Being from Regina, naturally the expectation is to be a proud supporter of the Toronto Blue Jays. However, for this particular individual, that has not been the case throughout the years. Sure, the days of seeing the great Californian Ed Sprague Jr patrol third base, witnessing the eccentric center fielder Devon White run the base paths, marvelling at the helmet wearing defensive first baseman Johnny.O, and the 1993 World Series hero Joe Carter providing countless great memories year after year were fantastic. However, one must remember that this all took place in the mid nineties. Gone are the glory days, enter the twenty-first century.
Since 1995, the Jays have been criminally(figuratively) mis-managed. When Canadian Gord Ash took over the ball club after the 1994 season, the Blue Jays were in the midst of being considered a model franchise by respected baseball experts. That all changed simply due to a change of philosophy from management. The brilliance of the former Jays GM Patt Gillick was that he built baseball teams, not relying on one individual player to carry the horse. The mantra changed with Ash, because his philosophy was to bring in a star player(Clemens,Cone,Delgado,Canseco and the list goes on) and allow the afformentioned players to single handidly carry this franchise and have the other twenty-four men ride shotgun. This recipe was proved flawed before Ash, and the results were substantiated by the lack of success the Jays were accustomed to.
New ownership=new found success? Sadly,not. From approximately 2001 to November 2012, new owner Rogers Communication had shown no willingness in spending cash to improve the ball club. The cash was not spent and throughout the years Jays fan alike encountered several laughable organizational decisions, such as hiring their regional broadcaster who at the time had zero managerial experience in Buck Martinez. And, who can forget J.P Ricciardi's world like praise of then "super prospect" Russ Adams. The devastating part is that at the time they elected to rid themselves of the serviceable and reliable Alex Gonzalez for what, if you believed J.P, was the next A-Rod. My problem with J.P was that throughout his tenure in Toronto, the farm system was what he put all his time and attention into while not putting enough focus in the on field major league product.
Which leads me to Anthopoulos, and the main gripe of today's blog, that being the trade that consumated on November 13th,2012 between the Toronto Blue Jays and now what we can safely call the AAA Miami Marlins. On paper, it would appear that the Blue Jays fleeced the Marlins. On sheer name power, they most certainly did. From the Blue Jays perspective, I have a few concerns however.
First and foremost, it concerns me that, what I will now consider the "fab five"(Buck,Bonaficio, Johnson,Buehrle and Reyes), were very "unfab five" like last year,.The Miami Marlins were a last place team in the National League East! Will a move to Canada motivate these five? Or, will a change in scenery lead to sulking and a unwillingness to sacrifice for the team that they didn't expect to be suiting up for when they elected to take their talents to South Beach. I just have a hard time envisioning a player like Jose Reyes, who some say has taken a step back in his abilities, being content with being the everyday shortstop on astro turf that historically is tough on the legs so that doesn't bode well for the oft-injured shortstop. What's going through Josh Johnson's mind? Safe to speculate that going into the 2011 season, Johnson was a top five pitcher in baseball. Injuries and inconsistencies have prevented him from reaching that next level and one can only hope he can do for the Blue Jays to what Juan Guzman did in 1993 going into a contract year. I actually love the acquisiton of Buerhle, and even though he is getting long in the tooth, he is exactly the kind of pitcher I would want my baseball club to have on the mound in a pressure packed game in September.
Before I sign off, I pose this question with the expectation to get no responses being how this is a brand new blog.......does this trade open the door for former Miami Marlin and Chicago White Sox manager, who happens to have been in Buehrles corner for quite some time now, Ozzie Gullien? He would create a P.R circus however I must take into account that Anthopoulos may consider him now solely based on his familiarity with the players heading north of the border.
That's all for now, I sincerely hope you enjoyed the read and I'll surely be back with more.
Thanks!
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