Beside signing free agent pitcher Roy Halladay to a ceremonial one-day contract, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos is still staying the course in looking to acquire pitching through trades rather than free agency, as reported by Sportsnet's Ben Nicholson-Smith on Twitter Monday afternoon. Free agent pitchers still available are too expensive, and Anthopoulos would not be looking to sign anyone until "prices drop." Perhaps this is a tactic of some sort, but would saying something like this drive up the costs of pitchers the Blue Jays want to acquire through trade?

However, Nicholson-Smith also intriguingly reports that even though Anthopoulos is very focused about who he wants, he is working on a "complicated longshot" of a deal at the moment. Also, Anthopoulos tells Shi Davidi that the new posting system--whenever it is completed--"may" mean that the Blue Jays would make a bid on NPB pitcher Masahiro Tanaka.

Other goings-on at the Winter Meetings: