Marlins and Blue Jays Trade

In another blockbuster deal, the Marlins are putting the finishing touches on dealing away all of the pieces from last winter's spending spree. According to reports, the fish will be dealing Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle to the Blue Jays for a good looking group of prospects and a couple of descent big leaguers. On the surface, this looks like a hell of a deal for the Blue Jays and one that could make them immediate contenders in the toughest division in baseball. However, if you dig a little bit deeper, you could find that they are making the same mistake that the Marlins did last winter by betting on stars rather than waiting for their team to come together.

Whether either side wins this trade will take years to decide but it certainly grabs your attention. This may be the first of a few major moves this winter with Justin Upton and Shin Soo Choo on the block as well. Much like the deal the Dodgers and Red Sox made last August this will grab a lot of attention and drive the media hype machine crazy about the Blue Jays. Yet, chemistry is something that can't be bought and is hard to place together. The Dodgers were a 500 baseball team for 2 and a half months before that deal and were the same for a month and a half after it. They were no better or worse, just more expensive.

What the Blue Jays actually got is a fantasy baseball superstar short stop that has yet to show any ability as a team leader. They also got a "number one starter when healthy" in Josh Johnson. I got news for everybody, a number one starter never comes with the tag, when healthy. If you can't rely on your number one for 200 plus innings a year then you are in some serious trouble. JJ has shown glimpses, even extended glimpses, of being the best pitcher in baseball but he is very unreliable and that is not a number one. They also got Mark Buehrle who is the most reliable piece of the deal but he should only be relied upon as a third or fourth starter and comes with the price of a number two. Emilio Bonafacio is a throw in that I think could work well for the Jays and John Buck goes back to Toronto where he had his best season in the majors.

While we will hear how great of a deal this was for the Jays, we can't judge it yet. It will be years before we can begin to evaluate the prospects the Marlins got. Sadly, I am pretty certain that they will do nothing to replace the payroll. It will be interesting, after this deal and the Red Sox trade a few months ago, to see how these trades impact free agency. Maybe owners will start to pull back a little bit on these outrageous contracts for very good players in free agency? Stars should still get paid (Pujols, Hamilton, Fielder, etc) but very good players (Pagan, Reyes, Buehrle, Lohse, B.J. Upton) should not be paid like superstars because the expectation level will never be met.