FanSided Faux Winter Meetings: Blue Jays make first fake trade

As we detailed yesterday, the FanSided MLB team is running a faux GM Meetings for the next week or so, giving representatives from each of our MLB sites to pretend to be general managers and make some moves. It is definitely a role in which we would all covet, moving from the arm chair to the board room and guiding our Major League franchises the way we see fit.

While some of our “general managers” are seemingly handling themselves live they are running their fantasy teams, swinging in with bravado and trying to throw money around, as the representative for the Toronto Blue Jays, I have opted to do things a bit differently. I’ve tried to put myself into the mind of Alex Anthopoulos and make moves that would not only benefit the team, but also be within reason.

With that in mind, I executed my first trade of the Faux GM Meetings late last night, settling on an agreement with my friends at Nolan Writin, our Texas Rangers site.

Blue Jays Get:

Jurickson Profar

Shawn Tolleson

Rangers Get:

Dioner Navarro

Kendall Graveman

D.J. Davis

Now, it isn’t the blockbuster that it would have been a year ago, but let me explain my thinking here a bit.

In Jurickson Profar, the Blue Jays acquire the player who many regarded as the top prospect in the entire game prior to the 2013 season. In just under four seasons in the minors, Profar was a .276/.367/.449 hitter at a premium position. However, a shoulder injury cost him his 2014 season and he was passed on the second base depth chart by Rougned Odor. The immovable contract of Elvis Andrus also meant that Profar was blocked at his natural position of shortstop.

For the Blue Jays, I like what Profar brings to the table. He is expected to be fully healthy again by the time Spring Training begins and could immediately win the second base job with the Jays. He could hold down the position for a year or more, allowing new addition Devon Travis to spend another season or more in the high minors. With Reyes only guaranteed three more years under his current deal, the Blue Jays could have a nice tandem in the middle of the infield.

Additionally, the asking price in return forced me to look for much needed bullpen help and outside of Neftali Feliz, Shawn Tolleson was the best the Rangers have in their relief corp. At 26-years-old, he fits what the Jays want, a quality late-inning arm that can eat innings and is still pre-arbitration eligible, which means team control. In 71.2 innings of work for the Rangers last season, Tolleson posted a solid 2.76 ERA with a 8.7 K/9 ratio. Yes, his FIP of 4.23 likely means there will be a bit of a decline to the norm in 2015, but that kind of difference can be expected in a reliever.

Speaking of the return, I felt it was a fair price and allowed the Blue Jays to deal from positions of strength. I loved what I saw from Kendall Graveman in 2014, and enjoyed interviewing him this past season, but the Blue Jays pitching depth is at its best it has been in years, and the addition of Jeff Hoffman via last year’s draft meant we had some extra arms to deal from.

Dioner Navarro, while possibly being able to slide to DH, just doesn’t fit the mold there. That said, his highest value was on the trade market, and with Josh Thole still around, I had no problem moving Navarro and his $5 million in this deal.

Finally we have D.J. Davis. A tremendous athlete and still young, Davis has yet to turn that athleticism into results on the baseball field. While he has the tools to succeed, he is still tremendously raw and in my mind a bit over-rated. He was expendable in a deal that would land a top middle infield prospect.

So what do you think fans? Do you think I project A.A. well or do you think I missed on this deal?