That's the Spirit

They were, quite clearly, the kind of splashy moves many Blue Jays fans were hoping to see from Alex Anthopoulos this winter.  That it was the division rival Yankees that made the moves after a snoozy winter only deepens the perception that the Jays have been less than aggressive in bolstering their lineup.

On the weekend, the Yankees dispatched young catcher Jesus Montero, impressive in a September audition last season, and pitcher Hector Noesi to the offence-hungry Seattle Mariners in exchange for 23-year-old, 6-foot-7 righthanded starter Michael Pineda and 19-year-old pitcher Jose Campos. In a nearly simultaneous move, New York also signed another starting pitcher, 37-year-old veteran Hiroki Kuroda, to a one-year, $10 million deal.

Just like that, the Yanks augmented a rotation that was viewed by many as suspect. The belief is that Pineda - strong in the first half last year for the light-hitting M's, not so strong in the second half - will move into the No. 2 slot in the rotation behind C.C. Sabathia. The futures of Freddy Garcia and A.J. Burnett are unclear, but the Yankees are now dealing from pitching depth.

Neither move was cheap. Montero, even though his defence was suspect, was the big bat of the future, and it's worth wondering if the Jays would have been inclined to make that kind of move if it involved catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud, scheduled to play in AAA Las Vegas this season with possiblity of being a September callup. The Jays GM, to be fair, has shown a willingness in the past to trade valuable piece for valuable piece (Shaun Marcum for Brett Lawrie).

The money spent on Kuroda, meanwhile, probably takes the Yankees out of the bidding for Prince Fielder if they were ever really in it.

Certainly, it's fair to say the Jays and the Yankees are in very different situations, both financially and with the age of their respective lineups. At the same time, they're in the same division fighting for the same playoff berths, and Toronto's off-season additions of three arms to the bullpen and a couple of bench bats certainly don't measure up in terms of headline grabbing significance as those of the Yankees.

The biggest news of the Blue Jays off-season was the swing-and-a-miss on Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish, although Anthopoulos might argue it really was the addition of closer Sergio Santos from the White Sox. Many, however, believed the Jays needed to do something significant with their rotation and make the kind of improvements the Yankees appeared to have made with Pineda and Kuroda.

We'll see if New York has made the right additions. Certainly, new Boston manager Bobby Valentine made it clear on the weekend he wasn't impressed.  Anthopoulos last week said he believes Brett Cecil, Henderson Alvarez and Dustin McGowan - question mark, unproven and question mark - will make up Toronto's rotation behind ace Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow, and maybe he didn't have the pieces to put together a deal to land a young pitcher like Pineda. Maybe a vet like Kuroda would have no interest in pitching in Toronto.

But for those unhappy with what the Jays haven't done this off-season, with the moves they haven't made, it was another weekend to wonder if and when the Jays will spend and add game-changing talent.

 

 

Comments

[Art]

Wouldn't be such a big deal if 16 (not the cuurent 8) of 30 teams made the playoffs every year. I don't understand why. It would bring in more revenue! The other 3 major sports leagues all have 16 team playoffs. Baseball is the odd duck here.

[Yehuda]

And that right there is why the Yankees perenially win the division and Toronto perenially finishes fourth. No one in Toronto's rotation can win more than 15 games, and two of these guys can't even stay in Toronto's major league team - much less someone else's.

[Dan]

It's no wonder the casual Blue Jays fanbase is angered with the team when articles such as this are written that are void of all logic.

The fact is that the team heading into this season is better than it was at this time last year, with improvements in having Kelly Johnson over Aaron Hill, Brett Lawrie over Jayson Nix/Johnny Mac and Colby Rasmus over Corey Patterson/DeWayne Wise/Rajai Davis play full seasons with the team. Now in the offseason, they have signed a high ceiling closer who is under team control for six years, a left handed specialist and a proven arm to pitch the eigth inning.

Signing the top, free agent starter on the market is not necessarily the answer. The last time the Blue Jays did that was with AJ Burnett. Remember how well that worked out? While the rotation does have some question marks, the question marks are the rotations leading winner in games for the 2010 season, a pitcher who worked his way back from injury that once was an elite level arm and a prospect with a high ceiling. Much better than having someone like Jojo Reyes in the rotation, no?

[Ticked in Peterborough]

The Jays don't want to part with their good young talent and don't want to commit to pricey free agents because both would affect their long term goals. Sounds like a goood plan except that rushing pitchers to the majors (Drabek, Alverez etc.) dosen't let the kids develope at their own pace (aka Ricky Romero) and thus hurts the long term developement of the team. The Jays don't seem to mind eating millions of dollars in bad contracts if they think it will help the team (Tehan), then why won't they go get Roy Oswalt on a one year deal and Wandy Rodriguez (absorb his whole salary and it won't cost them much) to bridge the gap till their younger players are ready. If both shine in Toronto they will help the team while Bautista is still young enough to be a factor and will produce draft picks when they leave. If they are just average, the commitment to both isin't long enough to hurt the team but will still allow the young arms to develope while giving Jays fans some reason to buy tickets. My family and I always go to Jays games every year no matter how bad they are. No more. From now on they have to show me that either they can win or at least that they are trying to compete before I give them any more of my money.

