Remember how the Baltimore Orioles went through 53 players just to land a wild-card spot in 2012? Or how the 2013 Pittsburgh Pirates acquired Justin Morneau on Aug. 31 after landing Marlon Byrd and John Buck four days earlier – long past the so-called trade deadline, yet early enough to help the Pirates clinch their first playoff berth since 1992 and end 20 consecutive losing seasons?
These questions were put to Alex Anthopoulos on the eve of the resumption of this messy and muddled 2014 Toronto Blue Jays season.
“You know, you go through a whole bunch of scenarios in your own mind, but I don’t know if you can ever really script out how a season will go,” the Toronto Blue Jays GM told Sportsnet. “Really, right now it’s just about trying to stay healthy. It’s just about putting a healthy team on the field.”
First, some good news of sort for those who believe it’s all about breaking through the window of opportunity with which the American League East seems to be teasing the Blue Jays. Anthopoulos is quick to deflect suggestions that his focus leading up to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline needs to at least partly centre on finding replacements for pending free agent outfielders Melky Cabrera and Colby Rasmus, or that Jose Reyes may need to find a new position in the next two years, or even that his team is short an infielder for 2015.
“No doubt,” Anthopoulos responded when asked if the short-term was his immediate focus over to the long-term.
The bad news? While Anthopoulos refuses to walk through a list of potential trade targets or comment on specific rumours, the GM leaves the distinct impression that his chances of pulling off a blockbuster, division-altering deal are, well, slim. Further – and this could just be him talking in full ninja speak – Anthopoulos does little to downplay the notion that the trade market in general is a lot less sexy than a lot of us have made it out to be.
It’s more Irish pub than pick-up joint; less O’Chez and more O’Shea’s.
Anthopoulos readily admits that he might do much of his heavy lifting after July 31, when players are placed on waivers. It may make for slim pickings before July 31, but the list of players acquired in the past two seasons after Aug. 1 is interesting. A year ago Alex Rios went to the Texas Rangers from the Chicago White Sox on Aug. 9 while John Axford, Michael Morse and Jason Kubel moved to playoff contending teams on Aug. 30.
In most instances, those players were acquired for players-to-be-named later. In 2012, Kurt Suzuki and Joe Blanton moved after July 31, and the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox pulled off a multi-player trade on Aug. 25, with the Dodgers getting Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto.
The immediate concern for Anthopoulos is the bullpen, which has gone from being an area of anticipated strength to a walk-issuing, gas-can toting, demolition squad. The bridge to Casey Janssen looks a lot like the Gardiner Expressway these days, which is why on Thursday the Blue Jays moved Aaron Sanchez, the organization’s gilt-edged pitching prospect, to the bullpen in triple-A Buffalo.
“He’s in the bullpen with designs of being brought up,” said Anthopoulos.
It is, arguably, the only area of need that can be addressed internally and Daniel Norris might not be that far away either – although Anthopoulos made clear that he will go to triple-A before pitching in Toronto.
What about some offensive help against left-handed pitching? A veteran arm? All of the things that the Blue Jays would need even if Edwin Encarnacion, Brett Lawrie or Adam Lind weren’t hurt? That’s going to be the focus of whatever external hunt takes place.
In the meantime, the Blue Jays play their next 17 games against teams that hit the break at or below .500. The three games against the Texas Rangers, starting Friday, are three of the 14 they’ll soon play against the bottom three teams in the AL: the Rangers, Red Sox and Houston Astros. If Anthopoulos’ team wants to give him a little help figuring out where the script for the 2014 season is leading, he’d be open to it.
