Have Some Perspective Jays Fans

Oct. 2, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher R.A. Dickey (43) throws against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY SportsWhen news broke that the Toronto Blue Jays were trading for R.A. Dickey there was obviously a lot of excitement among the Blue Jays fan base. When Blue Jays fans found out Travis D’Arnaud and Noah Syndergaard could be a part of the trade the excitement turned into skepticism. After all D’Arnaud and Syndergaard were among the Blue Jays top prospects and no one knows how long the Blue Jays will have Dickey.

This Blue Jays fan base is the same one that complains every season that the Jays never try to compete and that they’re tired of being told to wait for the future. Years of building for the future has made Blue Jays fans have a building mentality but the truth is once you have a competitive team the prospects in the farm system are just there to make trades to make the big league team better.

You also don’t know what the team and baseball market in general will look like in a few years so its irrational to say the Blue Jays are going to be less competitive in the future because of trading prospects. A year ago no Blue Jays fan would have traded Yunel Escobar, Jake Marisnick or Justin Nicolino because you had no idea they would have Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Melky Cabrera.

The Blue Jays have built themselves into a competitive team that doesn’t need to rely on waiting for prospects which is and should always be the goal. As long as the Blue Jays continue to draft, trade and spend well, which is what has set them up to be a competitive team they will be fine for the future because they will still have the money and the farm system to maintain success.

Great starting pitching is what wins games and makes playoff pushes. It’s also very expensive. If you can get a cheap option like R.A. Dickey you got to take advantage. Giving up prospects for cheap starting pitching is a better idea than blowing an extra 40 – 50 million on it in the free agent market.

Alex Anthopoulos in barely over 3 years has given Blue Jays fans what they’ve been craving for years, a good exciting competitive team that can contend in the AL East for years to come. Pardon him for not keeping all the prospects in the process.