[Vince]

Firstly, they should have signed Okajima. Farrell had a great rep with him in Boston and he would have been a solid lefty out of the pen for easy cash. The minute he was signed, Kuroda san signing was a given. He is vastly understand by you, Damien. The guy is a beast, tough as nails and had zero run support in LA for four years. Saw him in Japan, and in the majors. He's a winner and a stopper. And the Jays needed both of them. Instead, we have to remain optimists.

[CM]

jays too conservative.

[John james]

Pineda would have cost the Jays Lawrie at minimum - definitely not a trade Jays fans would have been ok with. AA needs to stay the course - figure out what our young guys have to offer this year and make a big splash next year in pitching free agency as there will be tons of studs available (Cain, Grienke, Marcum - just to name a few).

[MikeMac2112]

Would you have been willing to trade Brett Lawrie to aquire Pineda? Because that's what it would have taken...Montero is one of the best (if not THE best) hitting prospects in the game.

Nevertheless...it is disappointing as a Jays fan at how much the Yankees have improved their starting rotation in a 24 hour period.

[sam]

You make it sound like AA has been sitting on his butt contemplating his navel.
The addition of Santos as a closer equals the Yanks deal for Pinada, plus The Jays still have some ammunition to use. AA has a plan that he is working from, and even though he sounds too much like an accountant at times, I think he will see it through. Thats not a bad thing though, its the way he works. Keep things quiet until he has something etched in stone. Spending big money on free agents, or trading prospects for something your not 100 percent sold on and don't control doesn't make sense in the long run.

[Bill]

@ Art, it's because they'd have to reduce the regular season in order to extend the playoffs. In your proposed 16-team playoffs, that means half the team would be losing revenue due the loss of some regular season games. Seeing as those teams are the ones that probably really need that revenue, it would never fly.

[Jeff Prince]

very frustrating from the blue jays this offseason. I'm not sure if the team led us to believe they'd be making serious moves or if it was all perception from the fans, but I cant say I'm as enthusiastic about the jays and going down to the park this summer as I thought I would be going into the offseason.

[Mark]

Toronto has some good prospects, but no hitting prospects considered remotely as elite as Montero.

I agree Pineda is the type of deal Alex usually looks for. I wonder though if we even had anyone the Mariners would bite on to close the deal.

Depending on what happens with Pineda's arm as his innings climb (he will likely go from 170 to 200+ and THEN playoffs this year), and how his head handles playing in New York, its possible the Jays will be happy their rival made this deal.

[Fenderbender]

we're gonna have the best triple A ball club in history, and we'll have it for years and years cause AA has them all sewn up with his control issues

[Dan C.]

Damien, you are reacting instead of analyzing.

Montero is seen by many as a big price to pay for a pitcher (Pineda) moving from pitcher-friendly parks to hitter-friendly parks and lots of hitters.

Kuroda is 37 and getting $10 million in a single-season contract which a) shows the Yankees see the risk, and b) is a lot of bucks for an elderly pitcher with such risk

If Pineda had his tires kicked and his price was Snider or Thames plus a lower level prospect (or even plus Cooper) then I trust AA on saying 'no' -- he lives and breathes this stuff -- if it was D'Arnaud, then 'no' was more obvious.

We can still add a veteran arm in Edwin Jackson or Roy Oswalt (whose FA prices drop as the Yankees, Marlins, Rangers and Angels spend their budgets -- and either would be helpful to add quality innings. In their cases, it's only money.

And, it's possible the outstanding contracts to be signed before or through arbitration may still become parts of a trade or trades. AA doesn't telegraph much so I don't expect when he says no more line-up changes, there'll be no more changes.

The Yankees haven't done much and now have too many SPs. They might unload some to Baltimore or elsewhere for prospects but I don't see much upside in that.

Arguably, the Jays have done much more than the Yankees and none of it negative.

[John Phillips]

The Jays owe it to their fans to clearly inform them of which way the team is headed. Right now no one seems sure if the team is intending to seriously attempt to challenge for a playoff berth in the next 2 years or if they are still in deep retooling mode and are 3-5 years away from that objective. One of the big reasons is Jose Bautista. If the club does not intend to make the necessary cash outlays and player transactions ( they may have to overpay )to best utilize arguably the best positional player in the game today then they need to explore trades that would maximize the return will his trade value is at its peak. In 3 years it is most likely that Bautista best days will be firmly in the past and his market value will be dramatically reduced. Now is the time to make that decision and act. Right now one can only dream of the top young prospects that would almost certainly come Toronto's way. It would not be unreasonable to expect 4 top quality prospects given Jose's numbers the last 2 years and his contract. If he drops down to 35 hrs and .275 ba. this year what will he be worth next year? Now is the time to buck up and get a bat to protect him and a #2 starting pitcher or deal Jose!