g and has a 5.4 rpg advantage on the glass as well. Considering how poorly the

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida – Its not for a lack of interest or due to a lack of effort - the Blue Jays are trying - but so far there is no trade to be made to enhance the club. "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. So if you want to, look at that as encouraging." While young pitching prospects Aaron Sanchez and Marcus Stroman continue to be in high demand – Anthopoulos isnt opposed to moving either if the deal is right – its the Jays big bats that are attracting the most attention. "The one thing we have on this team is power," said Anthopoulos. "Theres not a lot of power out there on the market or the free agent prices dont work for some of the clubs so weve been approached by clubs asking for some of our position players that have power." Anthopoulos then moved quickly to deny a Toronto Sun report that Colby Rasmus had been offered to two teams in the search for starting pitching. "With respect to rumours and some of our position players, I would say just to kind of bury some of those. With all our players well be open-minded if people want to approach us but I can say as we sit here today I feel pretty confident that most, if not all, our position player core will be with the club to start the year," he said. The Blue Jays havent ruled out signing Rasmus to a long-term extension. The 26-year-old is coming off his best season since his breakout campaign in 2010 with the Cardinals. Limited by injury to 118 games, Rasmus authored a slash line of .276/.338/.501, and lifted his OPS to .840 from .689 the previous season. Anthopoulos is leaving the door open to a long-term extension with Rasmus, who will be a free agent for the first time after this season. In fact, only Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays starting outfielders is signed beyond 2014. Citing Edwin Encarnacion as a player given a long-term commitment in the middle of a breakout campaign, Anthopoulos said hes willing to wait on Rasmus in order to "gather more information," even if the centerfielder continues to perform at a high level and a deal becomes more costly. "We feel time is on our side in the sense of we dont feel the need to necessarily have to do it so early," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "Weve got more resources from a payroll standpoint." Jose Bautistas and Edwin Encarnacions team-friendly contracts – Bautista has two years left at $28 million with a club option for 2016 at $14 million while Encarnacion is signed for two more years at $19 million with a club option for 2016 at $10 million – make Rasmus a logical choice to be moved out of the group of power bats. Given this years offseason market for outfielders – Jacoby Ellsbury signed for $153 million over seven years with the Yankees and Shin-Soo Choo is expected to receive a similar figure in free agency – Anthopoulos has a difficult decision to make on Rasmus value. WEBER HEADS TO KOREA The Blue Jays will enter Thursday mornings Rule 5 draft with 39 players on their 40-man roster. Right-hander Thad Weber has been sold to NC Dinos of the Korean Baseball Organization. MOTTOLA NEARING DEAL WITH RAYS Former Blue Jays hitting coach Chad Mottola and the Tampa Bay Rays are finalizing the paperwork on his contract to become the clubs new minor league hitting coordinator. Mottola served in the same capacity for the Blue Jays in 2009 before spending three seasons as the hitting coach at Triple-A Las Vegas. Mottola and Dwayne Murphy, who retired, are the two members of last seasons coaching staff that wont be returning to Toronto. Kevin Seitzer, who was the hitting coach in Kansas City when manager John Gibbons served as Royals bench coach, was hired last month to replace Mottola. Custom Nike St. Louis Cardinals Jerseys . Martin Reway and David Griger both recorded four points with a goal and three assists each. Mario Lunter, Daniel Gachulinec and Stanislav Horansky also scored for Slovakia (1-0). Dominik Kahun had both goals for Germany (0-2), who lost its opening match to Canada 7-2 on Thursday. Wholesale Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys . So it was understandable if he was a little shaky early in his return to the Texas Rangers rotation. He spent most of the outing searching for his best stuff, but still managed to shut down the struggling Minnesota Twins offence. https://www.customnikebaseballjerseys.com/311n-custom-nike-tampa-bay-rays-jerseys-baseball.html . Colton Sissons also scored for Milwaukee (19-12-8), which went ahead with a two-goal third period. Wade MacLeod and Greg McKegg replied for Toronto (23-12-4). Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Store . PAUL, Minn. Cheap Custom Nike Baseball Jerseys Free Shipping . After losing Brett Cecil to groin tightness on Friday, the Blue Jays watched as R.Spokane, WA (SportsNetwork.com) - The third-ranked team in the nation takes a break from conference play this weekend, as the Gonzaga Bulldogs host the Memphis Tigers on Saturday night at the McCarthey Athletic Center. The Bulldogs are off to their best start in program history, having lost just once through the first 22 outings, and that lone setback just happened to come against then third-ranked Arizona in overtime. More recently, the Bulldogs moved to a perfect 10-0 against the rest of the West Coast Conference with a convincing 64-46 triumph over Portland on Thursday night in Spokane. Gonzaga has not only won 14 straight games overall, the team continues to boast the longest home win streak in the nation as well at 37 games. Against the Pilots in particular, the Bulldogs have won all but two of the last 39 encounters in the series. As for the Tigers, members of the American Athletic Conference, they last took the floor on Wednesday night against visiting East Carolina and carved out a 70-58 victory at FedExForum. The win was the second in a row and the fifth in six tries for the program. Memphis has won six of the previous eight encounters with the Bulldogs, including two straight. The most recent decision took place in 2014 with the Tigers capturing a 60-54 win. Austin Nichols scored a game-high 21 points, shooting 9-of-14 from the floor, and added five rebounds for the Tigers as they defeated visiting East Carolina earlier in the week. Off the bench, Trahson Burrell and Nick King both tallied 11 points and combined for another 12 boards for a squad that shot almost as well from the floor overall (.538) as it did at the free-throw line (.571). Defensively, Memphis was a bit sluggish when guarding the perimeter, allowing the Pirates to knoock down 13-of-27 shots behind the 3-point line.dddddddddddd Nichols, the leading scorer for the Tigers in the last two outings and six of the last eight contests overall, accounts for a team-best 13.3 ppg as he shoots 52.2 percent from the floor. Aggressive in the paint, Nichols is also responsible for 6.0 rpg and is one of the nations top shot blockers with 64 rejections through 20 starts. Burrell checks in with 9.1 ppg and another 5.7 rpg as the team outscores opponents by 6.3 ppg and has a 5.4 rpg advantage on the glass as well. Considering how poorly the Pilots started out in the second half on Thursday night, it is rather surprising the team lost by just 18 on the road against Gonzaga. The Bulldogs ended up limiting Portland to only seven second-half field goals and 29.5 percent accuracy from the field overall, allowing the hosts to escape with just 5-of-22 shooting behind the 3-point line and 40.7 percent from the floor. Domantas Sabonis was huge off the bench for the Zags with 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Przemek Karnowski had a double-double of his own with 10 points and 11 boards, to go along with four assists and three blocked shots. Kyle Wiltjer and Kevin Pangos chimed in with 11 and 10 points, respectively. What makes the Bulldogs so tough this season is that any one of a handful of players can take over a game on offense and be the deciding factor. The proof of that is displayed in the scoring column where there is a total of five players scoring in double figures entering the weekend, led by Wiltjer with his 15.6 ppg. Pangos is responsible for not only 12.3 ppg on 47.6 percent shooting out on the perimeter, but also handing out 104 assists, against a mere 26 turnovers which is unheard of in college basketball. ' ' '