Apr 5, 2013; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Josh Johnson (55) during their game against the Boston Red Sox at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

If you remember Happ’s spot was the 5th spot in the rotation.

With Johnson taking Happ’s spot you could argue the 5th spot is now the 1st spot because starting Friday the Toronto Blue Jays rotation will have Josh Johnson, R.A. Dickey and Brandon Morrow pitching back to back to back.

That’s more like it.

The new rotation order helps the Blue Jays immediately because the one and only King Felix will be pitching for the Seattle Mariners on Friday. So the Blue Jays will have Josh Johnson pitching against him instead of Happ. Ace against ace is always better than ace against 5th starter.

The Mariners are also going to be the first victims of the Jays having their 3 best starters pitch 3 days in a row.

And don’t overlook the value of having R.A. Dickey pitching after Johnson. It’ll be hard for teams to make the adjustment from facing the power arm of Josh Johnson to facing Dickey’s knuckleball the next day.

The Blue Jays having nothing but aces on the mound for consecutive games can also help start win streaks or stop losing streaks a lot quicker.

The Jays big 3 in the rotation haven’t been at their best yet. That’s one of the reasons the Jays are 10-18. If they all start pitching like they’re capable of they should all pitch deep into games every night so the Blue Jays will be able to give the bullpen a lot of rest.

The rotation switch means Happ will pitch after Buehrle. In a perfect world you’d like to be able to split up the lefties but they’re both very different pitchers so it’s not like the Jays would be giving teams the same look back to back days. Buehrle and Happ can also keep games competitive and are capable of pitching deep into games which is all you can ask from your 4th and 5th starter.

Johnson will have to pitch after Happ now which doesn’t really give him any extra advantage the way Dickey and Morrow have an advantage because of the pitcher that starts the day before them. But whatever, Johnson can take advantage of the fact that he’s Josh Johnson.

Unfortunately the Blue Jays have 2 off days in the same week in the middle of the May so the rotation order is bound to have to be changed again soon. Hopefully the Jays can find a way to keep their 3 aces pitching back to back even with the off days. For however long it lasts it’s going to be fun seeing the Jays have Johnson, Dickey and Morrow pitching back to back to back.

It’s not going to be fun for the teams that have to face all the Jays aces on consecutive days.

Good luck to the rest of the Major League Baseball! You’re going to need it.

Apr 25, 2013; Bronx, NY, USA; Toronto Blue Jays injured shortstop Jose Reyes smiles in the dugout against the New York Yankees during the second inning at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Ultimately, the decision by the Red Sox to not include top prospect Xander Bogaerts likely scuttled the deal deal, according to Bradford. In the end, Reyes, Johnson, Bonifacio, Mark Buehrle, and John Buck were shipped north to the Blue Jays with Toronto parting with Justin Nicolino, Jake Marisnick, Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechavarria, Henderson Alvarez, Jeff Mathis, and Anthony Descalfani.

Just imagine for a minute, the different landscape that the American League East could have today had Boston decided to include the game’s number 20 prospect in order to land Reyes and Johnson.

The deal has not quite worked out in Toronto’s favor thus far, as Reyes is currently shelved until July with a severe ankle injury, while the pair of Johnson (0-1, 6.86 ERA) and Bonifacio (.179 avg, 4 errors) have been largely ineffective to start the 2013 season.

Of course, the ability for Anthopoulos to land that trade also lead him to go all in and send Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud to the New York Mets for ace R.A. Dickey, who himself was inconsistent in April.

If that initial trade does not go through for Toronto, adding two of the three arms Toronto needed for their 2013 rotation, Anthopoulos would have had to spend more time chasing free agents or pursuing other options on the trade market. That means that players like Shawn Marcum, Kyle Lohse, or other stop gap arms would have been in the cards. Maybe even an arm like Ryan Dempster, as Boston would not have likely signed him had they acquired Johnson.

Chances are also good that the plundering of the farm system would have been a bit more minimalistic, as the desire to win now may have stayed Anthopoulos’s hand a bit on trading away the key pieces of the system.

What all this would have meant in regards to the results on the field is tough to quantify, especially as we cannot fathom how Anthopoulos would have gone about his winter business under this scenario. We also don’t know if Johnson would have struggled in Boston and Reyes would have gotten hurt, the variables are just too difficult to truly fathom.

