonymous players behind the report, which said the man would gesticulate to a hitter about 420 feet away to show whether a fastball, curve or slider was coming.

The hitter would then have to process the information in seconds before taking a swing at pitch or letting it go.

Anthopoulos seemed in equal parts incredulous and angry.

“I don’t think it’s too hard to find a former coach, a former player, a former front office executive, a clubhouse guy, a former field guy (but) not one person (is quoted in the story),” he said.

“Instead, let’s find four players on some other team claiming that they saw the guy in the white shirt, they saw the UFO flying across the sky, and let’s run a huge story and make a bit stink about it.

“I guarantee there must be one disgruntled Blue Jay out there to have spoken to and to not be able to do that shocks me.”

The report details the sign stealing from first-hand accounts by pitchers in the visitors’ bullpen. Those pitchers noticed the activity and one reportedly shouted something at Jose Bautista after he struck out, saying if the sign stealing continues, “I’m going to hit you in the ... head.”

Bautista, in the report, acknowledged the confrontation with members of the Chicago White Sox staff, but denied the allegations of sign stealing, saying “we do not cheat.”

Before Wednesday’s game with the Oakland A’s, the major league leader in home runs said:

“Last year it was steroids, this year it’s signs, what's it going to be next,” alluding to whisper campaigns about his late-career resurgence.

Anthopoulos said anyone with a modicum of common sense would understand how difficult it would be to relay signs in that fashion, and to keep it secret given the transient nature of the business.

“I challenge whoever wants to go to former Blue Jays, go to former coaches … somebody has to be out there that’s been on this team,” he said

“To do something like this would take a whole lot of work on this organization’s part to keep everybody quiet. A lot of work. I just wish people would look at the common sense component first and say, ‘is this really realistic?’ Think of what would have to go into all this stuff.

“I think every one of our games is broadcast, there are cameras everywhere. Why doesn’t everyone go through the footage, spend a month, spend a year, spend your lifetime, go look for the man in the white shirt. Maybe you’ll find someone in a blue shirt, or a black shirt. Maybe you’ll see a dog. Spend the time. Do a little work.”

Jays catcher J.P. Arencibia was quick to denounce the report via Twitter on Wednesday. “I'm hitting 200 and we get signs at home, that makes sense,” reads a post on Arencibia’s page.

“Teams/pitchers need to accept when we kick their ass in the rogers centre n not give excuses... Looks like we had verlanders signs

“What’s next? Man on CN Tower edge walk was seen relaying signs to bluejay hitters.”

The bullpen scene detailed in the report was from the 2010 season, and there are suggestions that the alleged sign stealing in Toronto dates back to 2009.

The Jays led the majors in home runs in 2010, and the report outlines how most of the Jays sluggers, including Bautista, who led the majors with 54, hit more homers at the Rogers Centre than on the road.

The report cites the 2010 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) difference between home and road for Jays like Bautista (1.118 vs. .879), Adam Lind (.759 vs. .660) and Aaron Hill (.730 vs. .605).

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Not mentioned are John Buck (.756 vs. .841), Fred Lewis (.724 vs .766) or, more distinctively, Edwin Encarnacion (.677 vs. .887).

The report also cited that the Blue Jays hit home runs in 4 per cent of their plate appearances, compared to the AL average of 3.6 per cent in 2010 but noted that their home run rate soared to 5.4 per cent at home, “a home-field advantage seven times the magnitude teams typically enjoy.”

With files from Toronto Star staff

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