Blue Jays president Paul Beeston was a guest on Primetime Sports on Sportsnet 590 The Fan with Bob McCown and Stephen Brunt On Wednesday night. (Listen to the Audio here)

Beeston didn’t give any answers on whether the Blue Jays have made any progress with either free agent pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana. And wouldn’t really commit to being surprised if the Jays didn’t make any upgrades to the rotation, So take it for what it’s worth.

Beeston was asked about Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchison’s health and if they were ready to go this spring, Beeston said that both would be ready to go this Spring, but most of us already had that part figured out.

The two most intriguing things to come out of the interview was the topic of grass in the Rogers Centre and that pesky five year policy that has been talked to death this winter.

Unlike Alex Anthopoulos, Beeston seems like he is steadfast on the five year plan and probably wouldn’t budge on it regardless of what Free Agent would come along, and Beeston added as long as he’s around the five year policy will be intact. Beeston also believes that the Jays can sell winning and the city to potential free agents to talk them into signing here. It’s not a bad idea I’m just not so sure that it’ll be as practical as the Jays would like to believe.

When asked about grass in the Rogers Centre, Beeston says that they are doing research on making grass work and have partnered with the University of Guelph on making it happen. Getting the Argos out of the Rogers Centre is the stumbling block right now but even if the Argos were to move to BMO Field for next year Beeston says it would still take three to four years to get grass at Rogers Centre.

As Beeston explained it would be a big project as they would have to dig up the cement and involve a ton of engineering work to make the natural grass work. He also mentions that they would have to work with getting the air currents to run across the grass, right now the air comes from the top of the stadium so it’s another issue that has to be brought up.

But as Beeston stated tonight that 2018 is the target for natural grass regardless what happens with the Argos.

Beeston did say that new turf will be in place for 2015, as for 2014 they are putting in fill to the current turf they have now which as Beeston says should make the turf softer which should take some of the strange hops out of the game.

Lastly when asked about ticket sales, Beeston said they are behind last years pace but ahead of the 2012 pace, and added that the April home schedule should help attendance as the Jays open up home portion of the schedule against the Yankees.

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