If the pressure is on Alex Anthopoulos to turn the Toronto Blue Jays into a serious contender in 2013, the Jays’ GM didn’t show it. On Tuesday, Anthopoulos made a huge splash by completing a blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins in a move that saw the bulk of the talent (not to mention payroll) heading north.
The Blue Jays made a bold move by acquiring starting pitchers, lefty Mark Buerhle and righty Josh Johnson along with shortstop Jose Reyes, catcher John Buck and infielder Emilio Bonifacio. Headlining those headed to Miami is shortstop Yunel Escobar who was caught in the middle of some controversy this past summer when he wrote a homophobic slur on his eye paint. Along with Escobar, going to the Marlins are pitcher Henderson Alvarez and catcher Jeff Mathis along with four minor-leaguers.
After yet another disappointing season, the Toronto Blue Jays have entered another offseason with a plethora of uncertainty. While his tenure in Toronto wasn’t what Jays fans had hoped for, manager John Farrell’s departure to Boston left another question unanswered: who will be guiding this team in 2013? But until that question is answered, Toronto’s GM needed to address other issues first.
Since they last won the World Series in 1993, underachieving has sadly become commonplace with the Toronto Blue Jays. With proven talent such as Jose Bautista, Brett Lawrie and Colby Rasmus, the way they look on paper, the Jays should be contending year-in and year-out. Unfortunately, what’s on paper has not been translating to what’s happening on the field.
After a 73-89 finish to an agonizing 2012 campaign, the Jays were back to the drawing board and it was anyone’s guess as to how the Blue Jays were going to right the ship and have a better year in 2013. Anthopoulos made good on that in just one day.
While this trade only serves the Jays well on paper, it was a gutsy call by Anthopoulos and while some may not be enthusiastic about the team’s decision to take on the hefty contracts that come with the talent, this one transaction is a lot more than the Blue Jays have done in the better part of the last decade at least.
For years, the Toronto Blue Jays have relied on building their team from the inside and working their way up but while many teams have found success taking said route, the Jays haven’t been so lucky. While this trade is risky for the Jays, it shows what Alex Anthopoulos is willing to do to build a winner — and showing the other 29 GMs that he is not afraid to throw caution to the wind and contend with whoever is aching for a little competition.
In 2012, Toronto’s Achilles heel was their starting pitching. While there was nothing to get bent out of shape over in the opening weeks of the season, Toronto’s rotation wasted little time coming apart at the seams. From Kyle Drabek to Drew Hutchison to Brandon Morrow, the Jays pitching staff was decimated by injuries last season, which was arguably the main factor as to why they fell out of contention so early in the year. Ricky Romero, one of the few pitchers who remained healthy last season, went 9-14 which included a 13-game losing streak along the way. While yesterday’s trade was impressive, there weren’t many other options should anyone expect the Blue Jays to climb above the status quo in 2013.
Of course, there was a reason why the Marlins traded such marquee talent away: to unload as many big-money contracts as they could. What’s unfathomable is that just last winter the Marlins acquired both Buerhle and Reyes in hopes of reviving a franchise who had just changed their name and uniforms in addition to getting ready to christen their brand new stadium. One year later after a disappointing last-place finish in the NL East, the Marlins seem to be having a fire sale. As expected, not everyone on the Marlins was happy with the move. Outfielder Giancarlo Stanton expressed his disgust on Twitter (@giancarlo818) by saying: “Alright, I’m pissed off!!! Plain & Simple.” While I cannot blame Stanton for feeling this way, I can safely say that fans north of the border are rejoicing. Regardless what possessed the Marlins to offer so much with the Jays so willing to accept, Miami’s loss is Toronto’s gain.
In Mark Buerhle, the Jays acquire a three-year contract worth $48 million. In Jose Reyes, the Jays pick up six years at $106 million. In Josh Johnson and John Buck, Toronto is only committed to one year for both players although Buck is set to make $6 million next season and Johnson at $13.75 million. That’s the bad news. The good news is that in Buerhle, the Jays pick up a four-time All-Star, a four-time Gold Glove winner, a World Series champion and a perfect game pitcher. In Reyes, the Jays get another four-time All-Star, a Silver Slugger winner and the 2011 NL batting champ. Josh Johnson has a 56-14 career record in eight seasons with a 3.15 ERA while John Buck will be making his second tour of duty with the Jays and will likely be splitting time with J.P. Arencibia behind the plate.
As significant as yesterday’s trade was for Anthopolous and the Jays, there aren’t any signs as of yet that Toronto’s GM is through wheeling and dealing this offseason. While it may be premature to call the Blue Jays pre-emptive favourites to win the AL East in 2013, it’s certainly nothing to scoff at. They may not have a championship contender just yet but with this one trade, the Blue Jays have put themselves miles ahead in the right direction which is a lot more that can be said for this club since the start of the millennium.
While it’s still too early to tell, this trade can easily be compared to Toronto’s December 1990 trade that sent Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter. While the trade was benficial for both clubs on paper, it turned out to be the best trade the Blue Jays made to date as Alomar and Carter became two of the most important pieces to Toronto’s back-to-back World Series reign. While this trade with the Marlins looks promising, only time will tell in determining how great of a trade this is for the Jays. But it sure does look good.
As of right now, I can only admire Alex Anthopoulos for pulling off a trade with such magnitude. I’m now anxious to see what the Toronto GM will do for an encore and assuming he doesn’t top himself for the remainder of the offseason, I’m just as eager to see how the new-look Blue Jays will fare in 2013.
The Toronto Blue Jays: a force to be reckoned with. It has been a long time since anyone has said that but it has all the makings to come back in with style.
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Ryan Cowley is a writer at Toronto Standard. Follow him on Twitter @RyanACowley.
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