For those who were wondering what Alex Anthopoulos had up his sleeve following the signing of Russell Martin to five year $82 million costless agent contract earlier this month, yesterday’s blockbuster deal between the Toronto Blue Jays and Oakland Athletics should leave little doubt as to what the organization’s plan are for the upcoming 2015 Major League Baseball season.
In acquiring third baseman Josh Donaldson in exchange for fan favorite Brett Lawrie, right-hander Kendall Graveman, left-hander Sean Nolin and prospect Franklin Barreto, the Jays general manager has essentially rebuilt the top half of his batting order in less than two weeks’ time. Even with the potential departure of left-fielder Melky Cabrera looking more and more likely, one cannot help but be impressed with what we have seen from Mr. Athopoulos.
While it was hard not to love Lawrie’s glove and overall athleticism, his inability to stay healthy over the first four years of his career made him a piece Toronto would be willing to include in the right sort of deal. Obviously having the ability to bring in an all-star third baseman in return for the Langley native more than qualifies and not surprisingly, the Blue Jays jumped at the opportunity to make the move.
At twenty-eight years of age, there is no reason to believe Donaldson will not be able to continue to put up the same sort of totals, if not better, than those he produced over the last two seasons as a member of the A’s. One can only imagine what sort of power numbers he might be able to deliver playing in the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre and in the middle of a lineup that will feature the likes of Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Russell Martin, and Jose Reyes on a daily basis.
Add to that his ability to play near Gold Glove caliber defense and the trade looks better by the minute for a franchise that desperately wants to return to the post-season. Having said that, it is not as though Anthopoulos gave up nothing in the trade and if Lawrie could somehow find a way to stay off the disabled list and actually become an everyday player, this deal may not be as one-sided as some seem to think.
After depleting a good portion of his farm system and sacrificing outfielder Yoenis Cespedes in deals that brought the Athletics pitchers Jason Hammel, Jon Lester and Jeff Samardzija but still no playoff success, it is rather obvious that Billy Beane felt he could not pass up on the opportunity to restock the organizational cupboards from a prospect standpoint…while still getting himself a bona fide starting third baseman to replace Donaldson.
In Graveman and Nolin the Athletics are getting a pair of arms that could potentially push for spots in 2015 but more importantly, give then two guys who they believe are not far away from becoming regular contributors at the major league level. However, from an A’s perspective, Barreto was the key to the deal. Being able to pry an eighteen year old shortstop out of Toronto, on top of the other three pieces they acquired, likely made this one a no-brainer for Beane to pull the trigger on.
After putting together what was a rather impressive seventy-three game stint at Single A ball in Vancouver, the Venezuelan teenager worked himself all the way up to No. 5 on Baseball America’s top prospect list for the Blue Jays and at the end of the day, he might just end up being the piece this organization regrets giving up on.
Though at this stage of the game, Alex Anthopoulos cannot worry about “maybes” because if the Blue Jays do not find their way back to the post-season for the first time since winning the Word Series back in 1993, he will find himself on the unemployment line come next summer. Make no mistake, 2015 is all about the here and now when it comes to the Toronto Blue Jays.
