Like a good chess player, Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos always seems to be plotting a couple moves ahead.
Can’t say that I’ve ever been a fan of chess. All that thinking three moves ahead is not the way that the old statsman is wired.
Not that I have any proof of it, but I see a chess player in Alex Anthopoulos, although his pieces consist of contracts, prospects and desirable players on other rosters.
It’s been quite a trip to watch the Blue Jays’ general manager go about his rebuild. His moves have never been about satiating his own ego, feeling he had to prove how smart he was to others. No, on the blueprint that he has put together to plot his franchise’s return to annual playoff contention, the team always comes first. And it must always be that way.
I’m sure he’s observed, during this summer where the Blue Jays and the Hall of Fame were spoken in the same sentence for the first time thanks to the inductions of Roberto Alomar and Pat Gillick, that there’s a proper way to go about his business. While the fans’ adulation towards Alomar is obvious, Anthopoulos can also feel just how revered Gillick is in these parts. And whatever he’s learned about Gillick and his successful methods on his own, he’s heard tenfold from his boss Paul Beeston.
Anthopoulos has been methodical during his dismantling of what he inherited personnel and philosophy-wise. He wanted to bulk up, considerably, the scouting department, putting vastly more evaluators in the field. Check mark. The farm system had been left wanting and so, playing within the parameters of the free agency system, he came upon extra picks high in the draft for restocking with quality. Check.
And now, with a roster that barely resembles the one that stood on the third-base line at the Rogers Centre back on April 1, some rookies have emerged from the minors to become contributors and give the playoff-starved followers of the Jays a reason to start believing again. J.P. Arencibia, Eric Thames, David Cooper, Brett Lawrie, Luis Perez, Henderson Alvarez and Joel Carreno all, at least once this season, have given you reason to cheer for them and dream about what could be. That’s good news moving forward.
The fallout from his first deal, trying to get a decent return for Roy Halladay, is still being measured, but it brought them their current three top prospects. Kyle Drabek was the arm that Anthopoulos coveted all along and he got him. After being the darling of the system a year ago, Kyle has taken a definite step backward by losing his cool when things don’t go his way.
Travis d’Arnaud was acquired to provide depth at catcher in the system and is not so far away that it won’t take long for him to be major-league ready. His dominant season at double-A has him on a direct line towards Toronto and a collision with Arencibia, who has hit 20 HRs in his first full season, tying him for a franchise high by a catcher. The third player in the deal ultimately turned out to be Anthony Gose, who currently has 61 steals and 14 home runs at just 21 years old and could mature into a very good speed/power threat.
Alex’s off-loading of Vernon Wells and his big contract to the Angels no matter the return might prove to be the deal he’s most remembered for. It finally allowed him payroll flexibility and ultimately the ability go over-slot on draft day to get the players his scouts had targeted. The pitching that they already have coursing through the system, coupled with what was just signed over the last month, sets this franchise up very favourably over the next 2-6 years.
And we should also be impressed with Anthopoulos’ ability to deal within the season, adding useful and sought-after everyday players like Yunel Escobar and Colby Rasmus while giving up very little in return. Both had documented problems with their old-school managers at the time of those trades, but Anthopoulos and his people did their due diligence, and both came north.
This week’s deal, which saw long-time Jays Aaron Hill and John McDonald traded to Arizona for second baseman Kelly Johnson, was a departure from the way that Alex goes about trading for assets. There were no prospects involved in this deal. As it was told to the public, the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, without a regular shortstop after Stephen Drew broke his right ankle in the third week of July, inquired about the availability of McDonald. Upon continuing conversations, both teams also realized they had vastly underachieving second basemen in Hill and Johnson. And both were looking at free agency. So why not, instead just kicking the tires, take them out for a five-week test drive?
Really no downside to this deal except for the sorrow felt by the legion of fans that show up on a nightly basis wearing ’McDONALD 6’ shirts. But fear not, your favourite player is almost certain to return in the off-season as a free agent and close out his career a Blue Jay before joining the system in some sort of instruction or coaching capacity. Any other closure to Johnny Mac’s tenure with the city and team would be of great disappointment.
No one ever said that a rebuild of this capacity was going to happen overnight. And Alex Anthopoulos has never put a time frame on it either. But he’s always plotting two and three moves ahead. Who knows, perhaps he’ll steal away a future Hall-of-Famer like Pat Gillick did with Robbie Alomar. That would really put a capper on what we one day would remember about the summer 0f 2011.
