DUNEDIN, Florida - General manager Alex Anthopoulos believes the 2014 edition of the Blue Jays will contend in the American League East. It begins with starting pitching. "We have the talent," said Anthopoulos. "Last offseason because guys were hurt, we didnt have the bodies. We didnt have Hutchison or Drabek. We knew we needed Romero to bounce back. Happ was coming off a foot injury. We have a lot more bodies and a lot more depth. Beyond our front five last year we were thin. We had Romero who scuffled as our sixth starter coming out of camp. Beyond that, it was Ramon Ortiz and Chien Ming-Wang and we had to sign five minor league free agent starters. We didnt need to do any of that this offseason." One of the catchphrases of the offseason, and now here in Dunedin, is "internal depth," a reference to the clubs young cadre of pitching prospects beginning to bump their heads on the minor league ceiling. Its needed, too, because Anthopoulos seemed to pour the final dose of cold water on upgrading his rotation via an external option, most notably Ervin Santana, the last marquee free agent pitcher on the market. "Wed like to do it but were not going to do it at all costs," said Anthopoulos. "As we sit here today, I think its unlikely at this point, were getting so late into spring training. Anthopoulos continued, "Its a comparison, how much better are they than what you have." We have to make that evaluation. Term and dollars are important. You like every player but at certain years and dollars they dont make sense for us. If its just a draft or something and youre just picking a player, then abilities are a separate thing but theres obviously an acquisition cost to all of these guys." As for the persistent chatter linking the Jays to Santana and other free agent starters like Ubaldo Jimenez (signed with Baltimore) and Matt Garza (signed with Milwaukee,) Anthopoulos suggested the reports were overblown. "To trades? Yes. We got very close on some trades. Free agency-wise, I dont think we ever got close at all." Fans, understandably, dont want to hear excuses for the misery of 2013. It was clear as early as April the club had flaws, not the least of which were starting pitching that didnt match they hype and poor infield defense. Still, health, or lack thereof, played a role. When J.A. Happ was hit in the head with a line drive by Tampa Bays Desmond Jennings on May 7, he joined Josh Johnson on the disabled list. R.A. Dickey already was pitching with an injured muscle in his neck and Brandon Morrow was dealing with forearm pain, which ultimately was diagnosed as an entrapped radial nerve that would end his season weeks later. Only Mark Buehrle was healthy. Brett Lawrie went down with a strained oblique suffered in a World Baseball Classic tune up game in early March and missed opening day. Jose Reyes was lost to a severe ankle sprain on April 12, which necessitated the expedited return of a rehabbing Lawrie. He wasnt ready and would end up getting hurt again. Reyes was back by the time Lawrie returned on July 13, but Lawrie played at second base that day and the two wouldnt play the left side of the infield together until July 19. Jose Bautista, Melky Cabrera and Colby Rasmus also missed significant time but their injuries occurred once the Jays were out of the race. Anthopoulos had no intention from diverting from the course set out with the major trades of last offseason. He wants the players hes assembled from years past, most of whom remain here, to get the job done. "We werent going to take away from the core of this team," said Anthopoulos. "We made a change behind the plate; that was important to us. Second base, we think theres obviously going to be turnover there. A third of our lineup is probably going to be different from opening day last year." DEALING WITH INJURIES Theres nothing the Blue Jays could do about Jose Reyes and Brett Lawrie injuring their ankles sliding into second base. Nothing could have been done to prevent Brandon Morrows nerve injury. Anthopoulos puts a lot of the aches and pains that befell last years club in the "freak injury" category. The club is concerned about the number of oblique injuries its suffered, however. "Colby (Rasmus) missed about four to six weeks and Rajai (Davis) missed two to three weeks," said Anthopoulos. "There are some things that we tweaked there. Like I talked about at the end of last year, it seems obliques are popping up a lot more or at least theyre being diagnosed a lot more. It felt like for us, the last two years, we were getting a lot more obliques so we reevaluated some of the strength and conditioning work that we were doing and made some tweaks there." Brett Lawries missed time with an oblique strain in each of the last two seasons. He added yoga to his offseason workout regimen in an effort to loosen his core muscles. Brandon Morrow missed almost three months of the 2012 season with an oblique strain. FILLING OUT THE ROTATION Esmil Rogers and Todd Redmond appear to be the early favourites to land the final starters job. Both are out of options, meaning they could be lost to waivers if the Jays tried to send them to the minor leagues. They face stiff competition from emerging youngsters like Drew Hutchison, Marcus Stroman and Kyle Drabek, and could find themselves in the bullpen if they dont win a starting job out of spring training. "We started before with an eight-man bullpen," said Anthopoulos. "We could do that as well. If everyone is throwing the ball that well and we dont want to expose anyone to waivers, or we dont want to trade someone and not get full value, we could go to an eight-man bullpen." HIGH PRAISE FOR GOINS Ryan Goins will have to earn the starting job at second base this spring but his boss loves his defense. "Hes as good defensively, I believe, as weve had here since Orlando Hudson was here," said Anthopoulos. "I think hes that good a defender. Defensively, hes gold glove caliber. The question will be the bat. Obviously weve got some competition for