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Blue Jays' aggressive winter moves leave much to be desired
By Chris Dierken
On May 8, 2013
It was a great winter to be a Blue Jays fan.
On Nov. 20, with the unexpected trade for Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle,
Emilio Bonifacio and John Buck, Alex Anthopolous and the Toronto Blue Jays
announced to the world that they were once again relevant in Major League
Baseball.
Then, when Toronto acquired NL Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey a month later,
the Jays seemed destined to win their first division title since 1993.
To date, however, the Blue Jays' offseason spending spree hasn't paid dividends on
the field.
Although the season isn't even at the quarter pole yet, the Jays sit nine games behind
the division-leading Boston Red Sox. Their 12 wins are the fourth-worst in the
league, and only Houston has fewer home wins in the American League.
And now, with injuries and slumps piling up, the end to this early-season
disappointment seems to be nowhere in sight for Toronto.
Anthopolous deserves credit for going for it all this season, but he chose to go about
it in the wrong way.
Although Toronto brought in a few stars to the team, they were all either injury
prone, on the downswing of their career or one-time wonders. Reyes was the most
consistent player they acquired, and he has been riddled with injuries in four of his
past five seasons.
The worst discretion Anthopolous made was including Travis d'Arnaud in the trade
for Dickey. d'Arnaud is one of the best prospects in the game, and to trade him for a
pitcher who had won more than 11 games just once in his career was a blunder that
could cost Toronto for years to come.
While there is still time for the Blue Jays to turn their season around, the future
remains bleak. Reyes is injured and will be out until at least June, Johnson is on the
disabled list and sluggers Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion are hitting .228
and .222, respectively.
Toronto is 18th in runs scored and 29th in runs allowed in the majors. Only Houston
has allowed more.
Anthopolous should be given until the end of the season, but if this team cannot turn
it around and make the playoffs, he deserves to go. Toronto has finally started to
spend money on its team, and to put together a failing roster is inexcusable.
Toronto should look to their divisional opponents to guide their future off
acquisitions. The New York Yankees have turned the trade market and free agency
into a science, and the Red Sox have experienced their most successful decade since
the early 20th century.
If this debacle were occurring in New York or Boston, heads would be rolling.
Toronto should not stand for this failure, just because the team is finally spending
money for big-name players.
Money can only get you so far. Any Buffalo Sabres fan can attest to that. There still
needs to be a savvy general manager in charge to turn the increase in cash into an
improved record.
Anthopolous took a big swing this offseason, but has yet to connect. Time will tell,
but he had better be more careful moving forward. This is no time to strike out.
Chris Dierken can be reached by email at dierken.record@live.com or on Twitter
@cdierken.
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