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Jose Bautista and R.A. Dickey are feeling positive about the Toronto Blue Jays offseason so far. Speaking to the media for the first time since the end of another disappointing campaign, two of the club’s leaders in the lineup and on the pitching staff respectively feel that a small shakeup was necessary to improve the club. “You’re talking about minimal changes that can have great effect and we’ve had some great moves so far that can make us better,” said Bautista. The Blue Jays led the American League East for the early part of last season before slipping to the wild card battle and eventually out of the playoff picture altogether. “We’re not that far away. We were very close last season at the deadline, two games out of first place,” said the 34-year-old outfielder. It has been another busy offseason for general manager Alex Anthopoulos. After acquiring all-star third baseman Josh Donaldson from Oakland for Brett Lawrie, he struck a deal with the Seattle Mariners to acquire outfielder, and Canadian, Michael Saunders. “For Saunders, playing in his home country is going to help,” said Bautista. “Playing on the turf is going to help him. He’s a fast guy that can maybe leg out some more hits and get some more balls to skip through the infield.” “I think they were necessary moves. In the sense that we’ve been [in the playoff conversation] two years now and there needed to be somewhat of a shakeup,” said Dickey. Despite seeing Melky Cabrera leave in free agency, there is a renewed optimism around the Blue Jays. “I’m as excited as I was in 2013,” said Dickey. “We all know what happened in ‘13, so I’m not getting my hopes up too high. There’s a lot of baseball to be played but it’s nice to look on paper and see some names there in the lineup that you know are going to be special players. It’s comforting.” Dickey and Bautista were joined by Aaron Loup, Todd Redmond and Dalton Pompey as the team kicked off their annual Winter Tour in a gymnasium filled with eager, cheering students at Joshua Creek Public School in Oakville, Ont. The Blue Jays still have many holes to fill, specifically in the bullpen. Toronto has been linked to many relievers on the market, including Francisco Rodriguez and the team’s closer, Casey Janssen, but nothing has come to fruition yet. Wholesale Mets Jerseys . Inter moved five points behind fourth-place Fiorentina and eight points behind third-place Napoli, which visits relegation-threatened Sassuolo on Sunday. Fake Mets Jerseys . As if he had been rehearsing it, Vasquez looked around with a grimacing stare as he clinched two fists and flexed his muscles. What do you think of DeMar DeRozans face after he hits a big shot, he was asked moments earlier. https://www.cheapmetsjerseys.us/. You can watch the game live on TSN and TSN GO at 3pm et/Noon pt. The Thunder reclaimed the home-court advantage LA took with a Game 1 win on Friday night with a 118-112 road win in Game 3. Custom New York Mets Jerseys . Poti played in 824 regular NHL games with four teams in his career; the Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers, New York Islanders and the Washington Capitals. New York Mets Store . -- Phil Hughes ended a personal losing streak that dated to last July, pitching into the seventh inning Sunday and helping the Twins top the Kansas City Royals 8-3 to avoid a three-game sweep.Nico Rosberg would be a deserved world champion if he holds off Lewis Hamilton this season, claims Sky F1s Damon Hill on the F1 Report. The German holds a 23-point advantage after his Mercedes team-mates latest mechanical failure in Malaysia, with Hamilton leading and heading for a title lead before an engine blow-out.But while Rosberg rode his luck last weekend on his way to third, 1996 world champion Hill believes the 31-year-olds performances over the year, in which he has won eight races, means he would merit a maiden F1 title. Does Lewis need to win all five? Lewis Hamilton has a mountain to climb after falling 23 points behind Nico Rosberg in the title race If he wins the championship I think it will be thoroughly deserved, Hill said on this weeks F1 Report, which airs tonight at 8:30pm on Sky Sports F1. Hes really worked hard.Since the pain in defeat in Austin [in 2015] we all saw a changed person in Nico. He went on to win all the remaining races and hes put up a very strong challenge this year.Some of his drives have been impeccable. Hill was joined on the F1 Report by Ben Hunt, Formula 1 correspondent at The Sun, and he agreed that Rosberg has toughened up in 2016 after losing out to Hamilton in the previous two seasons.I spoke to him at the start of the season and I accused him of being too nice, that youve got to get your elbows out and be tough, Hunt explained. Thats exactly what hes done this year. Watch NOW TV Watch Sky Sports for ￡6.99. No contract. He denied it at the time and I thought that the title was lost at that moment. But in actual fact hes bounced back, hes shown good mental strength. He deserves the championship, if he were to win, but equally Lewis would as well.Hamilton can only guarantee becoming a four-time world champion this season by winning all of the remaining five races, starting aat the Japanese GP this weekend.dddddddddddd But Hill claimed it was too early to say Rosberg had one hand on the title, admitting he too could be struck by Mercedes reliability problems. This week on the F1 Report, Natalie Pinkham is joined by 1996 F1 world champion Damon Hill and The Suns F1 correspondent Ben Hunt He can afford to cruise and collect a little bit, Hill mused. But this bad luck, if it has all weighted towards Lewis then you kind of get the feeling that something is also going to happen to his team-mate. It only takes one race.Hunt, meanwhile, added that it has not just been Hamilton who has been hampered by mechanical glitches during the duos three-year stay with the Silver Arrows. The F1 Gossip column Mercedes to enter Formula E; James Key to Williams? All change at Renault? This seasons quite strange as its a parallel to 2014 when Nico and Lewis were going at it, he said. Nico was the one who was enduring all those mechanical problems.There was the gearbox in Britain, an electrical failure in Singapore and the engine troubles in Abu Dhabi. Also See: How unlucky has Hamilton been? 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