Jays GM Anthopoulos made it a Blue November with his one-stop shopping: Griffin

NASHVILLE, TENN.-There were several obvious signs that the Blue Jays are done dealing at these winter meetings and that GM Alex Anthopoulos is happy with where his roster stands at this point, 68 days before the start of spring training for pitchers and catchers.

First, when the Jays added catcher Eli Whiteside on a waiver claim from the Yankees early in the week, it filled out their 40-man roster. Most years they will leave a spot open in order to leave the option of selecting a player in the Rule 5 draft, the final procedure of the annual meetings. That draft took place on Thursday morning.

The Rule 5 is meant for veteran minor-league players that were not protected by their clubs and are available to be selected and move up. The catch is they must stay on the new club's 25-man roster all year or be offered back at the end of spring training. Because of the heavy lifting Anthopoulos did earlier in the off-season, there was no scenario under which he could see that happening with a minor-leaguer. The Jays did not participate.

Second, Anthopoulos arrived late and left early from these meetings. He came in to the Opryland on a Monday flight from Toronto, after the trade-fest had already started, and changed his departure to early on Thursday, skipping out on the Rule 5, leaving it to his assistants. The Jays were active in the minor-league portion wherein their Triple-A and Double-A teams can select players from the teams below them in other organizations.

"January will be minor-league signings, maybe last minute trades, teams that have lost out on certain players if we have depth somewhere, maybe we'd have a fit there," Anthopoulos had analyzed on Wednesday of his next possible moves. "Clearly we made a large transaction early and that's going to impact our ability to do other things. I don't expect to do anything big."

Basically, the Jays went into the off-season with a self-admitted, itemized shopping list. They needed two starting pitchers, a second baseman, a left fielder and a legitimate leadoff man. In the space of one week in November, they filled all of those needs.

They made THE DEAL with the Marlins, obtaining Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson for the rotation; Jose Reyes at shortstop and leadoff and utility man Emilio Bonifacio who is a candidate for second base. Before the trade they had signed second baseman Maicer Izturis. After the trade they had quickly signed disgraced left fielder Melky Cabrera.

If it wasn't exactly one-stop shopping, it was one-month shopping that filled most of their needs in one-fell swoop. Doing it all at once made it easier to talk Rogers ownership into taking on a huge and unanticipated amount of payroll. It was one decision rather than dragging out the process and trundling up to the head office with each new move. 

“We had people in the office that would not have done tha trade," Anthopoulos said. "Which is an indication that it was a fair deal from a baseball standpoint. It's very hard to give up that kind of talent. One of the big talking points internally was whether to give up the players – we were taking on a lot of dollars – or just go spend it in the free agent market and we get to keep our young players, which in theory is outstanding. That is the way to go, in theory, if you can guarantee getting the free agent players."

In hindsight, making the moves early in the winter had multiple benefits for Anthopoulos and for the organization. It created a renewed enthusiasm for Blue Jays baseball that took away much of the sting of the final few months and having manager John Farrell abandon ship. It created a belief among free agents like Melky Cabrera that he would be coming to a winning situation. All of Jose Bautista's free agent friends apparently want to come and play now. It has helped sell tickets and removed the "small-market" perception in the United States that has dogged the Jays since the strike. 

“The problem is as we've seen even last year, there was an example of a reliever that we tried to sign last year, I must have called the agent 80 times," Anthopoulos recalled. "We were offering more money and ultimately it was geography, it was family, it was all those things. Sometimes, even if you have more money and more years, there's no guarantee you're going to get the player.

"You just don't know how things are going to go and as much as we sit here and talk about let's go sign this free agent and I remind everybody that a bunch of other teams are having the same conversaton we are. There's value to getting the bird in the hand. In a perfect world you keep the young players, you sign the free agents to get the right value. From that standpoint it was the certainty of acquiring the players carried a lot of weight."

So, with the inability of the Yankees to spend money, with the Red Sox throwing money around like drunken sailors, with the Rays always looking to keep their payroll in a manageable range and with the O's still just a one-year wonder looking to make it two, how does Anthopoulos now handicap the AL East as he heads home for the holidays.  

"I still think there's so much more to be done on all levels," he said of not only his club, but of the competition. "We ended up making a transaction early, not be design, it just worked out that way. There's no doubt, those teams, not the Rays, do have dollars to spend, they have holes to fill. They're going to keep doing it, so normally New York and certainly Boston can be big players in free agency. I expect that to continue. We made a big transaction early. There's a lot of very good free agents that are still out there, so we're not done. Those teams are going to continue to get better. No doubt about it."

In the Rule 5 Draft on Thursday, the Jays lost one minor-league player and selected three in the AAA and AA portion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Cheek finally gets recognition with Frick Award: Griffin

It was a great day for Canadian baseball fans on Wednesday as Tom Cheek was welcomed to Cooperstown, winner of the 2013 Ford C. Frick award for broadcasting excellence. The announcement was made in Nashville by Hall-of-Fame president Jeff Idelson.

The late Blue Jays' radio icon, who passed away on October 9, 2005, wil be honoured on Hall-of-Fame weekend July 26-29, 2013 represented by his wife Shirley and their three children, Tom, Lisa and Jeff. The voice of the Jays since the club's inception, Cheek worked the first 4,306 regular season and 41 playoff games before missing a game, June 3, 2004 due to illness and to the death of his father, war hero Tom Cheek.

Initial memories? I remember this tall gangly Vermont radio guy driving up from his Burlington radio job to fill in for Dave Van Horne with the Expos at Jarry Park between 1974-76. I had started with the Expos in 1973 and was keeping a detailed score sheet for all the games used in an early form of arbitration. Sometimes Tom would kick me out of the booth I used as my personal headquarters because he needed to practice.

“It was 100 miles up to Jarry Park," Shirley Cheek recalled. "Tom, when he was asked to come up and do the games fillng in for Dave Van Horne when he did TV, he asked if he could have a radio booth a couple of days beforehand. He went up, took a friend with him. Took a tape recorder, broadcast to himself and on the way home with his friend would listen to it on the radio to critique himself."

It seems amazing that two Frick award winners would start their careers with the same Canadian team, often sitting in adjoining booths atop the rickety aluminum grandstand of Jarry Park. Van Horne, still behind the mic, was the 2011 Frick Award winner for his wonderful body of work with the Expos and Marlins. Canadian fans have been fortunate.

It's true Cheek was forced to wait too long for his recognition but, in a way, it's fitting that he followed Van Horne, the man he filled in for when he made his first major-league radio call. Shirley was asked if, as Tom arrived home after broadcasts late at night in Vermont, did he ever see this day coming of him possibly being recognized in Cooperstown.

"Never in a million years," she said. After three years -- he never had a contract -- but finally somebody said a Canadian should be having this job. Thank you to the Montreal Expos, at the time for allowing him to have the three years up there. (Telemedia president) Len Bramson found out about Tom and his dream was realized. He always wanted to be a broadcaster from the time he was seven years old. It came true."

 The Expos TV schedule at the time was just one game per week, so by the time Tom was hired by the Blue Jays in '76, he had no streak going, but now he had one of 24 major-league radio play-by-play jobs. He took off and ran with it, never missing a day of work for 4,306 season games. 

The highlight Tom Cheek call that everyone remembers is, of course, the Joe Carter game-winning hme run in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series. "Touch 'em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger home run in your life." To this day, it is still replayed on stadium scoreboards around the majors and on "Biggest Home Run Ever" compilations. It's a subconscious thing, but whenever I watch a baseball game that involves a walkoff home run, I immedaitely listen and compare it to Cheek's call. Nobody ever matches up.

Shirley was asked if that was also her favourite call her husband ever made.

“Maybe because I've heard it so many time, that really is my favourite call of all time," she said. "It was so off the cuff. I think I can say this pretty openly, Tom was just an off the cuff guy. Whatever came out of his mouth came out of his mouth. Nothing was pre-planned. He didn't have a pre-planned hoe run call. It was how it happened.

"He saw when Joe Carter was running around those bases and he looked to Tom like a kangaroo jumping up and down. Tom was mentally telling him, 'Joe, don't miss a base.' It was how it came out and that's just how Tom developed his calls. There was no signature call. It was just whatever the moment was. A lot of his calls were pretty important but that was the highlight."

Cheek was a unique character with a warm, sincere personality. When I came to The Star and started covering the Jays, I reminded him of the Expos days of his early career and he forever had a smile for me each time he saw me. He had great respect for the print media and even if he disagreed with what was written would discuss the issue and continue the friendship. Shirley was right. He was funny, off the cuff and nothing was pre-planned.

When Tom discovered we had a mutual passion for golf, every spring training I would make sure that I travelled with my clubs in the trunk of my rental. I knew there would be days that Tom would amble up the pathway in front of the clubhouse at the Mattick Complex in Dunedin, look at me, put his hands in a Vardon overlap grip, give a little waggle and a smile and that was the signal that I needed to take the rest of the day off.

It's becoming a nice little streak for Canadian baseball and Cooperstown. In 2011, it was Roberto Alomar and Pat Gillick going in as a player and a builder. The same weekend, Van Horne accepted his Frick. Then in 2012, it was Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun winning the Spink Award for baseball writing excellence. Now it's Cheek's turn.

"Tom Cheek was the constant, he was a model of consistency, professionalism and excellence," Jays president Paul Beeston said in a club release. "He was the voice of summer, professional but passionate with a tone we could trust and embrace. Tom Cheek has provided the soundtrack for many of the important moments in this team’s history, with his choice of words and intonation always perfectly suited for the occasion."

Other Canadian connections honoured at the Hall-of-Fame, over time, are Gary Carter and Andre Dawson, each entering wearing the Expos cap, along with Howard Starkman, the Jays' vice-president, winner of the Robert O. Fishel Award for P.R. excellence.

The streak by all rights should be allowed to continue next year with the inclusion of Jacques Doucet, the iconic French-language Expos broadcaster who helped invent many of the French-language baseball terms that have become accepted into the language.

