X-Mas Comes Early: Massive Blue Jays Trade
To all those people who were harping on Alex Anthopoulos to stop lollygagging and pick a manager or something, I hope you feel drunk with power.
That was certainly something.
I was minding my own business, merely checking in on Twitter in the early evening and I became vaguely aware that something was going down. You might say it was a rumble. Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi were Tweeting about the Jays and it wasn't about John Farrell.
Here is the proposed deal that will be made official in the next few days: Miami is sending pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle, shortstop Jose Reyes, catcher John Buck and infielder Emilio Bonifacio to Toronto.
Toronto ships shortstop Yunel Escobar, pitcher Henderson Alvarez, infield prospect Adeiny Hechavarria, catcher Jeff Mathis and minor-leaguers Justin Nicolino, Jake Marisnick and Anthony DeSclafani to the Marlins.
It's a clear message from Anthopoulos to Toronto fans that he sees that the time is now to make a run to the post season. And his ninja-like abilities were demonstrated again. Not only did AA not have to give up the entire farm for this booty, Florida sent him four million dollars, too.
This trade, though I do think the Jays got the better end, does sting a little. Alvarez has talent. I honestly believe Hechevarria is going to be a rather nice short stop. Drew over at Getting Blanked shed hot salty Twitter tears over Jake Marisnick.
Despite some silliness that has surrounded Yunel Escobar, I didn't hate the dude and I know he has several fans in Toronto who are quite, well, blue. So I offer this. Escobar has established Miami as his off-season home since leaving Cuba. There is a strong community of Cuban ex-pats there and he also has the opportunity to spend some more time with his new baby. And meet some more hairdressers.
ESPN wondered where the Jays got this money from : "The Jays, of course, are owned by a company called Rogers....a company that has a lot of money." Notice the tone of voice, like this was a revelation. Which it likely was to some people.
This trade has already been compared to the Alomar/Carter trade in the early 90s. But unlike that trade, this trade got to be played out over Twitter.
Some were happy:
Some were angry:
(You wanna play left field? I won't call you 'Mike')
Some tried to sober us up:
(Jeez, Tao.)
Bleacher Report wrote an article about how Josh Johnson was going to suck in the AL East,citing pitcher wins and ERA, which sort of feels like an endorsement of Johnson.
It feels like a new era is born.
Here is Josh Johnson's agent on the Jeff Blair show, hinting that maybe more flipping could happen.
They will all turn into controlled, hard throwing, right handed relievers. Believe it.
