thedude wrote:Rany Jazayerli wrote:MIA paid Reyes & Buehrle $16M COMBINED in 2012 and are now trading them for a boatload of prospects. It's brilliant, in a horribly evil way.
This is kind of the point. The Marlins basically did an NBA-esque sign and trade. The Jays gave away a huge chunk of the farm for two guys they could have had last year without losing a single prospect.
If by huge chunk of their farm, you mean none of their top pitching (Sanchez, Syndegaard) or positional (d'Arnaud) prospects, then yes. You are right that theoretically the Jays could have signed such top players last offseason, but it's a little bit easier said then done to sell a guy on a Toronto team that hasn't been to the playoffs in 20 years.
This deal is a remarkable win for the Blue Jays. They gave up nothing of current value beyond Escobar (Alvarez is a SP without a breaking ball, Hech is a SS without a bat, Marisnick and Nicolino are essentially lottery picks, and Jeff Mathis is Jeff Mathis). It's the kind of deal that I've been hoping to see for about 12 years now. If Rogers is actually ready to spend money on this team like the big market team it is (and I'm not going to say entirely they are yet), this could be the start of a new era.