Congratulations to Tom and Shirley Cheek and to Blue Jays fans, spearheaded by Mike Wilner of the Fan590 for keeping his legacy alive and his name on the Frick ballot until he finally received his much-deserved recognition.  

 

The Blue Jays may be done but where are the Yankees: Griffin

Day 3 of the Baseball Winter Meetings and where are the Yankees. That's the big question right now. Their money stays in their pocket. The team everyone is now looking at is the Dodgers, lurking on Zack Greinke, while the Red Sox have already added Mike Napoli, Jonny Gomes and Shane Victorino. As for the Jays, they have already made their big moves, headlined by the 12-player deal with the Marlins and signing Melky Caberera to play left field. GM Alex Anthopoulos feels, at least at these meetings, he is likely done.

"We don't have any traction, or anything that's starting to move," Anthopoulos said of further moves. "I feel very confident that we won't make any deals here. Hopefully it changes. If I had to bet right now, I'd feel really confident we aren't going to do anything."

That means the GM is saying that out of the question, at the moment, are decisions to add starting pitching, a second baseman or to move one of his catchers -- in particular J.P. Arencibia. In fact, the very-sensitive-to-the-feelings of his player Anthopoulos feels emotionally for his men who are the subject of unsubstantiated trade rumours, Arencibia in particular.

“I got asked about J.P. earlier and I know he got bombarded with questions (when he came to the Opryland Hotel) and everyone’s asking about it." Anthopoulos said. "There’s just a lot of things out there and it’s not right, I think at times, that one player’s name gets thrown out there and the fact is we don’t shop players. I think he understands. I believe almost every trade we’ve ever made hasn’t really leaked or been rumoured for weeks or things like that have gone on, so I think from that perspective, that’s pretty telling."

Anthopoulos is certainly a man of his word when it comes to his dealings with players. It's why he explained to Carlos Villanueva that he could not publicly commit to him as a starting pitcher last summer or else he would have been painted into a corner. It's why Vernon Wells sent him an expensive gift and an emotional personal note after the under-the-radar trade to the Angels two years ago. Maybe it's why Arencibia is so confident he will be the Blue Jays' opening day catcher as they strive for a division title in 2013.

"When things are out there for weeks and days at a time, I have yet to see it where we’ve actually made a trade," Anthopoulos said. "There’s times, like anything, that our team will get used, to try to get another team to move or up the price for somebody else.

"Actually, I had an agent tell me that a GM tends to use us all the time on the phone, 'Me and Alex are talking about this,' when I’m not talking to that team at all. That’s fine. Just for me, J.P. just seemed like he got bombarded a little bit. I understand that’s part of it.”

Anthopoulos so despises negotiations that have become public, it is to the point that he tells GMs to come to a meeting alone, or with just one assistant so that tracing any leaks is easier. But if a leak does happen, it does not mean that he cuts off the talks because of it. 

“No, you never bite your nose off to spite your face if it’s a good deal for the club and it’s the right deal," he explained. "I think what happens is if there’s leaks, you try to work a little faster, you try to accelerate things because things can fall apart. 

"One time I remember really accelerating things was the (Roy) Halladay trade. It was on the weekend, and I think FOX Sports had talked about the three-way with Cliff Lee and it had never been talked about before, so I accelerated things that day and completed the deal that night because I had the sense things could fall apart. It’ll force you to not work at your own pace and potentially do some things you don’t necessarily want to do, so to make the best deal that you can I think you’re better off to keep things quiet on both sides."

But right now Anthopoulos is looking forward to 2013 and has no fear or trepidation concerning a potential tete-a-tete confrontation between his manager John Gibbons and his headstrong third-baseman Brett Lawrie, the master of baserunning mayhem.

"I think as a baserunner, yes, he'll get better," Anthopoulos insisted. "I think if you're a free swinging guy and you don't walk, you might slightly improve. Players make adjustments to baserunning. Will players make mistakes? Sure. That's my belief, we can get into a scouting debate and no one's right or wrong. I'm a believer that base running players improve. He was spoken to. It doesn't mean as a 22-year-old kid he's not going to get better as a base runner. I'm not worried about him.

"That's the least of our concerns. Brett's going to get better as a player. He's 22, so many expectations on him, so much hype. Being Canadian certainly adds to that. He has a chance to be a star and he's going to be under the microscope. But there's a lot of times with the high energy and how he plays that he makes exciting plays and he does some great things. That's part of the growing pains.

"I remember (Vlad) Guerrero seemed like he was a little bit more wild early in his career and over time he got a little better. But people said he was a little bit reckless. Now, if you're talking about a guy having a better on-base percentage, if a guy is always swinging at everything, I'm not betting on his on-base percentage climbing. That one, I don't think a hitting coach is going to change that. You might slightly, slightly improve."

Last season, Lawrie batted near the top of the Jays' order, but with the additions of Jose Reyes and Melky Cabrera, Lawrie will drop to an RBI spot, either fifth, or more likely sixth in the Jays' lineup. That's always more of a power spot, but Lawrie has not shown that.

"He's got raw power, but I see him being more gap-to-gap," Anthopoulos said. "If you told Brett go hit home runs, he'll hit home runs, sure, go watch batting practice. I don't think his swing is such that it's going to be a big home run swing, 30, 40 home runs. Brett, with his legs, is going to be able to drive balls to the gaps, a lot of extra-base hits.

"Even the year we got him from the Brewers, he led that league in extra-base hits. If you watch his swing, lower half, he's going to drive balls to the alleys and he's going to hit some balls out. I just don't see it being a big power bat, I see it being an extra-base bat, with his legs allowing him to do a lot of things because he'll hit for a high average because of his legs. I can be wrong, but he's got the raw power to (hit a lot of home runs), I just don't see the swing translating that way."

Anthopoulos already has a pretty good team put together and is not actively pursuing anything else at the moment. But if he gets the right phone call, that could all change. It's been a good off-season for the Jays as an organization with the latest feel-good being that the late legend Tom Cheek has won the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting excellence.    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Handicapping AL East Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos chooses status quo: Griffin

NASHVILLE-It's still early in the winter meetings, early in December and, yes, relatively early in the off-season, but even at this early stage, how does the always competitive AL East stack up for 2013? How many teams can challenge 90 wins?

The Jays have made the most startling impact following their 12-man deal with the Marlins. The Red Sox are starting to spend and re-build after their mid-summer salary dump to the Dodgers. The Yankees are crumbling with the news of Alex Rodriguez being out at least until June. The Rays are deep in pitching. The O's wnt to the post-season but repeating is tough. So has all that changed the early view of the balance of power?

“I would say the way the (standings) ended up last year,” Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos said when asked to handicap the AL East. “You have to go that way.

“I don't like to get caught up in what people do in the winter. People talk about Anaheim last year, Boston two years ago. I was here when they signed (Carl) Crawford and (Adrian) Gonzalez. We were all saying wow, nobody's going to win a game again. To me you show respect to the teams that already won. Till we start playing games and guys stay healthy and have good seasons, we're the fourth best team in my opinion because the other three teams haven't gotten worse.”

To use a horse-racing analogy, the Jays are the early speed, the Red Sox have positioned themselves well off the pace as a late closer. The Rays and O's are lurking and the Yankees stumbled out of the gate.

But the Red Sox are the team to watch. Last season their opening day payroll stood at $175.2 million As of Tuesday morning, the Sox had $79.475 million in guaranteed contracts to nine players. They have much money left to spend, even if their intent is not to match last year's bloated payroll. They have added first-baseman/catcher Mike Napoli, outfielder Jonny Gomes and catcher David Ross. They re-signed DH David Ortiz in the days after announcing John Farrell as manager. They need more.

The Yankees are going to have to also spend their way out of their current funk. The news on Monday that their all-contract third baseman, A-Rod, will be undergoing left hip surgery and will miss at least half the 2013 season has stunned them. It showed their age, their fragility and they're not wearing it well.

The only positive with the A-Rod news is that it explains their star player's dismal post-season performance this year. But why did it take this long to make this decision? Derek Jeter will miss the start of the season. Russell Martin is gone. Nick Swisher and Rafael Soriano are on the way out. They re-signed to one year deals Hiroki Kuroda and Mariano Rivera. Yes, GM Brian Cashman has much work left to do.

“I still think it's the toughest division in baseball,” Jays manager John Gibbons said. “That first go-round (as manager in 2004-08) was tough. You were looking up at Boston and New York all the time. Tampa was on the verge of really coming into their own. You could see some young players -- in Baltimore at that time they scored runs so on the nights they pitched they were very tough.

“Boston had a down year last year, but that's not going to last. And Baltimore gets into the postseason (in 2012). Tampa is right there. So it's a tough grind, tough division to play in, but that's why we feel with the trades we made and signing of (Melky) Cabrera gives us a shot. But you've got to go out and do it, but it gives us a lot of excitement.”

The Red Sox are definitely not done dealing this winter. They have a surplus of catchers, led by Jarrod Saltalamacchia who is named in rumours with the White Sox. They have been mentioned on the periphery of the Josh Hamilton speculation. They could even deal an established starting pitcher to the Royals for hot-shot rookie prospect Wil Myers. But that talk has slowed down here in Nashville.

The Yankees will not sit still either. They have an albatross-ian five-year commitment to A-Rod, but they always need to win now and will reach out for a third-base replacement in the short term, whether it;'s Eric Chavez, a free agent who played for them last year or someone else like Yunel Escobar from the Marlins.

“It doesn't really change what we do,” Anthpoulos said of the New York baseball follies. “The Yankees are great. They're good every year. They continue to be good every single year. (Yankees GM) Brian Cashman does an unbelievable job of continuing to sign players to short term contracts that produce, so it doesn't change anything for us.”

Despite what Anthopoulos and Gibbons choose to maintain about the fierce competition in the AL East, the Jays have not been in a position like this of being division favourites since '94, coming off the back-to-back World Series years. There is an added pressure to respond to roster moves by others. The manager can feel it.

