The Trade is Official!

Bud Selig has, after 6 days(although he only received the paperwork on Friday) has approved the mega-deal between the Jays and Marlins that sends All Stars Josh Johnson,Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, John Buck,speedster IF/OF Emilio Bonifacio, and an undisclosed amount of cash(last we heard it was $8million) to the Jays! Going to the Marlins in the trade are Major Leaguers Yunel Escobar, Jeff Mathis, and Henderson Alvarez along with prospects Adeiny Hechavarria, Jake Marisnick, Anthony DeSclafini, and Justin Nicolino. I have nothing really to say other than "RBI's for JOSE BAUTISTA"...cause you know, with Reyes and Melky in front of him, he will lead the league in that meaningless stat, and stop Miguel Cabrera from winning the triple crown again!!!

In other news, Manny Acta is going to be working in TV next year, and they haven't even contacted him, so cross him off the list.

Who do you want to be manager? Leave your comments below.

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Hot Commodity in Abundance

           The Blue Jays 40-man roster, once the trade is approved, will consist of 4 catchers that arguably could all be on major league rosters. J.P. Arencibia, John Buck, and young, highly touted prospect, Travis d’Arnaud should be starters in professional baseball, although some might argue Travis belongs in AAA because of his injury last year. Bobby Wilson is also on the 40-man, but he’s an above average fielding catcher who hasn’t been able to establish his bat at the major league level. Nevertheless, Wilson is a legitimate back up who can catch a game per week to give the starter a rest, without a brutal falloff. A major league club truly only needs 2 catchers, and to be frank, a major league club would have to be completely ignorant to keep more than 2 because of the value they hold caused by the rarity of legitimately good catchers.

            With that being said, Alex Anthopoulos will probably take calls from many teams interested in acquiring a major league catcher. The teams interested:

Texas Rangers:

             Unlike the other possible trading partners, the Rangers did have a better than league average catcher in 2012, but with Mike Napoli most likely moving out of town, the Texas Rangers will be in the market for a catcher.

            The Rangers will probably find Arencibia the most intriguing of the Blue Jays catchers, and not because they’re looking for the best catcher from Toronto—that’d be Travis D’arnaud. If the Rangers are at all interested in acquiring Travis from the Blue Jays, it would cost them Jurickson Profar. Jurickson is an untouchable for Texas, so the idea of trading for D’arnaud seems infeasible. I also don’t foresee Texas “cheeping out” and acquiring Buck rather than Arencibia because Buck has been terribly inconsistent, and less than lackluster since his move from Toronto after the 2010 season.

Conclusion:

            The Blue Jays would want Matt Harrison from Texas in exchange for Arencibia, but a Holland-Arencibia swap seems more likely.

New York Mets

            The Major League average SLG% out of the catcher position last year was .400, and the second worst percentage from catchers on a team came from the Rays at .322. And then there is the Mets… their catchers slugged to a TOTAL of .285, and played to a negative WAR. With no catcher-in-waiting in the system, you have to believe the Mets will make a call to the Alex and the Blue Jays with regards to a catcher.

            With the position the Mets are in, not quite ready to contend, you would believe they’d be willing to take a risk on John Buck—hoping he returns to 2010 form. Or are the Mets tired of pitiful performance from the position and ready to make a big statement. I don’t know if Alex is willing to part ways with D’arnaud to the Mets, but if he is it’d take at least Zack Wheeler, and would somehow involve Ike Davis coming back as well. Although Buck would be worth a shot, I think that just like the Rangers, the Mets would show the most interest in Arencibia, because you know what you’re getting: a 20 HR guy with a mid-low .200’s batting average, and he’d come much cheaper than D’arnaud.

Conclusion:

            Jonathon Niese would be considered fair value for Arencibia, but the Mets may not want to trade away their recently signed starter. A deal could ultimately be formed around a Davis-Arencibia swap.   

Pittsburgh Pirates:

          Although they have a prospect by the name of Wyatt Mathisen they still need a catcher if they seriously want to contend, because Mathisen is a long way away from the Majors and may never make it as a catcher, or at all. The Pirates catchers in 2012 were not good, which was to be expected from them.

            The Pirates have been completely reluctant to trade Jameson Taillon or Gerrit Cole from day one. With that being said, d’Arnaud is out of the question. The last thing the Pirates would want is to acquire a catcher, only for him to perform no better than their catchers of 2012, saying that I don’t see them being interested in Buck. Arencibia is a different story, although Pittsburgh doesn’t match up perfectly, Pittsburgh does have one player with similar value that would upgrade a position that was already upgraded this offseason—twice. Although the Blue Jays have already acquired Emilio Bonifacio and Maicer Izturis this fall, adding a legitimate starting second baseman that could be an allstar, would not only make Toronto's bench very good, it would add depth to the line up.  

Conclusion:

            With the emergence of Brock Holt at second base, a traded based upon Neil Walker and J.P Arencibia seems feasible.

