In trading top prospects Austin Martin and Simeon Woods Richardson to the Minnesota Twins for ace righty Jos茅 Berr铆os, the Blue Jays鈥 front office showed something more than just a willingness to play with the big boys.
They鈥檇 already shown that, after all, by signing the best available free-agent position player on the market last winter in George Springer and the best available left-handed starter on the market the off-season prior in Hyun-Jun Ryu.
This deal, though, tells us something entirely different than the signings of those two all-stars did, because this time the capital was the future as opposed to just Rogers鈥 money.
For years, Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro has talked about how important having a strong minor-league system is to his ultimate goal of a year-in and year-out championship contender, because a continuing conveyor belt of great young players coming through can allow a franchise to sustain winning.
The two-time MLB executive of the year in his days in Cleveland was constantly praised for his ability to build a great farm system, to draft and develop, but not only did those great farm systems not turn into any championships in Cleveland, there also weren鈥檛 any moments in which those prospects were used in trade to try to push the big club over the top at the deadline.
Granted, there weren鈥檛 many opportunities. Shapiro became general manager in Cleveland when the team moved into teardown mode, and his first task was to deal ace Bartolo Colon.
From that point on, the soon-to-be-Guardians were only in playoff contention a couple of times over the next decade.
In 2005, they were four games out of the wild card at the deadline, back when there was no one-game playoff. They did nothing at the deadline and wound up with 93 wins, two shy of a playoff spot.
In 2007, they had a one-game lead in the AL Central at the deadline, and the only move they made was to add 40-year-old Kenny Lofton. He came at the cost of minor-leaguer Max Ramirez, who had played in the Futures Game that year but wasn鈥檛 a top-100 prospect.
In Cleveland, of course, they didn鈥檛 have the money to spend that the Blue Jays do, and Shapiro has told us since he got here that he was thrilled to have Rogers鈥 resources and that he would spend in both cash and prospect capital when the time was right.
We knew he wasn鈥檛 kidding about the spending money part, but I鈥檒l admit that I was skeptical about the idea that he would ever be willing to part with the best prospects in the system if it wasn鈥檛 for the final piece to push the Blue Jays over the edge and make them not just championship contenders but World Series favourites.
That skepticism was bolstered by the fact Shapiro has said publicly he would not have done what Alex Anthopoulos did at the incredible 2015 trade deadline, trading a boatload of young prospects 鈥 most of whom didn鈥檛 pan out at all 鈥 for a group of rental players (and the massive contract of Troy Tulowitzki) that ultimately gave 海角社区官网its best baseball memories since the World Series years.
But here we are, with the Blue Jays three games over .500 entering Friday night鈥檚 return to Rogers Centre, sitting 4 1/2 games out of the only realistic playoff spot for them to get this year, which is just a ticket to a one-game do-or-die on the road, likely in Boston or Tampa Bay, and the chips have been pushed in.
Yes, Berr铆os is no rental, but the 27-year-old is a free agent after next season, so the Blue Jays have traded two of their very best prospects, with a combined 12 years of control beyond this year, for a season and a third of a top-of-the-rotation starter.
鈥淭hey believe in us. That鈥檚 probably the biggest thing I take away from this,鈥 Blue Jays third baseman Cavan Biggio said. 鈥淲e have so much talent here. Especially getting back to Toronto, a new wave of energy, making some good trades today and yesterday 鈥 it鈥檚 go time. It鈥檚 important baseball down the stretch in August and September and it鈥檚 going to be exciting.鈥
It鈥檚 a move I thought this front office might never be willing to make, and it shows what should be obvious but was still in doubt until Friday afternoon 鈥 they believe a chance to win a championship is more important than having the best minor-league system in the game year after year. And it sends a message that was heard loud and clear in the locker room.
鈥淚t鈥檚 awesome to see,鈥 Blue Jays closer Jordan Romano said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e really bought into winning and so have all the players. There鈥檚 a new-found sense of energy here.鈥
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