“There's always pressure, no doubt about it, because a lot is expected in the baseball world and the country of Canada and Toronto specifically there,” Gibbons said. “But yeah, that's a good thing. That means you've got a good team. But there's always pressure in this business to perform.”

If the season was to begin tomorrow, my projected AL East Division standings would be:

1-Jays; 2-Rays; 3-Yankees; 4-Red Sox; 5-O's. The meetings continue through Thursday. But, as we have said, it's early.

 

 

Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos arrives at winter meetings: Griffin

NASHVILLE-The concept of the Baseball Winter Meetings started out as an afterthought, an add-on to the minor-league annual sessions in 1962.

Why not have all the major-league general managers in the middle of the off-season gather together for a week and make some news, make some trades to keep the game in the spotlight and the fanbase interested? Choose a warm weather climate, make some trades, have a few drinks at the lobby bar, make some more trades, abide by some artifical trade deadlines -- ususally it was for a long time midnight on the Friday -- then head home for the Holidays.

Usually the winter meetings were hosted by a minor-league city, but Dallas seems to be in the regular rotation now and Anaheim and even Toronto have played host to the swapfest. The initial concept was good, but somewhere along the line the concept was hijacked.

My first meetings of the 33 that I have attended was as a public relations person working for the Expos in Montreal. The meetings were in Orlando, FL, in 1978. At that debut session, I handled my first trade, my first winter meetings press release. It was December 7 and I was planning on going to Disney World when the call came in from club president John McHale. The Expos had obtained Bill Lee from the Red Sox for infielder Stan Papi. Make the announcement. That taught me that you don't ever make dinner plans when you're attending the winter meetings.

The hijacking of the trade concept of the winter meetings was gradual. It started with free agency becoming a key to building a winner as opposed to trades. The big player agents like Scott Boras and other figured out early on that with every GM being in the same hotel for a week, it made it a lot easier to sell your clients to a captive audience, especially one looking to make moves to impress the fans.

It reached the point in the early '90s where pulling the trigger on trades was waiting until after the big free agents signed their contracts. The agents would be staging their own press conferences in the lobby and stealing all the headlines meant for the baseball executives. Commissioner Bud Selig even cancelled the MLB portion of the meetings in 1993. The agents were part of it, but the pending strike in '94 was another. Also, tragedy struck at the '92 meetings in Louisville when Marlins' president Carl Barger had a massive heart attack in the hotel lobby and died. The meetings were also not held in '94.

Nevertheless, the meetings still hold tremendous appeal for fans. This year it's all about free agents Josh Hamilton, Zack Greinke, Michael Bourn and others and trades involving Diamondbacks outfielder Justin Upton, Mets' Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey and Rangers' shortstop Elvis Andrus with other moves lurking.

The big news of the morning of the first day was that Hamilton was at the Opryland Hotel in person, likely to meet with prospective employers face to face and convince them that he's not a risk for 7-10 years and $25 million per season and that Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez is scheduled to have a procedure to repair his damaged hip.

Meanwhile, Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos was arriving on Monday morning for his fourth winter meetings ready to make more moves and pssibly add more salary. Last December in Dallas, he obtained backup catcher Jeff Mathis for lefthander Brad Mills and traded righthander Nestor Molina for closer Sergio Santos. And so it begins.    

 

 

 

Blue Jays mailbag: Brian Butterfield defends Brett Lawrie, says 'he'll get it'

Blue Jays fans are jazzed. The Jays are not done dealing and there is more money available to be spent on payroll, according to team president Paul Beeston. In reality, look for final ’13 payroll to settle in at around $125 million, which would break the previous franchise high by $27 million.

New manager, new coaches and new players. It’s time to turn the page on 2012. In truth, there were so many issues on and off the field that scuttled the past Jays season that it’s hard to say which were most important. Two obvious problems were bad baserunning, over-aggressiveness by the young players, running into ill-advised outs in ridiculous situations and the additional perception of a dysfunctional clubhouse late in the year, a belief perpetuated by infielder Omar Vizquel.

The fact is that the retiring 45-year-old veteran Vizquel, for those that were around the club a lot, seemed to spend more time with his video biographers working on his personal legacy than he did with his younger teammates, the reason he was brought on board. Vizquel is a Hall of Famer but 2012 is not a year that many will talk about, other than passing Babe Ruth on the all-time hit list.

Both those issues were addressed by former Jays and current Red Sox coach Brian Butterfield, who offered his opinions in a far-ranging interview from his home in Maine earlier in the week. Butterfield could believe he was tarred with both brushes as both a clubhouse mentor and the traffic cop at third base.

Butterfield reacted calmly to the scathing criticism describing a clubhouse that was said to be unsupervised where mistakes were not corrected and teaching and supervision were at a minimum.

“It didn’t bother me for long just because I know that one of the things that was said was spoken out of school, because some guys (i.e. Vizquel) don’t know exactly what’s going on,” Butterfield said.

“Out of all the coaching staffs that I’ve been on, this coaching staff did an outstanding job at teaching and staying on things and being detailed. It was as good as any staff I’ve ever been on. But when you have a very young club — at the end of July we were even younger — you’re going to have mistakes at the big-league level. A lot of those kids really should have been still in the minor leagues.”

Butterfield then reacted to the idea that the baserunners in general and Brett Lawrie in particular did not know what they were doing on the basepaths and that Jays’ in-game strategy was a joke.

“You have some young players that are aggressive anyway,” he said. “You’re going to have mistakes made. But repetition at the big-league level, making those mistakes, they will get better. They will get better. You’ll see a definite difference in the approach of Brett Lawrie this year.

“One of the things that has made him successful is because he is a high-energy, very aggressive by nature kid. He’ll get it. His heart-rate will slow down. He will understand when he doesn’t have to go an extra base. He will understand when he doesn’t have to try and make a throw when it’s not there. It’s all part of the learning process, but we were at a point in July where these kids were learning at the highest level in the world, rather than in the minor leagues.”

Butterfield believes that teams have a better chance trying to train players who have in their heads the next 90 feet, rather than those who assume and are satisfied with one base at a time.

“I would much rather pull the reins on a players than always be putting my hands behind his back and pushing him forward, saying ‘Come on, come on,’ ” Butterfield said.

“Those guys you’re prodding and pushing forward, they’re going to be like that forever. Those kids that are ultra-aggressive and learning at the big-league level, you start pulling the reins on them and they start understanding situations better. Then you’ve got yourself a player. We said that a lot in the advance meetings. ‘We’re going to keep talking. We’re going to tell you when to slow down, but until then, keep trying to think situations and don’t worry about it. You’ve got a split second. You try to have well-laid plans before the pitcher even steps on the rubber, but once that ball is put in play, your eyes may tell you something different. You may end up too aggressive.’ ”

It’s now up to Dwayne Murphy and Luis Rivera to get the same message of controlled aggressiveness across to this new group. Good luck to them and on to the mailbag.

Q. Hi Richard,

I love what AA has done so far but am very apprehensive about 2nd base. What do you think it would take to pry Jason Kipnis away from the Indians? I think he would look terrific in the 2 hole with his speed and that would allow Melky to bat 5th giving EE protection in the 4 hole.

Stan Grissman, Toronto

A. I love how hardcore Jays fans are all of a sudden kvetsching about ways to make not just a better lineup, but a perfect batting order. At this point I would not be surprised if GM Alex Anthopoulos is in fact looking actively for an upgrade at second base over Maicer Izturis and Emilio Bonifacio, although it’s tough to beat that combo as major-league worthy monikers. However, it’s hard to see the Indians trading away one of the star young players that they have developed within their own system and is under Tribe control for the next five years. They are floating however the idea of dealing Asdrubal Cabrera who is a great talent and even though he plays shortstop, has played 162 games at second base in the majors and is due $16.5 million over the next two seasons.

Q. Hi Richard,

I know there are widely differing views on allowing the entry of ‘performance enhanced’ players into the Hall of Fame. What is your particular take on this subject. As a fan who thinks that the Hall should, and to a great extent does, epitomize the best in the game, I think a good compromise would be to allow the inclusion of those who have admitted or apologized for their use of drugs. The pressure to produce at times was as much a failure of the clubs as the players and maybe contrition deserves to be recognized. It is also long past the time when Pete Rose should be forgiven and Marvin Miller recognized.

Thanks,

Frank Taker, Ottawa

A. I believe this is going to become a Hall of Fame conundrum for the next decade. I think you have a very good point about contrition being a mitigating factor to Cooperstown qualification and admission. I honestly believe that if Pete Rose had come clean about his gambling issues to Bart Giammati right away back in 1987-88 and admitted that he not only bet on football and basketball, but also did gamble on baseball — but never against his own team — that he was sorry for doing it and would enter a Gambling Addiction program and never do it again, that he would now be in the Hall of Fame. America is geared to believe in the powers of redemption and it feels better about itself in forgiveness.

There is a problem in this whole PED debate that does not get enough consideration. Would the inclusion of Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds this time around lead to a backlash among current Hall of Fame members, ruining Hall of Fame weekend with some legends refusing to participate because alleged druggies are in the house? Yes it’s an exclusive club, only thing is the members don’t have a say as to who joins. That is in the hands of the baseball writers. It’s not like your local country club.

I do have an easier time dealing with PED users in the years prior to 2004 when testing became mandatory than I do with those players that cheated after testing was mandatory.

Prior to baseball’s testing program, it was more about keeping up with the Jonesers and using PEDs just because those that already were into enhancers were taking money out of your pocket and food off your table. It wasn’t just hitters, but also pitchers. But when a testing program was put in place in the CBA, it then became truly about cheating, trying to beat the system. When there was no testing it was more against the laws of the land and a crisis of conscience. Players caught since 2004 would have a tough time getting my Hall vote. As for this year’s ballot, I have until the end of December to figure out what I am going to do. I’m open-minded.

Q. Griff,

For the past while all the folks are talking about Encarnacion and Lind and acting like David Cooper is chopped liver. All the guy did is bat .300 and had 4 HRs in 45 games, and play decent defence. Why all this emphasis on Lind, who got eventually, inconsistently to above into the mid .200s?

