Holy Transactions Batman!
If you’re a football or baseball fan, your world likely exploded today. Even before you got out of bed, NFL GMs had started talking to free agents and one MLB GM had already been at work for a few hours after waking up in a trading mood. The NFL moves were not altogether unexpected, as the football lockout had ended on Monday and teams were given permission to start talking to players today, but with baseball’s trade deadline still half a week away, you’d be forgiven for assuming it was safe to sleep in on that front.
But as Toronto Blue Jays fans have been finding out during the past year and a half, it’s best to always be prepared for a surprise announcement from baseball’s most hyperactive GM, Alex Anthopoulos.
In his short time at the helm of Canada’s only professional baseball club, Anthopoulos has earned himself a reputation as a shrewd talent evaluator, someone who’s constantly in contact with every other GM and is unafraid of trying to wiggle his way into a deal that two other teams are working on. He did it last year when he acquired Anthony Gose from the Astros just after Gose had been dealt from the Phillies as part of the Roy Oswalt deal and he did it again today, finding a way to acquire Colby Rasmus (pictured), a potential superstar-in-the-making, for three middling relievers and a player from another team.
After acquiring Edwin Jackson and Mark Teahan from the White Sox early this morning, in exchange for Jason Frasor and prospect Zach Stewart, the Jays quickly turned around and flipped Jackson to the Cardinals along with three middling relievers for Rasmus and a trio of the Cards’ own middling relievers. Think about that for a second. Anthopoulos must have caught wind of a potential deal between the White Sox and the Cardinals that centered on Jackson, and before the two teams were able to hammer out the details he managed to weasel his way in with two proposals that effectively accomplished the same end result – but ended with another young stud in a Toronto uniform.
There were some serious rumblings in St. Louis about Rasmus’ character, but not unlike the deal they made to acquire Yunel Escobar last year, the Blue Jays clearly weren’t afraid to take a chance on a young player with potential. They were likely never seriously interested in Edwin Jackson – though he might have helped their starting rotation, if only temporarily – but they did what they had to do to acquire the trade piece the Cardinals wanted and were willing to risk almost half their bullpen on the chance that Rasmus develops into a top flight center fielder.
Putting aside the fact that their bullpen has been atrocious as of late and the Blue Jays were going to need to rebuild it in the off-season anyway, it’s a gutsy move to switch out half your relievers in the middle of the season. The risk they’re taking on Rasmus is amplified by the risk they’re taking that a patchwork bullpen can hold things together over the next two months. If the bullpen ends up in worse shape than before, it could seriously affect the confidence of their young starting pitchers – it’s not easy to develop when you’re putting more pressure on yourself because you don’t trust your relief.
Clearly, though, these are the types of risks that Anthopoulos feels the team needs to take if they’re going to build a championship team. The jury is still out as to whether or not everything will pan out and it will likely be at least two or three years before a fair evaluation will be possible, but in a very short time period the Jays have acquired three exciting young players for what seems like pennies on the dollar. Acquiring three players with sky high ceilings, without having to take all that much risk, should put Anthopoulos on the most wanted list – and if things don’t work out he may yet find himself in Jays fans’ doghouse.
But after eight years of lackluster ‘rebuilding’ under J.P. Ricciardi, Anthopoulous’ willingness to pull the trigger is quickly making him a fan favourite.