We do know this though; the excitement generated within the Blue Jays fan base would not have the same. But then again, neither would the level of disappointment after a rough start to the season. It likely would have been ho-hum as usual.

And if given the opportunity, would we really want to return to a ho-hum effort?

April 11, 2013; Detroit, MI, USA; Toronto Blue Jays manager John Gibbons (5) takes the ball to relieve starting pitcher Josh Johnson (55) in the second inning against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Johnson injury isn’t thought to be serious enough to miss his next start so hopefully he’s only missing tonight’s game. Or better yet his injury could be so mild he can make his next start and not have any problems the rest of the season.

Whatever you do Josh Johnson please don’t go on the DL for an extended period of time. Don’t go on the DL at all.

The Toronto Blue Jays have already had a rough start to their season.

The last thing they need is to lose one of their aces for an extended period of time. Actually the last thing they need is to have scrubs like Aaron Laffey or whoever else they pick up from the minors or waiver wire making starts.

With the Blue Jays struggling to score runs they don’t need starting pitchers making starts that are bound to give up more runs than Josh Johnson (duh).

It’s especially disheartening because of the way last season played out where every starting pitcher was a scrub. Even Ricky Romero was terrible. Brandon Morrow was the only one worth watching.

Obviously if Josh Johnson is the only starter that’s injured we won’t get a total repeat of the garbage show from last year. But even one less than adequate starting pitcher in the rotation is annoying, especially for a team trying to contend that’s already behind. It could costs the Jays enough games that it would be hard to overcome in a tight AL East division.

If Johnson injury turns out to be serious it wouldn’t exactly be easy to trade for another starting pitcher in May either. The only teams that would be interested are teams that already don’t have a chance in 2013. Those teams usually don’t have good starting pitchers to trade anyways because if they did why in the world would they be giving up on the season in May?

The Blue Jays traded for Josh Johnson to get rid of their starting pitching problems. If he stays injured he’s just going to re-create those problems. Don’t do that to us Johnson.

Feb 25, 2013; Dunedin, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Josh Johnson (55) against the Boston Red Sox during a spring training split squad game at Florida Exchange Park. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

It’s just that if anyone is under the impression Dickey is hands down the Blue Jays ace they’re wrong because they also have a starting pitcher by the name of Josh Johnson.

Josh Johnson is as legitimate an ace as any starting pitcher in baseball and no one should be surprised if he’s the Blue Jays best starting pitcher this season.

How good can Josh Johnson be?

In 2010 he put up a 6.1 WAR according to fangraphs. In 2010 he also had a ridiculous 2.30 ERA which was the lowest in the National League.

In 2011 he was injured but still put up a 1.6 WAR in 9 starts. IN 9 STARTS! That’s hard to do unless you’re Cliff Lee or something. To put that into perspective R.A. Dickey’s 2nd best season in 2010 he put up a 2.6 WAR in 26 starts.

What has he done for me lately you ask? In 2012 he pitched 191.1 innings, the 2nd most in his career while putting up a 3.4 WAR. Not bad at all for a guy suffering through injury the season before.

Josh Johnson’s lowest strikeout rate for a season was 7.62 per 9 innings all the way back in 2006. That’s his LOWEST strikeout rate in his career.

Over the last 3 seasons, including his injury plagued 2011 Johnson has averaged 145 innings pitched, 2.87 ERA, and 4 WAR.

If Johnson stays healthy in 2013 he’ll top 145 innings easy.

The scary thing about Josh Johnson is he’s just 29 years so he could get even better. Even if Johnson doesn’t get better it’ll be pretty easy to “settle” for a 3 – 6 WAR season with a 2 or 3 something ERA.

Josh Johnson is one of the top 10 starting pitchers in baseball.

Unfortunately the Blue Jays only have him under contract for 2013. If he’s typical Josh Johnson this season he might want more money and years than the Jays are willing to give him.

You never know with Alex Anthopoulos he could extend Johnson for cheaper than what we expect but Johnson isn’t an unproven star just starting to get good like most of the players AA’s locked up. Whether he’s just in Toronto for 2013 or not if you like watching a dominating starting pitcher you’re not going to want to miss Josh Johnson starts.

Jun 06, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Brandon Morrow (23) reacts after getting the last Chicago batter out in the ninth inning at US Cellular Field. The Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Chicago White Sox 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports

The rotation order is certainly not set in stone as it can change from month to month and from week to week. If that order is the one the Blue Jays decide to start the season with it gives you a sense of what they hope it will accomplish.

