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| Why is everybody so mad at me, John? |
After a long, tiring day of listening to FAN590 callers whine and moan about the Jays lack of action on today's MLB Trade Deadline day, it's finally over. And now begins the backlash - rumours of unhappiness in the clubhouse, namely from El Capitano Jose Bautista himself. People are calling for GM Alex Anthopolous' head, albeit in a poorly-articulated manner.
But I believe in Alex Anthopolous. I believe that he made the right decision in not making any deals. I believe the Jays are still in prime position to make the playoffs and win in the playoffs. And here are five reasons why I believe all that and why you should, too.
- The Jays already have the best bats in the league.
3rd in the league (MLB) in Batting Average. 2nd in OBP. 3rd in SLG. 1st in home runs. Even after the team's brutal June, the Jays dominate with the bat. They possess a deeeeep bench, filled with starting-caliber bats (although in some cases needing some platoonage.) When healthy,there's a major-league worthy bat at every position, which I don't think any other team can say. Maybe Oakland could've come close to the Jays at the plate, but after trading away Yoenis Cespedes they aren't the powerhouse they were yesterday.
This is our advantage. Have some faith in the guys hitting the cover off the ball. - They've already "added" a flame-throwing starter and promising young reliever.
Remember May, when Edwin was making pitchers sad with one of the best power-hitting months of all time, and the Jays were winning lots of games? Dustin McGowan and Liam Hendricks started games for the Jays. Jeremy Jeffress and Neil Wagner were getting high-leverage innings from the bullpen.
Now? We've been gifted the hyper-speed development of Marcus "The Maestro" Stroman and Aaron "Still Needs a Nickname" Sanchez. With the way these two have pitched, there's no guarantee that any pitcher the Jays would've traded for would've performed any better. So why not ride the hot hand? (er, arm?)
- The two biggest 'prizes' of today were Aces coming out of the AL East.
Don't look at the prospect-price that the Tigers and A's paid to acquire the two biggest names moving today, Jon Lester and David Price, and assume that Anthopolous could've just offered a slightly-better package to pick up one of these guys.
In an odd situation, both teams were a) in the AL East b) out of contention this year and c) hopeful to be back in playoff contention next season. This is a prime recipe for NOT TRADING WITHIN YOUR OWN DIVISION. While both players certainly could've been difference makers in the Jays playoff push, the price (ha!) that was being asked from the Jays was probably laughably high.
"Oh you want Lester, Alex? Well give us your entire farm system. And throw in an actual farm while you're at it."
Why help the Red Sox out by giving them young, controllable, high-upside players for a couple months of Jon Lester? The chances of his acquisition leading us to a playoff success is JUST AS LIKELY as the chance that we trade for him, miss the playoffs, he signs elsewhere and us fans get tormented by Red Sox aces Aaron Sanchez and Dan Norris for the next decade.
Which leads me to my next point....
- Alex didn't sacrifice the future of this team to try and save his job.
Seriously. The recent history of baseball (and other pro sports) is littered with GMs with lots on the line, who dumped away a team's future for a slim, slim shot at success RIGHT NOW. It could've been very easy for AA to throw prospects at another team for a "meh"-inducing upgrade at pitcher or 2B, and claim he did "his job." Why should he care? If they succeed, he keeps his job and everything is awesome, but if he fails, he's gone anyways, so he wouldn't have to deal with a drought in the farm system.
Yet, he didn't. He considered the future of the franchise today, even if it may not include him. He cares about us, guys! Three or five seasons from now, we may be singing his praises for not giving up on our now-studly young rotation of Stroman, Sanchez, Norris, Osuna and Hutchison.
- Help is still on the way.
Brett Lawrie, Adam Lind and BIIIIGGG Edwin Encarnacion all figure to be back with the team in coming weeks. That's a wonderful combination of defense and hitting that will put us back in our position of "Biggest Mashers in the League." It will be just like the Jays had traded for them, except we'll have given up absolutely nothing!
And don't forget - this isn't even the LAST trade deadline. For the next month, Alex (who is known as a sneaky, Ninja-like GM) could pull off a trade for some (admittedly less exciting) help in the form of a Bartolo Colon or an A.J. Burnett. And it won't cost the Jays their best prospects. So who knows? Let the Ninja work, guys.
So there you have it, Blue Jays fans. Sit back, relax and watch the boys in blue swing away. If they make the playoffs (which I am still confident they will do,) awesome-sauce. If not? We get to watch a stocked farm system develop, watch AA (or his replacement?) make some moves in the off season, and try it all again next year.
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