Peter Thomson, Elizabeth City, N.C.

A. More like pate-de-foie. But seriously, Cooper has been overlooked except by Anthopoulos. In a meeting with writers earlier this week, AA said some nice things about Cooper, but never in a starting role at first base, That job belongs to Edwin Encarnacion and rightly so. Instead, the Cooper talk by AA may have been a signal that he intends to try and move the Adam Lind contract at the winter meetings. The Lind contract has $5 million for one guaranteed season, plus three option years, which makes it attractive in its flexibility for anyone in need of a left-handed power bat with first base ability.

Q. There have been many media reports lately about how this “mega” trade will define AA’s career and whether he keeps his job. Ridiculous!!! He cannot control ripped elbow tendons, pulled muscles or slumps, last I checked he doesn’t swing a bat or throw a baseball. Here’s what he does control; bringing in five substantial upgrades around the diamond for one over-rated child at short, a back-up catcher, an underachieving starter and 4 minor leaguers, who may or may not pan out, let’s hope they do pan out and show other GMs Toronto produces good young talent.

Here’s what he also has accomplished; integrity. Promises were made to John Buck a few years back and lived up to, regardless of how many of us were screaming for Arencibia to get at-bats. Buck batted into September and got his fat contract, thanks to a promise that was honoured, and who is the first guy settling the new Jays (Buerle and Johnson) down about what a great place Toronto is to come and play for . . . John Buck. AA is quickly becoming a great ambassador for the city and country through integrity. Forget about whether this trade puts us into the World Series, he made a great trade, signed some very nice pieces and built a strong contender. The rest happens between the lines where he passes over control to the players, manager and Lady Luck. Exciting times . . . way to go A.A.

Scott S., Espanola

A. That’s a great point about the good-faith relationship between John Buck in his first go-round with the Jays and the way Anthopoulos handled him. In ’09, Buck signed for one season $2 million with the Jays. The deciding factor was AA’s promise that he would be the everyday catcher and could get a significant free-agent contract in 2010 off of a good performance in Toronto. It was understood he was just passing through. However, when he was hobbled for a few days, a kid named J.P. Arencibia got the call to start while Buck was out. Arencibia, having an MVP year at Las Vegas, made his MLB debut and banged out four hits with two homers. The next day J.P. sat and Buck was back as the regular. Nobody could understand why J.P. did not begin his era right then, but nobody knew about the pre-season promise to Buck and AA is a man of his word.

Buck off his Jays season signed a three-year free agent deal with the Marlins for $18 million. That trust and one-on-one relationship has paid off with Buck now coming back to the Jays for one more season. Apparently, after the shocking trade was made with the Marlins, Buck did a sales job with Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson and their wives about how good Toronto was.

I think the “career-defining” thing, re: the trade, was with regard to AA’s legacy in a couple of media outlets and does not reflect the majority opinion in the media and among fans.

Q. Hey Richard,

The John Farrell bail to Boston storyline has been covered to death. What hasn’t been mentioned much is the decision by long time Jays coach Brian Butterfield (2002-12) to follow him to Beantown. Do you think the loss of a such a loyal Toronto foot soldier was a contributing factor to AA’s bold all-in move on the Marlins-deal/Cabrera off-season bonanza?

Jamie Farr, Toronto

A. I really don’t think so. I wrote the Butterfield perspective earlier this week. Check it out. The key was that Anthopoulos had met with the remaining coaches and suggested that they should look for jobs in the majors if they could because there were no guarantees the new manager would keep them. I think the motivation for the Marlins trade was that AA could land Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes and Mark Buehrle and solve many of his off-season goals with one stroke.

Q. The Toronto Blue Jays — Canada’s “National Team.” What do you think would be the best steps that the club could now take to capitalize on the positive vibes of the “mega-trade” in order to make the team truly Canada’s Coast-to-Coast-to-Coast “National Team?”

Richard Joll, Brockville

A. Short of re-naming them the Canada Blue Jays I think the coast-to-coast thing is happening on its own. The Jays made a smart move in re-locating one of their Short-A teams to Vancouver. That team has won the title two years in a row and given some of the organization’s best young prospects the feel of what it’s like playing in Canada with a pocketful of toonies. These guys when they get to the majors will already know what Canada is like. I was in Montreal for a funeral in October and met some business people that talked about the enthusiasm of people they work with for watching the Jays on TV and discussing baseball around the water cooler. I never ever believed that would happen in Montreal towards the Jays. Then there was the exhilirating Jays experience on the road in 2012 — at least up until the end of July. Games on the road in Cleveland, with an all-out assault of Ontarians, in Boston with Maritimers, in Milwaukee with prairie fans and in Seattle with enthusiastic British Columbians, it was a Canadian invasion at ballparks across baseball. That seems pretty coast-to-coast to me. Plus, the Jays for the third winter in a row have planned a New Year’s tour with an entourage of players and staff to spread the word. Players love it. Fans love it. All that’s left is for them to be still playing in October.

Q. Hi Richard,

Thank you for last week’s massive mailbag. I thought it was R.I.P. My question or concern lies around the depth of the starting pitching after Happ. I believe the Jays went all the way down to starter No. 12? I’m pretty sure AA will sign some decent pitchers on one year plus option deals but do you think Marcum is a possibility? Just as a joke, after getting Marcum, have Romero battle Happ for the 5th spot. What’s the update on Oliver? Will he play? Or is this his “play” on getting an extension?

Thanks, Richard.

Kam H, Richmond Hill

A. That Jays’ starting depth after Happ is also a major concern for Anthopoulos at this point. The Jays have averaged more than 11 starters per year for the past four seasons. They made a mistake last year in relying on the development of young pitchers within the system, development that never occured. The Jays’ 12 starters in 2012 included Jesse Chavez, Joel Carreno, Chad Jenkins, Aaron Laffey and Carlos Villanueva, none of whom were in the plans as starters when the season started.

Look for Anthopoulos to bolster the rotation depth with one-year non-guaranteed major-league deals with pitchers that have had previous success in the majors and are looking to re-establish themselves. As for Shaun Marcum, I have a feeling San Diego is in his future, or at least another NL team. He is looking for at least three years and the Jays are looking shorter term at this point. Happ is the talent bar you have to clear if you are going to be added to the Jays’ rotation.

As for Darren Oliver, the Jays, as you know, picked up his one-year option for $3 million. There is no question of him seeking to leverage an extension out of this. That’s not it. His dilemma was to play in 2013 or retire. The guy is 41. The Jays had asked him to include an option because his clear intention was to retire at the end of 2012. Now with the upgrade to the Jays in terms of talent that could lead to a fight for the division or a wild-card, he may have second thoughts and may want one more kick.

Q. Hey Richard,

I have a few questions for you. In your mind, what is the best possible lineup the Jays can trot out each day with all the new acquisitions? How do you see the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings shaping up, especially with Gibby at the helm? And finally, this question has been on my mind for quite sometime. When the Nationals were in town that week,who asked the clown question, bro?

Cheers,

Alex Henriquez, Toronto

A. I would post this lineup with this current Jays’ roster: SS Reyes-S, LF Cabrera-S, RF Bautista-R, 1B Encarnacion-R, CF Rasmus-L, 3B Lawrie-R, DH Lind-L, C Arencibia-R, 2B Bonifacio-S. Against right-handers you have five left-handed hitters. Against left-handers they have seven right-handed hitters.

As for the bullpen makeup, I think that can be determined at spring training, but if Darren Oliver does come back you have many options for the last three innings. In the eighth and ninth, I would rely on a combination of Casey Janssen, Oliver, Aaron Loup and Steve Delabar. With Brad Lincoln and when Sergio Santos comes back, it starts to gets crowded.

As for the infamous question posed to Bryce Harper which led to the great answer, the question was posed by a young Score reporter at his first game. I don’t know his name, but I’m not sure he ever had a second game.

Q. Don’t you think that the Jays should re-negotiate Bautista’s contract to recognize his leadership role, especially among the Hispanic players? Escobar’s behaviour certainly got worse after Bautista was away from the team.

Bill Reynolds, Toronto

A. That’s a bad idea. I think Bautista’s performance will dictate any Jays’ extension. Clubs no longer re-negotiate as much as they extend. For instance, the new deals for Evan Longoria and David Wright are technically from the end of the current deals forward. Bautista has three more seasons at $14 million, then a club option for 2016, at which time he will be 35 years old. I would suggest that at the end of the 2013 if he bounces back from his wrist surgery and if the Jays are successful with Bats as a leader on the field and in the clubhouse, that they might at that time reward him with an extension replacing the option season and for a couple of more years. But it won’t be because of the language he speaks or the fact that Yunel acted like an idiot in his absence.

Q. Hey Griff,

I’m super excited for this coming year and can’t wait to see the passion from this city as they cheer on the boys of summer. I have been on the A.A band wagon since he got here, but must admit that I was starting to lose interest/hope towards the end of this season.

I have a few questions for you, both comparisons. I don’t want to sound pessimistic, but what was it that made the Miami Marlins fail last year? And what will make those players who are coming over this year succeed when the expectations were so high last year? Second, J.P convinced Doc Halladay to stay in T.O and that he would build a team around him. A.A did the same with Jose. What is/was the difference between their approaches and why will one be (hopefully) successful over the other. Keep up the great work. You and that hoops guy (Smith) are a great read every day.

Jeffrey Chik, Richmond Hill

A. In some convoluted way, the fact that the ’12 season fell apart so quickly and dramatically for the Blue Jays in August and September may have triggered the Anthopoulos decision to do something as stunning and wrenching as the 12-man Marlins trade that has turned expectations around.