R.A. Dickey will mess up hitters timing with his knuckleball. A day after facing Dickey, Brandon Morrow’s fastball will look like its 118 mph to a hitter. Mark Buehrle will be counted on to eat up innings in the middle of the rotation whether the bullpen needs some rest or not. Usually not a lot is asked of a fourth starter so by that logic if Josh Johnson is even close to being the Josh Johnson of 2012 or better he’s more than doing his job. Ricky Romero was awful last season. The Jays are banking on it being just one down year. If Ricky can have a repeat of any of his seasons other than 2012 he’ll be a stud as far as fifth starters go. Then Dickey will be counted on to eat innings (a bit of an understatement) after Ricky. The circle then just continues the same way.

It’s fun to think of a possible rotation order for the Jays to start the season with, even though it’s bound to change as the season progresses. If the Blue Jays were to really start the season on fire and kept winning then you don’t change it. Of course that’s a best case scenario.

September 26, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Josh Johnson (55) pitches in the first inning against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports

My elation was palpable when I first heard about the trade going down between Miami and Toronto. I had been playing Call of Duty with a friend of mine, and during a food intermission I received a text message from him asking what I thought of the Blue Jays trade. I had no idea what he was talking about, so I hastily jumped on my computer to check things out, expecting some minor transaction. Instead, I saw Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, and Josh Johnson. I’ve been driving the “trade for Josh Johnson” bus since last summer, so to see my dream become a reality left me literally speechless. Thankfully, voices aren’t needed on Twitter, and I was able to express my thoughts on the trade without anyone else having to hear my maniacal laughter.

Now into the month of February, we’re closer to Opening Day than we are to the trade itself, which happened back on November 19th. Time is very important in the world of baseball, as while our immediate reaction may be one thing, it could be something entirely different upon later reflection. Now, that isn’t to say I think the Marlins trade and acquiring Josh Johnson was bad – completely the opposite in fact – but I have been able to look a bit deeper into Josh Johnson and noticed some unsettling trends.

A breakdown of Josh Johnson’s pitches from 2009 to 2012 (Data via FanGraphs.com)

In the table above, you can see the breakdown of Josh Johnson’s pitches over the last four seasons. For each year, the left column is the number of pitches thrown of that type, and the right column is the percentage of the total pitches thrown that year. The five pitches Johnson has thrown are four seam fastballs (FA), two seam fastballs (FT), changeups (CH), sliders (SL), and curveballs (CU). The 2011 totals are obviously significantly lower, as he worked just over 60 innings that season.

A couple of things immediately jump out at you from this table. First, after barely throwing any early in his career, Johnson has begun spinning a curveball. After using the pitch literally zero times in 2010, he threw it over 8% of the time in 2011, and a whopping 15.3% of the time last season. The volume of changeups and sliders has remained relatively consistent through the years, so clearly the increase in curveballs has come at the expense of fastballs, which is the second thing that really caught my eye. Johnson has always been known for his big fastball, and while he’s not phasing it out by any means, it’s certainly puzzling that over the course of four seasons he’d cut his fastball usage by nearly 20%. Continuing to use FanGraphs’ PitchFX data, I delved further into the disappearing fastball, seeking some kind of logical explanation, which I summarized in the table below.

A breakdown of Josh Johnson’s fastballs from 2009 through 2012 (Data via FanGraphs.com)

The first column, total fastball percentage, is simply the combination of his four seam and two seam fastballs. The average fastball velocity calculation is inclusive of both types of fastballs, while the peak velocity is the hardest pitch he threw during that season. The third and fourth columns are his opponents’ wOBA against the two different fastballs. Like the previous table, there are a couple of points to take away from this data. First, since the 2009 season, Johnson’s average and peak fastball velocity have dropped by 2 miles per hour, and in an attempt to protect himself, he’s thrown it less and less every year. Second, his two seam fastball is, well, it’s just not a very good pitch. Opponents have hit it better each and every year since 2009. Fastballs are inherently easier to hit than breaking balls, so their opponents’ wOBA is always a little high, but the numbers between 2011 and 2012 are downright embarrassing. To put the .432 and .466 numbers into perspective, Albert Pujols has a .425 wOBA over his entire career. Yikes.

The other trend I’ve noticed while closely examining Josh Johnson’s PitchFX data is more puzzling than negative.

