TORONTO – The trade talks that led to the blockbuster between the Toronto Blue Jays and Miami Marlins last month started with an inquiry on ace Josh Johnson and a request for prospects Adeiny Hechavarria and Justin Nicolino in return.
Upon hearing that price, Alex Anthopoulos quickly told counterpart Larry Beinfest that the deal needed to be expanded for him to surrender that much young talent for a single year of control on the right-hander, and eventually the 12-player megadeal that rocked the American League East was hatched.
That little anecdote is worth keeping in mind amid the flurry of reports Friday that the Blue Jays are front-runners to acquire National League Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey from the New York Mets.
Names being floated as the possible return include catchers J.P. Arencibia or Travis d’Arnaud, and outfielders Anthony Gose or Colby Rasmus, a steep price for one year of the 38-year-old knuckleballer unless there is more to a potential deal than is known.
Either way, the Blue Jays aren’t believed to have informed any of their players of a potential deal as of Friday night (which makes sense, given all the guessing at who the Mets might get), and Bo McKinnis, the agent for Dickey, told Jim Bowden of MLB Network Radio and ESPN in the afternoon that there’s been no request for extension talks by another team.
Still, there were some subtle indications from within the Blue Jays that something might be up, and at roughly 10:24 p.m. ET, Dickey tweeted, “Taking a break from the trade talks. Love me some Toby Mac. Great show.” No mention on his part of the team or teams involved.
Also worth keeping in mind are many of the usual caveats that come with the way the Blue Jays do business.
Almost never does an Anthopoulos deal play out as publicly before completion as this one, which might suggest the Mets are trying to lure other teams into the fray, or perhaps pressure Dickey into accepting an extension.
As well, it’s difficult to imagine the Blue Jays sacrificing so much control in either Arencibia (four years) or d’Arnaud (six years), plus one of Gose (six years) or Rasmus (three years) for Dickey, bound for free agency next fall, unless other pieces were coming along with him.
The Blue Jays, who have already pushed their payroll into the $120 million range, wouldn’t be taking a massive hit in 2013 with Dickey, who is due to earn $5 million. And as the recent ill-fated run at Jason Grilli showed, Anthopoulos still has some financial wiggle room.
Also intriguing was that in discussing Johnson’s looming free agency Nov. 28, Anthopoulos noted that, “Years ago I would have been much more apt to try and do extensions with players sooner and I don’t mind waiting now … I never feel a rush to extend a player, I always think we have the ability to do it if we had to live up to our end of the bargain, put a good product on the field, make it a good place for them to play.”
Given those comments, the only way an extension for Dickey would be the main impediment to a deal, as some have speculated, is if the Blue Jays see the extra years a key part of the trade in order to justify the outlay.
And that’s a possibility, one of many on another interesting day in a continually eventful Blue Jays off-season.
Sources: D’Arnaud very much in play in Dickey talks between #BlueJays and #Mets. Deal would be bigger, multiple pieces going both ways.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 15, 2012
