Signing spree
Blue Jays GM adds reliever and outfielder,
When Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos is on mission of information gathering — be it at the trade deadline or during the off-season — his energy and persistence with fellow GMs comes off as manic, with little time for sleep.
When the dust settles, he can look around to see what he hath wrought. Such was the case this past week, when Anthopoulos traded Jose Reyes and 11 minor-leaguers for left-hander David Price, shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, relievers LaTroy Hawkins and Mark Lowe, and outfielder Ben Revere. Wow.
In many cases, one big trade or player acquisition would clearly not have been made without the previous one. Sometimes they’re like dominoes. Such was the case this week.
Example. When the Jays GM finalized the Troy Tulowitzki trade with Colorado early Tuesday morning, upgrading his club’s power and run production, and the defence at shortstop, it was all good. And it led to the follow-up deal, acquiring David Price from the Tigers as a two-month rental for three more pitching prospects.
But if Anthopoulos had not made the important six player trade with Colorado, sending Reyes and his salary along with three pitching prospects for Tulowitzki, reliever Hawkins and their combined salaries, which pretty much balanced out, then Price would be elsewhere right now.
The last time the Jays believed they were going for the World Series, back in November, 2012, Anthopoulos had contacted the Miami Marlins to ask about the availability of right-hander Josh Johnson.
All of a sudden, the deal expanded, with more Marlins salary and more big-name players coming to the Jays. What began with Johnson ended up with Mark Buehrle, Reyes and others for a huge haul of Jays prospects that lifted the Marlines from horrible to mediocre, to this very day.
Just as the Tulowitzki deal led Anthopoulos to take the next logical step to acquire a former Cy Young winner from the Tigers, the Reyes deal in 2012 led the young GM to follow up with a second trade for another Cy Young winner, R.A. Dickey.
He would not have done the second deal if not for the first.
The coincidence now is that both Dickey and Price share the same agent, Bo McKinnis.
Anthopoulos has corrected many of the issues that fans and media identified and railed about over the first four months of the schedule.
It took more than 100 games into the season, but it takes two to tango in trades and apparently it took until the end of July, fuelled by a serendipitous series of events and conversations, for Anthopoulos to complete the transactions that have re-shaped this Jays roster.
Here are the issues that we all saw and what Anthopoulos has done to address them.
Rotation: Dickey is beginning to pitch like a front-of-the-rotation starter. Buehrle has been baseball’s most consistent starting pitcher for 15 seasons, and Price is a true No. 1. Marco Estrada has been a surprise, while the Jays’ opening day starter, Drew Hutchison has been the most inconsistent.
Bullpen: The Jays bullpen began the season as questionable and devolved into horrible.
Anthopoulos, at the insistence of manager John Gibbons, has brought back Aaron Sanchez from the DL as a late-inning power arm, joining rookie Roberto Osuna and the surprising Bo Schultz, all three throw- ing 97 m.p.h.-plus.
Then, in the Tulowitzki deal, the Jays took Hawkins, the 42-year-old right-hander, to balance the money going back and forth. He still hits 94-95 on the gun.
Finally, at the deadline, the busy GM reeled in veteran right-hander Mark Lowe, another power arm, from the M’s for three more young pitchers. In four days, the Jays traded 11 minor-league pitchers.
Defence: The Jays had already lost a half-dozen games because of defensive lapses, mostly at shortstop and in the outfield — although not one member of the organization will ever admit that. But actions speak louder than denials. Anthopoulos addressed that defensive issue that kills pitchers by bringing in a twotime Gold Glove Award winner in Tulowitzki and, on deadline day, the sublime Ben Revere, who will play left field vs. right-handers and enter defensively for Chris Colabello or Danny Valencia, likely the other half of the platoon. The better defence makes the entire pitching staff better.
Speed: With the trade of Reyes and his diminishing ability to pilfer bases in the leadoff role to the Rockies, the Jays were about to turn to second baseman Devon Travis in the leadoff spot, but when he was hurt and headed for the disabled list, they laughingly utilized Troy Tulowitzki at the top of the order, with Josh Donaldson second, followed by Jose Bautista. Sure, when you swing the bat like those three, speed seems a luxury. But, once again on trade deadline day, Anthopoulos tapped the Phillies for Revere, with 24 steals this year, and 49 a season ago.
This clubhouse is on the verge of giddiness. If the Jays go on a streak of games that nets them a playoff berth, those 2012 trades that were seemingly so ill-advised, will have, in a way, paid off. If they stumble and fail to win 85 games, the Anthopoulos era might be over. But not for lack of trying.