Who do you think should be traded?Leave your comments below.

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Trade Reaction:AA is Still Awesome

The big 3 that the Jays acquired yesterday, from
right to left:JJ,Reyes, and Buehrle

In case you were having doubts, Alex Anthopolous is still a top 5 GM in the MLB. You all know by now, but if you don't, the Jays and Marlins made a trade that is bigger than the one that brought Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar to Toronto in 1990.It was:

To Toronto:
Josh Johnson
Mark Buehrle
Jose Reyes
John Buck
Emilio Bonifacio
$8.5 Million

To Miami:
Henderson Alvarez
Yunel Escobar
Adeiny Hechavarria
Justin Nicolino
Jake Marisnick
Anthony Desclafini
Jeff Mathis

Yup. If not for Jeffrey Loria being a cheap skate(see this article written by our own Ewan Ross in July for more details), this trade would not have been done. But, because Loria ruined baseball in Montreal, and scammed the city of Miami out of $500 million, the Jays got lucky! So...On to some trade analysis? Why not?

Josh Johnson- JJ has long been coveted by Blue Jays fans. I can remember having countless conversations on twitter last off-season and in July about acquiring JJ from the Marlins, and it really just seemed like a forgone conclusion that it was going to happen. The Jays and Marlins matched up so well  as trade partners, and Johnson fits in perfectly with this team. In just 9 starts in 2011, he had a WAR of 2.8, so you can see how good he is. After missing most of 2011 due to injuries, he came back in 2012, and was pretty good. He pitched to a 3.40 FIP, and his velocity was basically the same on all of his pitches as it was pre-surgery, so there isn't such a big reason to be concerned about his health. He also pitched over 190 innings, so he seems to be durable once again. Josh is only under contract for 2013, so an extension seems to be something AA would like to get done. It is going to be fun watching this 2-time all-star pitch, whether that is Opening day, or game #2, we will get to witness a great pitcher, one who was considered one of the 7 or 8 aces in the MLB before having surgery.

Mark Buehrle- Workhorse. That is what Buehrle is, and that is what he hopefully will remain. Mark has pitched over 200 innings every year since 2001, and has only posted a WAR less than 2 once since then. He provides the Jays with something they haven't had in a while, and will look great in that number 3 spot for Toronto. His contract is pretty bad because he was a FA, and you always over pay in free agency, but, that doesn't seem to be a problem anymore with this new less cheap version of Rogers.

Add those famous dreads, and Reyes will look
awesome wearing the blue and white!

Jose Reyes- Remember Shannon Stewart(not the 2008 version). He is the last true lead off hitter the Jays have had. Jose Reyes, is, now, a true lead off hitter. When he is healthy, Reyes is the best offensive shortstop in the game(because Tulo is never healthy). We saw that in 2011, and we've seen that many times before. He is going to get on base a lot(.342 career), and will steal close to 40 bases yearly. The only problem with Reyes is that he tears his hamstring when signing an autograph(exaggeration), and playing on the turf at the Skydome will not help him at all! Hopefully the Beest can fulfill his impossible goal of putting grass in the dome. His contract is also pretty bad, but he's amazing, so you can't complain. Reyes batting first is going to be a sight to see. When Jose Bautista hits a home run driving in Jose Reyes, the Jose-Jose-Jose-Jose chants will be deafening in Toronto. That alone will make his contract worth it.

John Buck- There is no question that Buck was the "thrown in" in this deal, but he might be turn out to be a lot more significant than just a throw in. The re-acquisition of Buck allows AA to trade one of JP Arencibia,Travis d'Arnaud, or Buck himself. AA can get another starter, which could be very useful because right now the Jays have no depth in their rotation, or can trade on of them(package with a reliever most likely) for a left fielder. A trade of JPA and Casey Janssen to Texas for David Murphy seems fair, and Murphy would be a perfect fit.

Emilio Bonafacio- Where will Emilio play? That's the big question right now as he can play second base, and the outfield. I'd slot the speedy Bonafacio in the 2 spot in the lineup, playing left field. I personally think with our offense, we can live with Maicer Izturis playing everyday, and trading JPA for a pitcher would bring us more value than a left fielder might. Bonafacio provides a switch hitting hitter who will steal 50+ bases if he plays everyday. Runs won't be hard to come by in 2013 for the Jays, but with 1 injury to the staff, the team could lose its pitching.

There is undoubtedly a lot of risk in this trade. This trade could make the Blue Jays a dynasty, or cripple them for years to come because of the amount of questionable salary taken on. This is the biggest trade in franchise history, but, don't be worried. The odds of this trade not working out for us are much lower than the odds that it succeeds.

Be happy. Enjoy the fact that AA just stole 4 all-stars from the Marlins for a few prospects who are nothing more than prospects, and a few major leaguers who have a lot of question marks. You could worry that this might fail miserably in February, but for now, enjoy!

What do you think about this franchise changing trade? Let us know in the comments section below!


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