Going Deep: megadeal with the Marlins the move that could well define Alex Anthopoulos’ stay as Jays GM
In a normal off-season, it was the type of move that would raise some eyebrows and sell a few season tickets. But this winter, it was The Trade – one that will define Alex Anthopoulos’ tenure as the general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays.
On November 19, 2012 – with the eventual rubber stamp from Bud Selig’s commissioner’s chair – Anthopoulos completed a trade to acquire shortstop Jose Reyes, starting pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle and infielder Emilio Bonifacio as a part of a 12-player swap with the Miami Marlins.
In one fell (foul, if you’re a Marlins fan) swoop Anthopoulos filled the two biggest holes in his team’s lineup. If the franchise goes on to have the type of success many are expecting, most will point to this deal as the first domino to fall in an anticipated franchise-altering offseason.
“I know a lot has been made of the transaction. Obviously it’s a large one,” Anthopoulos told the media at a news conference the day after the trade was officially approved. “It was never an intention of ‘let’s make a big trade, let’s make a splash’. I’m not wired that way, it was ‘let’s make the team better.’ Every year I’ve been here we’re always trying to make the team better.”
The deal was instantly compared with a big move the organization made in 1990 when then-Jays GM Pat Gillick began to toss away the Stand Pat moniker media and impatient fans had placed on him by sending Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff to the San Diego Padres in exchange for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter.
Of course, Carter and Alomar went on to lead the Jays to back-to-back World Series titles in 1992 and 1993. While the folks in Las Vegas may have the Jays as the odds-on favourites to win the World Series in 2013 – in large part because of the deal with Miami – Anthopoulos isn’t ready to start comparing his deal to one that was made more than two decades ago.
“I hope we’re talking about this down the road that way, but to even put them in the same sentence, that was a franchise-changing trade that led to back-to-back World Series, made by a Hall of Fame GM,” Anthopoulos said back in November. “If we even get mentioned in the same breath down the road it will be a great success.
Each of the three players acquired from Miami brings something completely different to the Jays lineup.
Reyes is the most electrifying player involved in the deal and will undoubtedly be one of the most interesting Jays to watch this season. Not only is the 29-year-old a four-time all star, but he’s also a three-time NL stolen base champion – meaning he’s going to bring a whole new dynamic leading off for the Jays – and won the league batting title in 2011.
And if there’s one thing more noticeable than his talent on the field, it’s the fact that he’s always wearing a smile. On a team that was criticized at points last season for a lack of leadership in the clubhouse, Reyes appears to be a player whose powers of positive thinking are expected to have an impact on his teammates.
In Johnson and Buehrle the Jays have two middle-of-the-rotation arms who will provide stability for the pitching staff. Buehrle is a bulldog: a perennial 10-15 game winner and has pitched upwards of 200 innings in almost every season of his career.
Johnson on the other hand is more of a question mark. After suffering from shoulder problems in 2011 that limited him to just nine starts, the 29-year-old right-hander had a bounce-back year in 2012 on one of the weakest teams in the MLB.
In 2010 he led the league in ERA and actually placed fifth in Cy Young voting. He’s proven to be capable of winning 15 games, and leading a team’s rotation so the Jays can only hope, being that he’s pitching for a new contract, he brings his best stuff in 2013.
One of the cliché phrases that has surrounded the organization for the better part of the last two decades is that ‘when the time is right the money will be spent in order to make this franchise a true contender.’ And the deal with the Marlins is proof that ownership is committed to winning, and committed to doing so now.