If the starting rotation had not been decimated in June, if Bautista and Arencibia had not gone down, then maybe the Jays would have won 81-85 games and the small progress would have been enough for the Jays to stay the course with the young guys, hoping that steady development might lead to 90 wins in 2013. Fans needed more. Instead, the season fell apart, the manager bailed. The Jays shook themselves, looked at the inventory of terrific young talent on the farm and realized that it was all about using inventory and that the Jays fans were getting the short end of the stick while fans in Lansing, Dunedin and Vancouver were on their feet supporting winners. Are there fans in Dunedin?

The Marlins disaster was an imperfect storm of circumstances. Manager Ozzie Guillen had the “Castro’s not a bad guy” start to the season. Turns out Heath Bell couldn’t close a WalMart. The talent was there in south Florida, but the chemistry in the dugout was not. The spotlight could never seem to leave Ozzie. The Jays’ are hoping the John Gibbons influence is more sublime and that Jays’ players, including the new guys, can just play. And don’t underestimate the importance of an effective closer.

Yes, J.P. Ricciardi and Anthopoulos both did a sales job with their key players to stay, but the difference with Ricciardi was that he tried to force the Jays’ into contending with the additions of B.J. Ryan, A.J. Burnett and Lyle Overbay before the rest of the team was ready to win. Meanwhile AA and Paul Beeston held off on spending in excess for the sake of spending until they believed they were ready to win. Clearly they believe they are ready to win. Now, just do it.

Oh and in the case of that Star hoops guy, Doug Smith, is a good read not just every day, but every minute. The guy is a machine and pounds out more copy than anyone I have seen. And if you average it out per win by that Raptors hoops team that he covers, it could very well be on a world record pace.

Q. Hey Griff,

Can’t help but think if the Yankees or Red Sox made the trade with the Marlins it would of already been approved/celebrated in those media towns. Why the double standard in Toronto?

Dan Humeniuk, Courtice

A. I believe that Commissioner Bud Selig felt in some way betrayed by Marlins’ owner Jeffrey Loria for dismantling his contender after one year in the new, publicly-funded stadium. Selig put himself on the line campaigning with south Florida politicians for stadium funding and this is how he is repaid. The betrayal of public trust by Loria will affect every other stadium bid in the future, including the cross-state Rays. The Selig delay in approval may also have had something to do with the feelings of Buehrle and Reyes that they had been lied to about not being traded. Then there was the amount of money being paid by the Marlins in the deal, which Anthopoulos suggests is more than the $8 million that has been reported. Then there’s the tax issue and what about the pit bull law. It’s not cuz it was Toronto.

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons names five coaches to staff: Griffin

The recently appointed Blue Jays manager John Gibbons wisely waited until after U.S. Thanksgiving weekend to announce his revamped staff for the 2013 season. 

Acting quickly on Monday to fill out the Jays' coaching roster, there will be three returnees from former manager John Farrell's staff, Pete Walker, Luis Rivera and Dwayne Murphy, but all will come back in revised roles. In addition, Gibbons has added two newcomers, DeMarlo Hale (bench coach) and Chad Mottola (hitting coach).  

The two most significant coaching changes arrive with Walker taking over from Bruce Walton as pitching coach and Mottola being named to replace Murphy with the hitters. Murphy has stepped away from the hitting instructor role to take over from Torey Lovullo at first base, working with the outfielders. Rivera will be taking over from Brian Butterfield at third and defensively with the infielders, two important roles. 

Hale takes over from Don Wakamatsu, who had been Farrell's bench coach.

Walker, 43, is replacing Walton, who has not been invited back after a difficult year for the staff. The Jays pitching proved a major disappointment, beset as it was by injuries and lack of strike-zone command in the wake of high expectations. It may not have been Walton's fault, in fact it wasn't, but a change always seemed likely.

The Jays had entered the 2012 season believing the pitching had the necessary depth, especially in the starting rotation, but injuries to Dustin McGowan, Kyle Drabek, Brandon Morrow and Drew Hutchison, plus an inexplicable season-long crisis of confidence by ace Ricky Romero and the lack of expected development by top prospects Deck McGuire, Joel Carreno and Chad Jenkins, combined to throw the staff into disarray. Thus the quick Jays' trade for veteran starting help with the Marlins, in Mark Buerhrle and Josh Johnson.    

The Jays head-scratching staff in 2012 finished the season 11th in team ERA, 12th in WHIP and 13th in opponent OPS, ahead of only the Twins. It was a stunning development, a step back considering that two sharp pitching minds were together in the dugout, Farrell, a former respected pitching coach with the Red Sox and Walton, who had more success a year earlier in '11 with basically this same group and Farrell in his first season. 

In the second half of the season, the normally outgoing Walton at times appeared stunned by the failure of his staff to respond to any and all fixes, either mental or mechanical. In truth, there may have been too many voices trying to correct the pitching issues, with Farrell and Walton both having strong opinions on what may have been causing the struggles.

The bewildered staff ace, Romero is an example of the difficulties that arise when a slumping pitcher is being pulled from two sides. Walton seemed to be working to try and reenforce and bolster the mental side of Romero's game, while Farrell, intentionally or not, was challenging his ace lefthander to be tougher. Romero visibly sagged.

Walker is no stranger to the Jays' pitching staff. He was bullpen coach in 2012, following a season as the pitching coach at Double-A New Hampshire in 2011. Walker also pitched for the Jays as a swingman, with Gibbons as first his bullpen coach then manager in 2005-06.

Mottola, 41, has been given much credit for fixing the psyches and the swings of many of the players that have been demoted to Triple-A the past two years. Of course part of that was the natural confidence in facing the lower quality of pitching in the Pacific Coast League. Nevertheless, it was thought that even if Murphy returned as hitting coach for 2013, that Mottola could still be added to the major-league staff as an associate hitting coach because of his success at Las Vegas.

Mottola has worked with most of the homegrown hitters as a minor league coach and when Murphy left spring training this year for family reasons in February, Mottola stayed in camp and filled the hitting coach's role. He joined the major-league staff in September under the MLB rule that allows one additional coach in uniform for the final month.  

Murphy, 57, is entering his sixth season on the Jays' coaching staff. He was originally hired as first base coach, but when Cito Gaston managed his final season in 2010, Murphy replaced Gene Tenace as hitting coach and stayed on with the offence for the past two seasons under Farrell.

Clearly, the most difficult aspect for Murphy would have been transitioning from Gaston's aggressive "go to the plate with a plan and look for the first good pitch to hit then drive it" philosophy, to Farrell's patient "work your at-bats and let's build up the starter's pitch count to get to middle relief" philosophy. Different messages, same teacher. Tough for students. Tough for coach.

Rivera, 48, is an important cog to the new coaching staff, not only because he takes over from the local legend, Brian Butterfield at third base, but because of the heavy Spanish-speaking makeup of the clubhouse demographic in 2013. Consider that the top four of the Jays' batting order at the moment stands to be Dominican-born in Jose Reyes, Melky Cabrera, Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion. Communication is a key.

Rivera, a Puerto Rican former major-league shortstop, has coached first base in the majors with the Indians. He also managed the 2010 AA-New Hampshire Fisher Cats and was added to Farrell's staff in 2011 as a coaching assistant, because they were over the allowable limit of game coaches in uniform. He served as an important liaison in the clubhouse with Latino players like Henderson Alvarez, Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria and others.

Hale, 51, was strongly considered in a solid interview for the managerial post, the job eventually given to Farrell in 2011. Hale was, with Farrell, also on manager Terry Francona's Red Sox staff at the time as his bench coach. In 2012, Hale moved on to Baltimore wityh Buck Showalter and was poised to return to the O's unless he got the Jays' managerial role, considered as he was in another solid interview, again this fall.

But Gibbons was surprisingly given the managerial post, coming from well off the pace in the handicapping of the derby. Jays' GM Alex Anthopoulos followed up by asking Hale if he would still come to Toronto and be the bench coach. Recall that when Gibbons had flown in to discuss a job with the GM, he believed it was to be as Jays' bench coach for someone in his first managerial experience -- like maybe Hale. That role has been reversed.

As for the bullpen coach, a position vacated by Walker, it seems likely that it will be filled internally, perhaps waiting for a decision from someone like Pat Hentgen who had that role before Walker but opted out after one season, preferring to remain with the organization in a job that allowed for more family time with his wife and daughters.

 

 

 

 

Blue Jays mailbag: How agents could have saved new Jays money in taxes

This photo combo made from file photos shows Miami Marlins players, from left, pitcher Mark Buehrle, shortstop Jose Reyes and pitcher Josh Johnson. Miami traded the three players to the Toronto Blue Jays, a person familiar with the agreement said Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012. The trade still hasn't been made official as of Monday morning. AP FILE PHOTOS

--

As of Monday morning, there had been a one-week delay in the official announcement of the mega 12-player deal between the Blue Jays and the Marlins causing much angst among Jays’ supporters that maybe commissioner Bud Selig was going to step in and veto the trade in the “best interests of baseball.”

The only time that particular power of the office was used was when then-commissioner Bowie Kuhn did it in 1976 to veto a move by the A’s to dismantle his team for cash. Maverick owner Charles O. Finley attempted to sell stars Joe Rudi and Rollie Fingers to the Red Sox and Vida Blue to the Yankees.

A Chicago insurance magnate whose de facto GM was once a kid working as help in the clubhouse, who went on to gain fame as MC Hammer, Finley was upset with the new concept of free agency after losing Catfish Hunter in the first year of the modern process in the winter of 1975-76. The attempted Finley fire-sale was a protest against the system from an owner that had won three straight World Series from 1972-74 and liked doing his own thing. Kuhn stepped in and stopped the sale.

But this Jays-Marlins deal has none of those markings. Selig admitted that the Marlins received good young talent in return. The true issue here is believed to be about money, taxes and broken promises. The Marlins are believed to be sending $8 million over along with Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, John Buck and Emilio Bonifacio.

The two Marlins players that signed free agent deals prior to the 2011 season, Reyes and Buehrle, both insisted that owner Jeffrey Loria had given them verbal promises that they would not be traded. The organization’s policy is to never offer no-trade clauses, but their agents now insist that because of the trade to a Canadian-based team their clients will be losing many millions in taxes by playing in Toronto instead of Miami. The state of Florida has no personal income tax and has always been a popular state of residency for professional athletes.

