I’m briefly stepping out of hiatus mode to pass along a tidbit that I heard this afternoon from an extremely reliable source. The Softbank Hawks, fresh off losing Brad Penny, offered Toronto $1m for the rights to sign righty Jesse Chavez, only to be rebuffed by the Blue Jays. The deal would have paid Chavez $3m over two years. I asked Chavez’s agent Paul Cobbe about the deal, but he only offered a “no comment”.

Chavez has bounced between 3A and the Majors since 2008. The Blue Jays have him in their 3A rotation, where he’s posting very solid numbers despite pitching for hitter-friendly Las Vegas.