It has been nearly three years since the blockbuster trade that sent José Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and Josh Johnson to the Toronto Blue Jays from the Miami Marlins, who received Yunel Escobar, Jeff Mathis, and a few other prospects that have since become key contributors to the Marlins and other MLB teams. The trade as a whole was Reyes, Buehrle, Johnson, Emilio Bonifacio, John Buck, and $4 million cash for Escobar, Mathis, Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Álvarez, Anthony DeSclafani, Jake Marisnick, and Justin Nicolino. At the time, it seemed like the Marlins were making a desperate attempt at dumping salary and receiving very little in return, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.

At the time of the trade, Escobar was the biggest name that the Marlins received in the trade, but he never even saw an at bat as a Marlin as he would go on to get traded to the Tampa Bay Rays before the 2013 season began. He is now playing for the Washington Nationals and having the best start to a season of his career. He is hitting .325 and has scored 28 runs in 51 games, five runs shy of his 2014 numbers with the Rays in 137 games.

Jeff Mathis is a veteran catcher that starts when needed for the Marlins, but he has never been the main catcher in Miami. He is currently backing up young catcher J.T. Realmuto. Mathis is a good catcher, but he is consistently hitting around .200.

Adeiny Hechavarria may have been the best player the Marlins received in the trade. The Cuban-born shortstop is a human highlight reel with the glove and seems to be extremely comfortable hitting eighth for the Marlins -- so much so that he has a .308 batting average, which ranks second amongst MLB shortstops. He also has 25 RBIs, which rank fifth at his position. Fielding-wise, Hechavarria has a .987 fielding percentage, which ranks third at his position.

Henderson Álvarez had a bit of MLB experience with the Blue Jays, but what the Marlins have gotten from him during his time in Miami far exceed their expectations. In 2013, he threw a no-hitter; in 2014, he was an an all-star and had one of 2014’s best home ERA’s, 1.60, with a 7-2 record. Álvarez has struggled to stay healthy in 2015 as he has been able to pitch in only four games, two of which resulted with his heading to the disabled list and all of them resulted in a loss for Álvarez. But when Álvarez is healthy, he has the potential to throw all nine innings on any night, and he is extremely fun to watch.  

Anthony DeSclafani and Jake Marisnick have both been traded by the Marlins since this 2012 trade. In return, the Marlins received players they hope will be major parts of their pitching rotation: Mat Latos and Jarred Cosart. However, DeSclafani and Marisnick are having good seasons for the teams they were traded to. DeSclafani was traded to the Cincinnati Reds and has a 4-4 record while posting a 3.60 ERA. Marisnick has played in 52 of the Houston Astros' 58 games this year and has done a great job defensively in centerfield as well as at the plate. He is hitting .265, which is the second-best average on the Astros, trailing only José Altuve.

The final piece in the trade for the Marlins was left-handed pitcher Justin Nicolino, who is currently making his way through the Minors and considered one of the Marlins' top prospects. He is expected to be called up at some point this season, and that might have something to do with his consistent numbers in the Minors, which includes five seasons in which his ERA has been 3.12 or lower.

Although the Blue Jays appeared to be getting a great deal that included four former All-Stars, the deal has been quite the opposite for them. José Reyes is still an all-star caliber player, but he has struggled to stay healthy. Since joining the Blue Jays, he has played in only a little over half of the team’s games, including just 28 of this seasons 58 games.

Mark Buehlre, surprisingly, has been the best player the Blue Jays got in the deal. In 2014, he was an All-Star. During his time with the Blue Jays, he has a 32-24 record with a 3.86 ERA. He has been the Blue Jays' best starting pitcher during that span, even better than former Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey.

Josh Johnson was once one of MLB’s best pitchers; however, he has not pitched in the Big Leagues since 2013 with the Blue Jays and has since become a member of the San Diego Padres. In his 16 starts with the Blue Jays, Johnson had a 2-8 record with a 6.20 ERA. In comparison, his eight seasons with the Marlins resulted in a 56-37 record and a 3.15 ERA.

Emilio Bonifacio spent little time with the Blue Jays as he was a mid-season trade to the Kansas City Royals in 2013. During his time with the Blue Jays, Bonifacio hit .218 with 12 stolen bases, getting caught on 33% of his steal attempts. He has since spent time with the Chicago Cubs, Atlanta Braves, and the Chicago White Sox, his current team. He has played in only 30 games for the White Sox in 2015 and has hit .200 on the season while getting caught on both of his steal attempts.

John Buck did not play for the Blue Jays after the trade. He was traded less than a month after the Marlins-Blue Jays trade to the New York Mets in the deal that brought Dickey to Toronto. That trade also brought Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud to the Mets in return. Buck never returned or even got close to getting back to his All-Star form, and he has since retired from playing baseball.

Today marks the first time the Miami Marlins and Toronto Blue Jays have faced each other since the blockbuster trade that left quite the mark on both franchises. The Marlins appeared to be cleaning house in one of their world famous fire sales, but what is remarkable about this fire sale trade is that it has already proved very valuable for the Marlins. However, this trade has not done enough to get the Marlins to where they want to be. They come into this series nine games under .500 and 6.5 games out of the N.L. East’s top spot, despite winning three consecutive series.

The Blue Jays will be the home team in this three-game series. They are also not where they thought they would be with the amount of talent that they have on their roster as they come into the series two games under .500 and 4.5 games out of the A.L. East’s top spot. However, they have won their last five games, including a sweep of the A.L. West’s first place Astros. Buehrle is expected to face his former team on Tuesday in the second game of the series. Reyes and Mathis both just came back recently from DL stints, and Hechavarria is coming into this series after hitting his first career extra-inning home run Sunday. 

VAVEL Logo
About the author
Blake Hesser
Blake writes Basketball, Baseball, and Football for Vavel. The teams he covers include the Heat, the Marlins, and the Dolphins.