The very real tax differential will be worked out and made good by someone, but the question is who will pay for it and how it affects the fine-tuning of the deal. Player agents could have known this might happen. The Marlins have had 11 players sign deals of three-plus seasons since Loria took over. Among that group, five have been traded after one season — Buehrle, Reyes, Paul LoDuca, Heath Bell and Carlos Delgado. Three others have been traded after their second season — Buck, Mike Lowell and Luis Castillo. Of course Reyes and Buehrle couldn’t have known they would be in that group, but the fact that the Marlins back-end load most contracts — the lion’s share becomes someone else’s responsibility — and the fact they refuse to include no-trade should raise enough red flags.

The repeating modus operandi, consistent throughout their history, was enough warning for David Sloane, Delgado’s long-time friend and agent, who was wined and dined by Loria and David Samson after Carlos was railroaded out of Toronto. After one season in Miami, Delgado was dealt to the Mets where he ended his career. New York State offers a significant tax bite for the wealthy. Sloane now points to his blog that outlines his Delgado strategy, how it would have helped Reyes and Buehrle.

“With the current trade between the Marlins & Blue Jays, the deal I negotiated with the Marlins in 2004 for Carlos looks even better. When the Marlins refused to include a ‘no trade’ clause (back then), I insisted that they agree to unique language that gave Carlos some protection in the event of a trade.

“The deal I negotiated contained a guarantee that if he was traded to a team that resided in a state that had a state income tax, the team he was traded to would make him whole.”

In other words he would net out the same amount he would have received had he remained in Florida, a state with NO state income tax. This had NEVER been done in MLB before. BTW, the amount Delgado saved on a contract signed EIGHT years ago is roughly $2,269,500.

“The agents for Jose’ Reyes (Peter Greenberg, now part of Legacy Group), Mark Buehrle (CAA Jeff Berry), Josh Johnson (Sosnick/Cobbe), Emilio Bonifacio (Paul Kinzer who was recently fired from Wasserman Sports), John Buck (Aces) didn’t protect their clients as well as I protected Delgado. They will literally pay the price for being represented by agents who do a better job of recruiting Players than they do of representing them.”

You don’t often see such blunt agent-to-agent shots. An announcement the Jays-Marlins trade has been completed will be made soon. It was a solid baseball trade even though John Farrell’s Red Sox have smugly let it be known that they could have made that deal and chose not to. On to the mailbag.

Q. Hello Richard,

A Toronto sports fan who is excited for the new baseball season to start. Looking for your opinion around the catching position for the Jays, assuming Alex has yet to do anything by the time you read this, I wonder which combo will give the Jays the best chance of contending? While Travis D’Arnaud has lots of upside, he has zero experience in the big leagues, catcher is such an important role for a team, I wonder if trading J.P. Arencibia gives the Jays the best chance to compete.

Thank you for your time.

Ivan Yung, Mississauga

A. Behind the plate, the Jays have Arencibia, John Buck and Bobby Wilson, all with major-league experience and after that they have D’Arnaud, an Eastern League MVP in 2011, who was playing at an all-star level in the PCL in 2012 until injured with two months remaining in the Vegas season. That is a good position of strength for the organization. That being said, it would be difficult for the Jays to enter a season in which they are expecting to compete for the AL East with a rookie behind the plate in D’Arnaud. Sure the Giants did it in 2010 with Buster Posey, but how many Buster Poseys are there?

To me, it seems the Jays have no immediate plans to deal Arencibia to another team, however the acquisition of the veteran Buck from the Marlins allows for that faint possibility of a J.P. trade because Buck has more experience as an everyday catcher than does Jeff Mathis. If Arencibia was traded — and the deal would have to be really good — Buck could start until D’Arnaud was ready to take over.

The fact that D’Arnaud missed about 200 much-needed at-bats in 2012 and perhaps even a late-season call-up to get his feet wet, or the month he would have played in the majors in place of an injured Arencibia in July and August, changes the catching landscape entering 2013. Anthopoulos cannot make the significant moves that he has made and then go with a rookie catcher right away on Opening Day. All this changes after a month or two in ’13 with a healthy D’Arnaud at AAA-Buffalo.

Q. Confession of a fair-weather fan. Isn’t that what they call you when you lose daily interest in your team after they stop winning? Is this not too harsh if a generation goes by before your team shows any potential to be relevant late into a season? I don’t mean winning a pennant or World Series, or division title or one of . . . how many wild card spots now on hand. I mean challenging in a meaningful way for any postseason entertainment throughout a September stretch run.

Pat Gillick’s Blue Jay teams showed the formula. It wasn’t complicated, was it? Spending the most gives your team the most chances. The Jays did that (in the early ’90s). They even perfected the rent to buy system that brought in key talent for stretch drives like Rickey Henderson, David Cone and others. It did not win us a lot of friends but as locals what did we care? It was not our money.

Labatt was a heck of an owner and what happened next could not be blamed on the brewery. They were bought out by a Belgian brewery who did not share Labatt’s commitment in the longterm benefits of public relations through professional team governance. But the sale to Rogers seemed like a perfect fit. They owned a sports network and already held the discretionary entertainment resources of an entire nation. Who has a TV/cable bill that is less than $200 a month?

Surely an age spoiler, but I remember when the cost of TV was the $500 you paid for your RCA 26-inch colour television. If we didn’t have the left over scratch to actually attend a game, at least we could watch them in the prison of our home entertainment centre. But Rogers failed to be that guy. They sat on their hands for a decade and other than renaming the Sky Dome after themselves, did little to alter the lengthy morass Jay ambition became. If the team was not interested in competing, why should fans care. . . and they didn’t.

But this changed last Tuesday. Josh Johnson and Mark Buerhle may turn out to be nothing more promising than innings eaters. But every team needs them. No one needs that more than the Blue Jays, if you will recall last year, and the one before that, and the one . . . you get the idea. Jose Reyes will remind us of the glory days in middle infield and whether the others make significant contributions is rather beside the point. The owners at long last have gone all in, and that is already meaningful to this fan, and surely others who have been waiting for the better part of two decades for the return of fair weather. And this literally just in, that the Jays just signed Melky Cabrera . . . as I was saying. Hey if money is no object suddenly why not buy back Doc to repay him for 10 years of loyalty.

Bill Barlow, Toronto

A. That’s an interesting take on the history of the Jays since the World Series years. I agree that as much as the talent of the new players themselves is a renewed perception of the Blue Jays as a team and Toronto as a thriving franchise around baseball. The average North American baseball fan had surely become confused after all those years of being told that the Jays were in a small market that could not afford to compete. One of the main factors that made the Jays a small market for those years was the 65-cent Canadian dollar when it came to paying free agent players and keeping their own stars. That is no longer a problem and since Rogers is looking to maximize its “content” on multiple media platforms, the better the baseball product, the more wireless live-sports upgrades they can sell. Win means win-win. As for Roy Halladay, don’t be surprised if Anthopoulos has not at least called the Phils and in the course of any conversation with Ruben Amaro, Jr., found out what it would take to repatriate Doc. It’s just the way AA operates and does not mean it will ever happen. As I facetiously tweeted earlier, as long as you’re talking about bringing back former personnel, at the end of the 2013 season, assuming the Jays have competed hard and had success, AA should call the Red Sox and ask for permission to talk to John Farrell. Then when he gets JF on the line just say, “Blow me” and hang up.

Q. Hello Richard,

I was just wondering that with the Argos lease up after this CFL season, will the Blue Jays management decide to install a dirt infield at the Rogers Centre? What do you think is the likelihood of a decision like this? With this mega-trade complete soon I’m concerned whether Reyes is satisfied with playing on turf, having battled leg injuries in the past, do you see this as a potential problem for the Blue Jays in the years to come?

Thanks,

Justin Dennis

ARGOOOOOOS.

A. I have forever been a proponent of installing real grass at the Rogers Centre, ever since the Diamondbacks joined the NL and showed that it can be done at an indoor facility with a retractable roof. When not in use, Chase Field has ultra-violet lamps trained on the grass to simulate natural sunlight. It can be done. The Jays and the Rays are the only two stadiums with artificial turf. At least Tampa has an all-dirt infield that makes it aesthetically look like a real baseball field.

Even though grass should happen at the RC, it won’t because of the Jays’ recurring excuse of drainage, irrigation and multi-use for the stadium, concerts, trade shows and the like. It would take an entire off-season to install. However they should compromise and do the all-dirt infield thing. That would be a start towards a real baseball feel and would make it easier on the legs of talented veteran infielders with a history of hamstring woes like Jose Reyes. His wonky hammies will be an issue at some point next summer. As for Jays’ fans, how many times has a visiting team rested one of their star players because of the artificial turf, robbing Jays fans of a chance to see the best that day. It happens far too often.

Q. Are Maicer Izturis and Emilio Bonifacio both better hitters than Lind??If yes, is Bonafacio as good of an outfielder as Bautista or (Melky)? If yes, then wouldn’t it be better to have EE=DH, Jose or Melky at 1st, Izturis at 2nd, and Bonafacio at RF/LF??? Then we don’t have to see Adam Lind . . .

Breezy Stafford, New Orleans, LA

A. I think it’s an intriguing thought to have Bautista at first base and move Edwin to full-time DH again. Joey Bats was forced into playing first base a couple of times early last season, especially in the opening series in Cleveland, and showed natural leadership by taking charge of the infield defences in bunt situations, etc. It’s always an option, especially if the Jays were to deal Adam Lind and not land a veteran, fulltime DH. Encarnacion turned into a decent first baseman mainly because he does not have to throw the ball across the diamond. There would be ways to take advantage of Bautista’s strong throwing arm at first base. Former Gold Glove first baseman Keith Hernandez was used by the Cards and the Mets as the main cutoff man on balls into the right-field corner with a runner at first base. He would head to the edge of the outfield grass and become the relay man for throws to the plate. If Lind is back it will be as the left-handed DH. Rajai Davis could be the right-handed half of DH.

