Five Things About This Week: The Jays go All In


1. David Price is a) a Toronto Blue Jay b) a Very Big Deal

So, in case anyone was wondering if the Jays were going all in and not waste the best offense in over a decade, Alex Anthopoulos dealt Matt Boyd, Daniel Norris (no word about the van) and Jairo Labourt to the Tigers for the services of soon to be free agent David Price. 

This is the biggest mid-season trade in Blue Jays history (since Tuesday.) And the Jays have their first legit ace since Roy Halladay. I would also argue that preventing Price from pitching for another team down the stretch, even if he stayed with the Tigers, is a bonus because he has historically owned the Blue Jays. 

As news broke yesterday, everyone was pretty excited. The clubhouse, the fans, the Twitter. 


“Yes, I am. Just like I’m a believer that the opposite can happen as well. When you don’t make a move you can often see teams kind of tank. I think we were victim of that last year, as a matter of fact, and I’ve seen other teams around the league that that’s happened to as well. I don’t know how you quantify it but I certainly think it gives us a big boost in morale.”

(BTW, the Jays now have both 2012 Cy Young award winners in a Jays uniform. Price joins Dickey, Halladay, Hentgen and Clemens as Cy Young award winners that have also been Jays.) 

Brand new Blue Jay Troy Tulowitzki: 

“Being in Colorado for as long as I was, we never made any moves like that. We had some times when we were coming down the stretch run and still in it, but we stuck with our team. So to hear that we got David today is obviously a huge acquisition. It’s exciting.”

Well, to be fair, the Jays have rarely made moves like that. This is new for us, too. 

“Hopefully this is the last day I’ll have to deal with it, and all the attention goes to David now and I can kind of run out the back door.”

Twitter was pretty awesome yesterday (as long as you don't read the subtweets. Don't read the subtweets, people. It'll harsh your buzz.)

From the man himself:
From the media:
The Yankee fan subtweets are pretty funny.

From Jays and former Jays:








I love this kid. He can come, too.

Price is supposed to arrive in Toronto today except he blew a tire on the way here. I hope this is not an omen.




But at least he got his wish:

Jays provided popcorn.



2. José Bautista is a human being.


In the 24 hours after the Jays landed Tulowitzki and before they landed David Price, Bautista was taking some heat from the media, which blew things way, way out of proportion.

After being asked about the Tulo trade, Bautista had this to say:

“If you want to look at it as a pure baseball move, I think there’s upgrades in different areas, maybe not necessarily what we need, but it is an upgrade, if you want to look at it that way.”

 Let's remember that José Reyes and José Bautista are friends. Reyes is not just some dude that plays the infield to Bautista, but his actual friend in real life.

He said that he and Encarnacion had gone to visit Reyes after the trade was announced. It was probably a long night, so he was probably pretty tired (I know I was exhausted, and I don't even know these people.) But even if he had been completely rested, he's going to be diplomatic because of his personal relationship with Reyes.

Over on Stoeten's game thread, I think I said this to a dude about 15 different ways. The guys were friends. I don't know how it wouldn't be clear. Seriously, give Bautista 24 hours to process the information.

And part of this, I think, was Bautista wondering whether pitching was going to arrive. Because while Tulowitzki is an upgrade for the long term and it was a neccessary trade at the time simply because the Rockies had made him available, it wasn't as neccessary as some pitching reinforcements.

John Lott reports that Bautista was miffed with the media in how those comments were portrayed. And he should be, because they were no big deal, his position was totally understandable and it just seems like some members of the media just want to get into it with him.

Bautista left no doubt about his excitement over the deal:

“I’m extremely excited to play alongside Tulowitzki,” he said. “If anybody doesn’t think that I am, they’re a fool.”

There are plenty of those.

I love Angry Bautista.

3. Tulowitzki is Great (and a no longer relevant Jeopardy question)



Tulo seemed pretty overwhelmed in his press conference.


“The last couple days have been crazy for me, to say the least,” he said. “When you sign a 10-year deal, you think you’re going to be with that team for the long haul. To be with a different organization now is shocking. At the same time, I’m looking forward to the future because I see a winning team, a winning culture."

Tulo seemed over his shock in his first Jays game on Wednesday. He hit a home run and two doubles, drove in three runs and scored three times, and made a very nice play at short. The home crowd also gave him a standing O before he even stepped into the box. 

This could be very fun.

4. Osuna is sad and Colabello likes Taco Bell

I was in Toronto for a few days and I went to a signing at the Jays shop. One of the best parts (well really the only good part) is meeting cool people in the line. I waited in line with a lady and her daughter. The teenage daughter was a big fan and they were both great. We also watched a little girl sobbed while getting her ears pierced.

I was in the line while the Price trade went through, and there was a definite buzz in the line as it was spreading across social media.


This is my Osuna picture about 10 minutes after the trade was announced. Things were a little intense. He's a really nice kid, with very sleepy eyes. I told him I was the one who sent him Mexican restaurants in Toronto. I said they came recommended by my friend who is Mexican. Osuna said, "I don't have any Mexican friends here. I am sad."

And I said, "You can take Chris!" and then told Colabello that Osuna had told the press people had recommended Taco Bell when he asked about Mexican food. And I was like, "That's not Mexican food! It's barely food."

And then Colabello said, "It is good though." And kind of shook his head wistfully, like he was thinking about it.

Copious amounts of fat and salt are keys to a well balanced diet.

5. One more thing about David Price.



He and I go back a little bit. 


It arrived about two weeks later, in a little box. Those are my toes.

This is what I wrote at the time:

I don't remember if I mentioned this when it happened, but in May I won a baseball from David Price that was signed by every member of the Rays starting rotation. James Shields has the only legible signature, but luckily they all put their numbers next to their signatures. They also signed remarkably small for boys with big hands holding ball point pens.

I won this ball because I correctly guessed that the wad of gum in the picture Price tweeted contained 35 pieces of gum. The ball was mailed from Tampa to my house in a little square box and the ball currently lives in a Ziploc bag, awaiting a more auspicious home.
 Here is the Cut 4 blog post, in which Price calls me a young lady, which made me smile. I don't know why, as that's what I am. "Some bitch from Toronto" would just be harsh.


Price was really charming when I interacted with him over DM and I've always liked him, even when he crushed my team's hopes and dreams. 

I'm so glad he's ours, even if it's a brief time.