Josh Johnson’s release point from 2008 to 2012 (Data via FanGraphs.com)

If numbers are more your thing, here’s a table looking exclusively at Johnson’s four seam fastball, and the vertical height it was released from.

The vertical release point on Josh Johnson’s fastball from 2008 to 2012 (Data via BrooksBaseball.net)

The information for the figure came from the Game Charts feature on FanGraphs, while the data for the table came from Brooks Baseball. Regardless of which display you prefer, it’s pretty clear that over the past five years, Josh Johnson has been lowering his release point further and further. Beyond velocities, I usually don’t dig into the world of PitchFX too much, but I still thought this was extremely peculiar. Seeking answers, I asked the person whose opinion on baseball I value higher than anyone else’s: Jason Parks of Baseball Prospectus.

@kylematte Lots of possible reasons, which include comfort, inducing more movement, more command, etc.

— Jason Parks (@ProfessorParks) January 31, 2013

I felt it was a pretty good answer, and while I can’t speak to the comfort explanation, we have the statistics to at least investigate the latter two possibilities; movement and command.

While you can’t accurately measure command – since no one but the pitcher and catcher knows exactly what he’s trying to do – you can use a pitcher’s walk rate to get some idea of their overall control. In Johnson’s case, the stat sheet doesn’t tell us a whole lot. His walk rate has always been very good, and while it has increased from 2010 to 2012 (from 2.35 to 2.98 to 3.06 BB/9), it decreased from 2008 to 2010 (from 2.78 to 2.50 to 2.35 BB/9). In summary: more likely statistical variance than anything meaningful.

Measuring movement is a bit more interesting, and in a quick back and forth, the Professor and I agreed that dropping an arm slot (i.e. lowering the release point) should generate more horizontal movement. Since Josh Johnson has established his slider as a dominant pitch, and the sample size is strong in each of the years in question, I decided to look at the horizontal movement on his breaking ball and see what I could learn.

The horizontal movement of Josh Johnson’s slider from 2008 through 2012 (Data via FanGraphs.com and BrooksBaseball.net)

Unlike the walk rate, there’s definitely something here. While there’s a drop from 2011 to 2012, the horizontal movement in the other four years is continuously increasing. If you look at the Brooks Baseball numbers, his slider had 33.2% more movement in 2011 than it did in 2008, and even in 2012, it has 14.4% more horizontal movement than 2008. With that being said, it’s impossible to truly conclude anything from this information, despite the noticeable trend.
One might argue that Johnson has intentionally dropped his arm slot over the years in order to better utilize his strikeout pitch, but there’s another side to that coin. Johnson’s injury history is long and well documented (and if you aren’t aware, since entering the league in 2006, he’s spent time on the disabled list with some kind of arm injury every year except for 2010 and 2012). As the declining fastball velocity suggests, it’s entirely possible that Johnson – and his shoulder – has worn down through his 20’s, and he can no longer elevate his arm to full extension thousands of times every summer. Instead of choosing to drop his arm slot to improve his slider, Johnson simply doesn’t have the arm strength to come over the top and rifle bullets at 98-plus miles per hour like he did at 25, and the improvement in horizontal movement is just a byproduct of that decline.

When I suggested this to Jason Parks, he said it was very possible, but obviously neither he nor I have any idea what is going on with Josh Johnson’s body. The only people who know the real reason behind the drop in arm slot are his managers, pitching coaches, trainers, catchers, and Josh himself, and I don’t see any of them telling the public what’s up any time soon.

I started this off by saying my thoughts had changed now that I’ve had time to look at the big picture, and what I meant by that was how I see the future unfolding for Josh Johnson in a Blue Jays uniform. Immediately following the trade, I wanted the front office to lock Johnson up for the next four or five years, even if it cost 15-plus million per season to do it. Now, I’m very happy to just wait and see how the 2013 season plays out, particularly after discovering the trends I mentioned above.

The R.A. Dickey trade certainly played a big part in that, as between Dickey, Morrow, Buehrle, and Romero, Toronto has four starters under control for the next three seasons. If Johnson returns to his 5-6 WAR form and helps carry the Blue Jays to the post season with 40,000+ fans in the seats cheering him on, an extension could and should be offered. On the other hand, if he struggles to adjust to the AL East or goes down with injuries, the organization can simply make a 1 year qualifying offer. In the latter situation, we either get Johnson for a second year on a reasonable deal, or we get a first round draft pick and hand the fifth spot over to J.A. Happ, Drew Hutchison, or Sean Nolin. Patience and caution appears to be the name of the game in dealing with Josh Johnson, and more than ever I’m happy we have one of the most rational and financially sound general managers in the game steering the ship.