Q. Richard,

Having covered the Expos, you know Tim Wallach, you know what kind of person he is. You will not find a better managerial candidate. He knows how to manage, he is a players type manager and one that works well with the front office. He is the best man for this JOB!!

John Mo, Scottsdale, AZ

A. I did not cover the Expos, I was a public relations guy with Wallach at the Expos and he is one of the five favourite players that I worked with in almost 23 years there. However, I also remember sitting at a restaurant in Chicago on an off-day with a distinguished group that included Expos’ hitting coach Hal McRae, Wallach and Don Zimmer, who was a Cubs coach at the time. Over the course of the light-hearted conversation, Eli was making fun of players that continued to stay in uniform after their playing careers were over. The Expos’ third baseman said when he retired he would go home and play golf the rest of his life. He was saving his money for just that. The wizened McRae laughed and pushed the B.S. button on Wallach, saying after a couple of years of playing golf, he would be begging for a job back in baseball. McRae was right. It did not take that long. Wallach has three sons, one in the Dodgers’ organization, one in the Cubs’ system and one at his alma mater, Cal. St.-Fullerton as a catcher. You are right about Wallach as a person. As a players’ manager there would be few better.

Q. Hi Richard,

Just an observation regarding Reyes playing on turf: he’s a shortstop. He’s typically positioned over the dirt portion of the infield. Isn’t the turf-grass comparison overblown???

Thanks,

Mike A, Toronto

A. It would be if the Jays actually had a dirt portion of the infield.

Q. Hi Richard:

It’s probably safe to say that my last (post-blockbuster trade) question was premature. The Melky Cabrera signing and the rumour mill indicate loud and clear that AA is not done reworking the lineup. Looking forward to seeing what’s next. Exciting times.

Matthew McKean, Ottawa

A. I think that sums up the feelings of the majority of Jays fans. Exciting times.

Q. Hi Richard,

I am a bit puzzled by this huge trade and the positive buzz that it is getting. As much as we all want a winner in Toronto in any sport, I wonder if this move is any different than the Riccardi era moves. Jose Reyes at five years and $96 million would not be lauded as a great free agent deal nor would Mark Buehrle at three years, $48M. Health will be the likely deciding factor. At this point we might as well go for it. Do you think that a combination of Colby Rasmus and J.P. Arencibia plus a high prospect would pry David Price or Jeremy Hellickson from Tampa?

Matt Meisner, St. Catharines

A. The buzz following the trade with the Marlins comes largely because fan reaction had been so strong so long in maintaining Jays ownership was being cheapskates and that it would never change. The difference between these moves by current GM AA and the moves pulled off in the Ricciardi Era is that J.P. more often than not had to use free agency to fill his needs because the farm system was not highly regarded by Baseball America and others rating such things. Too many low-ceiling college guys.

For instance, the B.J. Ryan and A.J. Burnett additions were free agent signings. Especially for Ryan, who had had just one successful season as a closer, each deal involved overpaying to get them to come to Toronto. This trade by AA did not strip the farm system of prospects. They are still loaded in terms of players 2-4 years away from the majors. As for the players acquired, Reyes at times has been in the conversation for best player in baseball, while Buehrle has 12 straight seasons of 200-plus innings. Sure, health is always a factor in hindsight, but it seems that Jays’s fans, even when they are happy, seem to look for the dark cloud. Hellickson has been rumoured to be available and will draw much interest, but there is no way that the Cy Young Award winning Price can be pried from the Rays.

Q. Richard,

Looking back, were there any clues that The Trade was going to happen? i.e., any subtle hints AA dropped, or moves made (or not made); because this came out of nowhere, which is somewhat shocking nowadays.

Brent Shepherd, Victoria, B.C.

A. The only hints were in September when Anthopoulos said quite emphatically that he needed to improve the rotation and that he would have more money to spend because it was being ploughed back into payroll. He never has said stuff like that. Plus, at the GM meetings in Palm Springs, the reports were that other GMs laughed and said how “Alex is itching to make a big deal.” The biggest reason there were no leaks in this trade is that the Marlins might have been embarrassed at what they were doing, AA always plays his cards close to the vest and because there were no “no-trade” clauses to circumvent, there were no player agents involved. The more agents, the more teams, the more leaks.

Q. Do you think AA would talk to Jose Bautista about who to hire as manager? Or at least run it by him first?

Ben Smith, Peterborough

A. The relationship between Bautista and AA is special. They are in this together because of the chance they both took when Bats signed his big five-year contract after one great season. At the time, Alex’s promise was that he would do everything to win during the length of the deal. As such, AA would call Bautista not to ask him what he thinks, but to let him know what was about to happen. Alex in his brief time with Halladay before the trade, kept him up to date on everything involving him. He did the same with Vernon Wells he is doing with Bautista. It’s important to have the key players on your side.

-

-

HERE’S A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS THAT ARRIVED JUST BEFORE THE TRADE THAT REFLECTED THE FEELINGS OF FRUSTRATED FANS SINCE THE SEASON ENDED

12-Nov-2012

Q. Hi Richard,

For Blue Jays fans, the clock is a ticking and most if not all of the top prospects whether it be for left field of starting pitching will be signed up with other teams while the powers that be, do nothing. Heck at least the Jays have the honour or whatever of being the only team with a Baseball Cap without any letters on them — wow, amazing news.? Maybe this team is in serious need of new ownership.? There is the old saying that ‘you can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time but you just can’t fool all the people all the time. If no serious effort is made to improve the team, it would be interesting to see the fan attendance for 2013.?

Best regards.

Tony, Toronto

12-Nov-2012

Q-My grandfather passed away last weekend. He was probably the most irrational Blue Jays fan ever. I remember many times him yelling at the TV cursing the “darn Blue Jays.” In his irrationality there is some truth. These are one of the richest owners in the MLB. They have an astute GM, a huge market, and a wealth of minor league talent. It’s time for this team to make a step forward. The Blue Jays owners remind me of our current city government; a failure to realize this is a world class city. You need to think big to be big. I have been enjoying baseball here in South Korea and wow, what an experience. My favourite team was last in the league. I recall a game where we were down 11-0, yet people stayed and cheered until the end. One of the best parts is you can bring your own beer and food into the game. Mind you the beer in the stadium costs the same as outside. Baseball at its finest.

All the best,

Matthew, Seoul, South Korea

A. I’m sure your Jays’ fan grandfather is looking down and smiling. May he rest in peace.

-

Q. Great blog Richard — I really enjoy it. Would love to see you team up with Doug Smith, during summer months, so we could get daily tidbits, in addition to your regular coverage.

My question is with respect to all of the bullpen signings — do you see this as a strategy by AA as a selling point to potential free agent starters? i.e. sign with us and you’ll have one of the best/deepest bullpens protecting your back?

David Moon, Toronto

A. Thanks, but I know that North America’s Mr. Raptor, Smitty in the summer, post NBA, has enough work with his own son’s baseball. The guy works so hard at hoops, I would hate to add to his load.

As for the Jays’ bullpen, the last three World Series winners — the Giants in 2010-12 and the Cardinals in 2011 — have all had superior bullpens full of guys throwing mid to high 90s. Baseball is if nothing else a game of copycat GMs. It’s like TV shows or Hollywood movies. Strong, deep, hard-throwing bullpens are the CSI of baseball. Does a strong bullpen help lure starters that have a choice? Yes, it can be a factor, but usually if a guy is trying to cement his legacy.

I remember Don Sutton in his last kick at the free-agency can was looking for 300 wins and part of his search as his career wound down involved teams with great closers. But there aren’t too many Don Suttons out there. I’m already looking forward to seeing these bullpen guys compete at spring training. High 90s Jays include Steve Delabar, Esmil Rogers, Brad Lincoln, Jeremy Jeffress, Sergio Santos and Sam Dyson. AA will add a couple of more names but it looks like the Jason Frasor Era is over. Darren Oliver still may retire or ask for a trade from his $3 million option that was picked up by the Jays.

Q. Hi Richard,

As much as I approve of the Blue Jays/Marlins deal, there’s something that we’re forgetting in all of this. The Jays could have acquired two of the three big-name players, Reyes and Buehrle, last off-season for nothing more than the money they will now pay them anyway. Had Anthopoulos picked up Reyes last off-season, he could have acquired the two Marlins pitchers without having to give up so much young talent. He could then have used these prospects to acquire other established players. Was this deal a panic move in response to growing criticism from the fan base? And is this deal an indication that the Blue Jays are so far off the radar for free agents that unless the Blue Jays go out and trade for talent, players will simply not sign here?

Thanks, Richard

Christian Butzek

A. Anthopoulos has never made a move in response to criticism from the fan-base. However, his concerns are often a reflection of the fan-base concerns. It’s naive to say that the Jays could have signed Reyes and Buehrle last winter and saved the prospects they now had to give up. Neither player was interested in Toronto at the time and both seemed to have been blindsided by the no-trade provision that they did not have included in their contracts with the Marlins and the broken verbal promise that they say they received from Fish ownership. The Jays would have had to pay more and besides even that would not have influenced the players because the Jays were not showing signs of being immediately competitive. The Jays have been off the radar for free agents, but Melky demonstrates the impact of the mega-deal with the Marlins. There is a snowball effect with free agents. Now a manager.

Q. Well, all of a sudden, it’s exciting being a Jays’ fan again. And finally you might have some meaningful September (October?) baseball to cover. I didn’t like losing Hechevarria and some of those young pitching prospects, but this is HUGE. And they kept the two big power arms in their rotation. So a chunk of the future is lost, but they still have a lot of young pitching depth with Drabek and Hutchison, Syndergaard and Sanchez and most importantly, Rogers is finally acting like the mega corporation that it is, rather than Kansas City North. The $170M of additional salary is a rounding error for them and given their increasingly negative profile in the city of Toronto, they had to show that they were serious, especially given their stakes in Raptors and Leafs. I know it’s not official, but I can’t believe that Selig would veto this, after having let the Red Sox do essentially the same thing. As for those Expos fans in Montreal, they are probably experiencing a touch of schadenfreude and “I told you so” today about that creep Loria. That man should never be allowed near a baseball franchise again. He’s now destroyed two, not one, franchises.