him and if he does make this team we view him right now as the nine-hole hitter. I think with Ryan, because the defense is so good, it allows him to not have to hit as much because he can help us on the other side of the ball to such a great extent." Maicer Izturis, Brent Morel, Chris Getz and Jonathan Diaz also are vying for the second base job. Ken Willard Jersey . Five straight losses (and six in the past seven) now dot the schedule – matching their longest skid of the year – after they fell again in New Jersey on Sunday night, topped 3-2 by Cory Schneider and the Devils. Kendrick Bourne Jersey .com) - Rajon Rondo turned in a game-high 21 points to go with eight rebounds and seven assists as Dallas claimed a 102-98 win over the Lakers on Friday. http://www.custom49ersjersey.com/custom-dee-ford-jersey-large-2638d.html .J. Mayo made seven three-pointers and scored 25 points, Ersan Ilyasova added 20, and the Milwaukee Bucks placed seven players in double figures in a 130-110 rout of the Philadelphia 76ers, who lost their 11th straight game on Monday night. Mike Person Jersey . Sami Salo scored two goals as the Canucks overcame a hat-trick from Edmonton Oiler rookie sensation Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to win 4-3 in NHL action Saturday. Steve Bono Jersey . Perhaps as important, shes sending a message to 17-year-old gold medal favourite Sara Takanashi of Japan. Iraschko-Stolz relegated Takanashi, who has 10 World Cup victories this season, to second place in two of three training jumps Saturday.CLEVELAND -- Eduardo Escobar usually shows off his power during pregame batting practice. On Monday night, he did some flexing in the 10th inning. Escobar homered on Cleveland closer John Axfords second pitch of the 10th, giving the Minnesota Twins a 1-0 win over the slumping Indians. Escobar, who entered as a pinch-hitter in the seventh, connected on a 1-0 pitch from Axford (0-3), driving it over the wall in right for his first homer since June 20 and fourth of his career in 344 at-bats. "He can swing it, weve all seen that," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire. "You watch him in batting practice, he hits them as far as anybody. Its a big moment. Its cool. You see the big smile on his face and everyone else." It was the second straight gut-wrenching loss for Axford, who gave up a three-run homer in the ninth to Chicagos Dayan Viciedo on Sunday as the White Sox rallied for a 4-3 win. In that game, Cleveland catcher George Kottaras homered twice, becoming the first player in franchise history to homer in his first two plate appearances, and Corey Kluber struck out 13. "Bad pitch," Axford said of his fastball to Escobar that caught too much of the plate. "Its unbelievable. Its a shame that my performances have kind of taken precedence over a great hitting performance by George and outstanding pitching performances by Kluber and Zach." Caleb Thielbar (2-0) pitched a perfect ninth and Glen Perkins struck out two in the 10th for his eighth save. Escobar came in for Pedro Floriman and grounded out with two runners on in the seventh. He more than atoned with his game-winning shot into the seats. "Its a great feeling to be able to come up with a big swing in that spot," he said. "Im really happy for the team more than anything else." The Indians, who only got two runners to second base, had been the only team in the majors not to play in an extra-inning game. Cleveland has dropped eight of 10, and scoring is a huge issue. The Indians have scored three runs or less in 19 of their 32 games. "Were fairly inconsistent right now," manager Terry Francona said. "Even in hitters counts, were not getting real good swings. I think when its team wide, everyone is trying to do much. Its a good quality but weeve got to fight through it together and keep the line moving and were not doing that.dddddddddddd" Both teams got strong efforts from their starting pitchers. Minnesotas Kyle Gibson allowed only two hits in seven scoreless innings, and Clevelands Zach McAllister gave up five hits while blanking the Twins over 6 2-3 shutout innings. The Twins played without first baseman Joe Mauer, who is day-to-day with lower back spasms. Gibson has been blessed with an abundance of runs all season. The Twins came in averaging 7.14 runs in his first five starts, but they couldnt push one across against McAllister, who was pitching on regular rest after going on three days last week in Los Angeles. Gibson and second baseman Brian Dozier combined on a sparkling defensive play in the fourth. Michael Brantley hit a grounder toward right that Dozier stopped with a dive before spinning in one motion and throwing toward first. With first baseman Chris Colabello out of position, Gibson alertly covered and snagged Doziers throw on one hop before sliding into the bag ahead of Brantley. "The only thing that could have made that play more funny than it was, was if Colabello had gotten hit right in the butt," Gardenhire said. "He had no clue where the ball was going. That was a great, athletic play by Dozier. Ive never seen a pitcher go sliding into first base like that to catch a throw." NOTES: Indians OF Michael Bourn missed his second straight game with a tight right hamstring, the same one he had surgically repaired in October. Bourn could be headed to the disabled list for the second time this season if it doesnt respond. ... Cleveland placed DH Jason Giambi on the DL with a strained calf muscle. The 43-year-old is 0-for-10 this season. ... Twins rookie SS Danny Santana made his major league debut as a pinch-runner in the seventh and nearly got picked off second. Indians manager Terry Francona challenged the safe call but it was upheld. Santana got his first big-league hit in the ninth. ... Indians RHP Josh Tomlin will make his first start Tuesday since July 27, 2012, three weeks before undergoing Tommy John surgery. ... Twins RHP Samuel Deduno will start Tuesday after seven relief appearances. He had shoulder surgery in September. ' ' '