Sept 15, 2012; Miami, FL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher Mark Buehrle (right) talks with catcher Rob Brantly (19) before their game against the Cincinnati Reds at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

It’s easy to think of many teams with stacked offenses. Heck there’s teams that could have better offenses than the Blue Jays (LA Angels, Detroit Tigers).

However when you look at the Blue Jays starting rotation you see 5 starters that all have the potential to pitch 200 innings in a season. Unless I just haven’t been watching baseball long enough or have a bad memory the only other team I can think of that had 5 starters capable of pitching 200 innings is the 2011 Philadelphia Phillies. They had Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Roy Oswalt and Joe Blanton but even they didn’t all pitch 200 innings that season.

Pitching 200 innings is very hard for any starter because they have to pitch deep into a lot of games and stay healthy and consistent. As hard as it is, all the Blue Jays starters are capable of it.

You can’t talk about the Blue Jays rotation and pitching 200 innings without talking about Mark Buehrle first. He’s pitched over 200 innings for 12 straight seasons. He’s going to be pitching in the AL East now where it won’t be as easy to eat up innings. Especially since he barely made it the last 2 seasons with 205.1 in 2011 and 202.1 in 2012 but we certainly know he’s capable of it.

R.A. Dickey made his big league debut in 2001 and has only been a full time starting pitcher since 2010. In each of the years he’s been a full time starter his inning totals has gone up from 174.1 in 2010 to 208.2 in 2011 to 233.2 in 2012. Dickey’s knuckleball doesn’t put a lot of strain on his arm and he’s been a starter for such a short time that it’s reasonable to believe that 2011 and 2012 were just the beginning and that he’ll be able to continue pitching 200 innings.

After Buehrle and Dickey it starts getting a little more questionable.

Ricky Romero had a big down season in 2012 and as a result only pitched 181 innings. However he did pitch 210 innings in 2010 and 225 in 2011. Those were also just his second and third seasons in the big leagues. If Romero can have a bounce back season in 2013 he’s definitely capable of hitting the 200 innings mark.

Innings pitched is far from being the most important stat for a starting pitcher as starters like Josh Johnson make painfully obvious. Johnson is arguably the Blue Jays best starter but because of his injury history has only cracked 200 innings in 2009 with 209. Even last season when he stayed healthy he just pitched 191.1. Johnson is just coming into his prime at age 29, so if he can stay healthy he doesn’t need that big an innings jump to get to 200 in 2013.

Brandon Morrow is the biggest wild card as far as pitching 200 innings goes because he’s never done it. He’s only been a full time starter for 3 seasons. In 2010 he was on an innings limit. In 2011 and 2012 Morrow dealt with injuries but he still managed 179.1innings in 2011 and 124.2 in 2012. Like Johnson, Morrow is young and coming into his prime so if he can stay healthy and make all his starts he should be capable of pitching 200 innings.

No one should expect all 5 Blue Jays starters to pitch 200 innings. No one would be upset if they all didn’t. Just knowing they’re all capable of it is more than enough.

Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

It’s been a whole five days since Alex Anthopoulos has done any major transactions, which is odd after that whirlwind week of Blue Jays moves. Ever since his Monday morning press conference where he announced the finalization of the big Blue Jays – Marlins trade, the Melky Cabrera free agent signing (for 2 years/$16M) and the shocking reveal of re-hiring John Gibbons as manager, there’s been no major transactions to speak of. With the exception of some minor league free agents signings, Jays fans have been left pondering what are the next moves coming from their organization, and what to do with their current roster. Arguably, the biggest point of difference is what to do with Josh Johnson and his future with the Toronto Blue Jays.

