Just three weeks ago the Toronto Blue Jays were a laughing stock in the American League East. They let their manager John Farrell walk to their in division rival Red Sox and after their dismal season ended without much promise, there was very little excitement around the ballclub. No playoff appearances since 1993 an a division that arguably has four of the potential best teams in baseball next season would give any fanbase a case of hopelessness, but it seemed like animosity between the Jays ownership in Rogers and the fans was about to reach a tipping point.
Cue last week. Around early evening midweek rumours started floating around involving the Blue Jays and the Florida/Miami Marlins involving pitcher Josh Johnson and unnamed players. Johnson has been a serviceable starter despite injuries for the past few seasons and his addition to the starting rotation was big, but not huge news. Then as reports continued to leak on twitter it started to look very evident that the Jays were going to take advantage of the Marlins firesale eventually taking all of the Marlins big name players in a 12 player deal that sent Jose Reyes, Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Emilio Bonifacio and John Buck to the Jays in exchange for Yunel Escobar and some of the top level prospects in the Jays minor league system. The trade was so lopsided in MLB talent that it took MLB brass until Tuesday to approve of a deal that has now made the Jays one of the most talked about teams in baseball and instant contenders for the playoffs.
The Jays were not down as they brought back manager John Gibbons who led the Jays to their highest finish in the AL East since '00 in his first stint as manager and signed outfielder Melky Cabrera to a deal to further bolster the lineup.
With the moves the Jays have added two proven MLB pitches in Buehrle and Johnson with Buehrle pitching a perfect game and winning a World Series with the White Sox before moving down to the Marlins last year, and Johnson will give the Jays more dpeth and could be due for a solid year after fully healing from Tommy John surgery.
Pressure will now be off Ricky Romero to be the staff ace and the additions of former NL batting champ Reyes and the talented Cabrera the Jays add to what could be the best lineup in baseball with Edwin Encarnacion and Jose Bautista getting protection at the top of the order.
While the success of these moves will not be known until the new look Jays take the field all of this news and attention on the Jays harkens back to a time before I was even born, when the SkyDome was the biggest attraction in sports and the Jays were the best team in baseball.
Great support from Labbatt who then owned the team brought in superstar players like Jack Morris, Dave Winfield and David Cone to a stadium that was filled to a 50, 000 plus capacity every night. Canada's support for the Jays was repaid by the ownership who brought in players that gave the country and the city of Toronto something magical.
With the Expos gone, the Blue Jays are now Canada's team and with all 162 Blue Jays games broadcast on Rogers getting record ratings fans were reaching a point of animosity in seeing the Jays cap their spending at a pace that rendered them unable to compete in a division with the big budget Yankees and Red Sox.
Sure teams have had flash in the pan success spending little money in the AL as the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics come to mind, but it is a general rule that to become a winner in the MLB you have to spend. The Jays were quietly making great budget moves in bringing in Bautista, Encarnacion, and escobar into the lineup, but the writing was on the wall that a serious commitment from ownership was needed if they wanted to contend for real.
Now they have that commitment, with five months to opening day and plenty of time left to add free agents the Jays are already all in and are an attractive market once again. More players can and will be needed to be brought in to finish what is still a team that could use a few more pieces to its puzzle. Pitching is still an issue and health concerns were a big problem last season, but Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson are not top of the rotation guys on a championship or pennant winning team even with their track records of solid seasons.
A staff ace would be costly, but it is likely the final move the Jays will have to make to guarantee themselves the 90 plus win season they will need to make the playoffs out of the most competitive division in baseball.
Regardless of the breakdown of the deal and if the Jays will be winners at the end of September, baseball is finally back to the forefront in the country.
A team as hard to root for as the Blue Jays deserves this and next season the Rogers Centre will be bringing back the memories of the SkyDome days. Something that a generation of Blue Jay fans who have stayed faithful to the team from the Carlos Delgado days, to the Roy Halladay era to present day and deserve to see their team make noise deep into summer and the fall for the first time in what will be 20 years. "It is a great day to be a Blue Jay fan," has been one of the most popular statements in the past week, it is very hard to argue. Five months til Opening Day, I for one can't wait.