Best,

Marshall

A. The Jays being viewed as contenders and the Argos in the Grey Cup. Sporting life in Toronto is good. And the Leafs are still tied for first.

Experienced MLB pool for Blue Jays open manager position runs 54 deep

There is a certain train of thought that believes the Blue Jays, with the recent addition of competitive talent that has seemed to make them an instant contender, this line of thinking believes that perhaps GM Alex Anthopoulos should unmistakably change direction in his search for a manager and be certain to hire someone with previous MLB experience.

For those that are interested, whether you agree with this thinking or not, following is a list of the 54 baseball men with major-league managerial experience that do not have their own team at the moment. The list includes just those skippers that have managed one full season or more in the dugout, dating back 13 years to include the 2000 season.

The arbitrary cutoff year for this list seems to make sense since anyone that managed in the back in the 20th century for his last time may have already lost touch with today's players and game. Managers are listed alphabetically by team that they managed.

1-Bob Brenly, D'backs; 2-Bobby Cox, Braves; 3-Mike Hargrove, O's-M's; 4-Lee Mazzilli, O's; 4-Sam Perlozzo, O's; 6-Dave Trembley, O's.

7-Jimy Williams, Bosox-Astros; 8-Grady Little, Bosox-Dodgers; 9-Bobby Valentine, Bosox-Mets; 10-Don Baylor, Cubs; 11-Lou Piniella, Cubs-M's-Rays; 12-Mike Quade, Cubs.

13-Jerry Manuel, Chisox-Mets; 14-Ozzie Guillen, Chisox-Marlins; 15-Jack McKeon, Reds-Marlins; 16-Bob Boone, Reds; 17-Dave Miley, Reds; 18-Jerry Narron, Reds-Rangers. 

19-Manny Acta, Indians-Nats; 20-Buddy Bell, Rox-Royals; 21-Jim Tracy, Rox-Dodgers-Pirates; 22-Phil Garner, Tigers-Astros; 23-Alan Trammell, Tigers; 24-Larry Dierker, Astros.

25-Cecil Cooper, Astros; 26-Brad Mills, Astros; 27-Tony Muser, Royals; 28-Tony Pena, Royals; 29-Trey Hillman, Royals; 30-Joe Torre, Dodgers-Yanks. 

31-John Boles, Marlins; 32-Jeff Torborg, Marlins; 33-Davey Lopes, Brewers; 34-Ken Macha, Brewers-A's; 35-Tom Kelly, Twins; 36-Art Howe, Mets-A's.

37-Willie Randolph, Mets; 38-Bob Geren, A's; 39-Larry Bowa, Phils; 40-Gene Lamont, Pirates; 41-Lloyd McClendon, Pirates; 42-John Russell, Pirates.

43-Felipe Alou, Giants, Expos; 44-Don Wakamatsu, M's; 45-Tony LaRussa, Cards; 46-Larry Rothschild, Rays; 47-Hal McRae, A's; 48-Jim Fregosi, Jays.

49-Buck Martinez, Jays; 50-Carlos Tosca, Jays; 51-John Gibbons, Jays; 52-Cito Gaston, Jays; 53-Frank Robinson, Expos-Nats; 54-Jim Riggleman, Nats. 

 

Blue Jays payroll bump with Jose Reyes and others means no turning back: Griffin

The Blue Jays and GM Alex Anthopoulos have chosen an inexorable path for the franchise in 2013. It is to spend money, to spend money wisely, to try and compete with the big boys for a post-season berth in MLB. What is surprising, but was intuitively necessary for ownership, is that the attendance did not suggest this bump was coming. But what management understood was that a skeptical fan-base was ready to jump ship if Rogers showed it did not want to compete right now. There's no turning back.

The 12-player deal with the Miami Marlins, when completed, will bring them two starting pitchers, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle; a dynamic leadoff hitter and shortstop, Jose Reyes; a speedy utility man, Emilio Bonifacio, and an experienced backup catcher, John Buck. It has added a quick $41.25 million to payroll for 2013 and $163.75 in guaranteed salary for 10 seasons, plus an option. Those payroll numbers do not even include the arbitration-eligible Bonifacio, who earned $2.2 million with the Fish in 2012.

So, how did the Jays actually reach this point of ballsy enlightenment in their franchise history? Consider these major contributors to this monumental moment wherein Anthopoulos was able to pull the trigger on the highest volume deal in Jays history -- with a chance to have the biggest impact. Three major contributors to the decision are Jose Bautista, Miami manager Mike Redmond and Blue Jays fans.

1-Bautista. Ever since Anthopoulos took a chance against the advice of many and signed the 2010 major-league home run champ to a five-year deal, the GM has worked with his star right fielder to guarantee the franchise is moving forward, not tagged as rebuilding. Mr. Bats serves as Anthopoulos' GM conscience. If the fourth year GM wore an inspirational bracelet it might read W.W.J.D. In this case, “What would Jose Do.” Before Bautista it was Vernon Wells and when Alex started as GM it was Roy Halladay.

In this case, the Bautista influence on the Marlins deal doubles up, because after the injury to their star player, after the team limped home with 73 wins, after a leadership void in the clubhouse was exposed during Joey Bats absence, after the organization was embarrassed by Yunel Escobar's eye-black and John Farrell's dream of a dream job, the Jays realized that if they did not act right here, right now, that the next knock on the GM's office door might be Bautista asking out. Anthopoulos and Bautista had promised each other they would win during his tenure and the GM tries to be a man of his word.

2-Redmond. The first question that popped up when Redmond was given permission to interview with the Marlins was, “Why?” I remember three years ago, before Redmond officially retired as a player, Anthopoulos talked about “great young baseball minds” and in the course of that chat mentioned the former MLB backup catcher. When Redmond retired, he was quickly hired by the Jays to handle A-Lansing. Last year it became A-Dunedin. It seemed that logically Redmond would have been a candidate for the Jays. Instead he was gift-wrapped and handed over to the Marlins. Why?

The unintentional method to Anthopoulos' madness shines through with this trade. The Redmond influence was clear in the package of prospects the Marlins settled on in the deal. Outfielder Jake Marisnick played for Redmond at Dunedin. Justin Nicolino pitched for him late in 2011 and because the minor league clubs train together at the Mattick Complex, Redmond was able to see a lot of Nicolino, plus Adeiny Hechavarria and Anthony DeSclafani, who debuted at Lansing in '12. The deal would not have been made without the influence of Redmond, very familiar with the players coming back in return.

3-The Jays fans. The fan-base in the first four months of the regular season, through the trade deadline, showed Rogers careful ownership, president Paul Beeston and Anthopoulos what was possible with a winner. Don't underestimate the influence of the Jays' fans on this deal, a reflection of their support the first seven months of 2012.

The big factors were the return to the World Series roots in terms of logos and colours, which became a clear hit with fans. There were the smart offerings of savvy blog sites, the positive TV and radio numbers, the youthful enthusiasm clearly reflected on early season road trips, from Cleveland to Milwaukee to Boston, to Seattle, plus all of the visual and verbal feedback at the Rogers Centre. The clear enthusiasm showed Jays Nation was ready for a winner, that under the right circumstances the support was there.

Recall that Beeston had head-scratchingly said last December that when the fans came back the money would be spent. It made no sense. Well, until the injuries and the collapse in August and September, the fans were there if anyone had cared to notice. A wise man once said the closest emotions are love and hate. Jays' fans obviously hated the final two months, but at least they cared. Jays' management noticed and understood.

The following Jays' payroll numbers are compiled using the authoritative site, Cot's Baseball Contracts. This is the most expensive roster ever put together by the Jays, topping the $97,983,900 in 2008, the penultimate season of former GM J.P. Ricciardi. That year, the Jays were 86-76, but ownership was expecting more and forced Ricciardi to slash payroll to $80 million in '09. He did not react well and was gone by the final weekend.

How far ahead of any payroll in the 37-year history of the Blue Jays' franchise is this group? Already, the 2013 payroll for 15 players stands at $100.6 million in guaranteed salary. In terms of futures, the Jays are on the hook for $300.9 million in salary to those same 15 players. Here's the payroll in descending order for 2013. That first number is followed by guaranteed years and guaranteed money.

Bautista $14 million; 3 years-$43M. Johnson $13.75 million. Buehrle $11 million; 3 years-$48M. Reyes $10 million; 5 years-$96M. Edwin Encarnacion $8 million; 3 years-$29M. Brandon Morrow $8 million; 2 years-$17M. Ricky Romero $7.5 million; 3 years-$23.1M. Buck $6.5 million. Adam Lind $5.15 million; 1 year-$7.15M (option buyouts).

Casey Janssen $3.9 million. Maicer Izturis $3 million; 3 years-$10M. Darren Oliver $3 million. Sergio Santos $2.75 million; 2 years-$8.75M. Rajai Davis $2.5 million. Dustin McGowan $1.5 million; 2 years-$3.5M.

Add to that committed payroll, key arbitration-eligibles Bonifacio, Colby Rasmus and J.A. Happ who will by the time they settle combine for about $12 million and the 2013 payroll already stands at $112 million for 18 players, even with the knowledge that the injured McGowan and Santos will likely not open the season in the majors.

And it says here the Jays are not done dealing yet. Ideally, they could still use a strong bat in the outfield and have not settled on a starting second baseman.

Bonifacio is a Mike McCoy type, times two, while Izturis could be considered a younger, more complete Omar Vizquel or John McDonald. Maybe another MLB team covets one year of Josh Johnson so much so that they will make it worth Anthopoulos' while in MLB talent. But this Marlins deal is a great start and has energized the fanbase at a time when they were likely deciding how to spend any future entertainment dollars.