If you were unaware, Josh Johnson’s contract ends in 2013 after getting paid $13.75M for the year with the Blue Jays. He will be going into the 2014 season with roughly 7+ years of MLB service as a top tier pitcher. It’s hard to tell where exactly his value will stay going forward, especially with a declining-in-speed fastball and without having thrown a full season in the very talented AL East. There’s a precedent of top tier pitching in the past being awarded overvalued extensions and free agent contracts (Barry Zito, Mike Hampton , John Lackey and A.J. Burnett come to mind), as well as players who do live up to their value, but have very expensive contracts as well (like Jered Weaver, Mike Mussina, CC Sabathia and possibly Cliff Lee). It’s a gamble that Alex Anthopoulos is familiar with, since he signed Jose Bautista to a 5 year/$65M contract after one year of amazing success that may have pointed to being an outlier season. It worked on that deal, but he might not strike gold twice.

Here are the pros and cons to what AA can do with JJ:
1) Sign Josh Johnson To An Extension Before The 2013 Regular Season Begins

+Alex Anthopoulos he may be able to get Johnson a cheaper contract than his future value will be by showing the initiative now as a sign of good faith
+Signing a multi-year extension would solidify 4 Starting Rotation pitchers for the Blue Jays until at least 2015
-Without knowing how Johnson performs in the AL East he could be signed to a huge contract that he’ll never be able to perform up to, thus removing the financial ability to make future big free agent/trade moves
-His injury past might catch up with him, and we’ll be stuck either with lengthy times on the DL or a player that could come back from injury to lose his velocity, then losing ability to pitch as well as past performance, no matter what price of contract

2) Wait Until The Middle Of The 2013 Regular Season To Decide

+A few months pitching in the AL East will make it more apparent how Johnson will pitch in the division in the long term, thus establishing fair value
+If he pitches horrendously, you’re not roped in on a long term contract and can let him walk at the end of the season
+If Anthopoulos is confident in bringing in a different pitcher to the rotation (injured player/prospect), he can trade Johnson before the trade deadline and get valuable assets in return
-He could perform to AL Cy Young/MVP level quality pitching during his 2013 season, resulting in having to offer him a lot more money than if he signed an extension in the offseason
-He may perform well in the first half of the season, be awarded the contract, then either get “found out” by AL East hitters or sustain career-altering injuries after the signing

3) Wait Until The 2013 Offseason To Offer Josh Johnson A Contract

+If he showed brilliant promise in 2013 but was sidelined for a great deal of time, a qualifying offer valued around $13-15M might allow him to perform well for the Jays and re-establish free agent value
+Depending on the success of the 2013 Blue Jays season (including a possible playoff berth/World Series appearance/World Series win), Johnson might agree to less money on a multi-year contract in order to stay with a winning team
=If Johnson is offered a qualifying offer but rejects and signs somewhere else, (unless they have a top 10 protected pick) the new team he signs with will lose a 2014 draft pick
-The 2013 Blue Jays may not be successful, but Johnson as a player could be. He might leave the team after 2013 and sign with a new team after proving he can make it in the AL East
-That new team might be a divisional rival who will have an intimate knowledge of the Blue Jays players

Ultimately, it is up to Alex Anthopoulos to decide what he wants to do. He does have a plethora of options that will come back from injury in the future, with the likes of Kyle Drabek, Drew Hutchison and (very unlikely, but possible) Dustin McGowan able to contribute to the Blue Jays rotation. However, Josh Johnson does have a history of success that can’t be measured by the likes of those mentioned players, even if it comes with the question mark of whether he will stay healthy or not. Personally, I’d love to go for the midseason extension option. It is equally measured in both the risk of not signing Josh Johnson to a steal of a contract and the ability to see results of him pitching in the AL East. There’s always the possibility Josh Johnson would like to sign elsewhere and won’t agree to a midseason extension, however the option to offer a qualifying offer still exists as a final resort. It’s a very difficult decision to make, with good reasoning for each option.

We’d like to hear what you think!

If you live in Toronto or anywhere in Canada or are a baseball fan anywhere on planet Earth and were near a computer, radio or television on November 13th (bad luck number in Miami, good luck number in Toronto) this was probably how you took in one of the biggest trades in sports history. If you’re a fan of the Blue Jays you probably also had a mixed bag of emotions to.

Trades this big don’t happen very often that’s why they’re considered big trades. In baseball big trades don’t typically happen in November either because it’s the month after the season ends and teams haven’t figured out the trade and free agent market enough to do anything crazy. Trades this big also don’t happen to the Blue Jays, to the chagrin of Blue Jays fans for years.

It would be hard enough just trying to trade for one of Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle let alone all 3. The perfect combination of the Marlins needing to dump salary and not having no trade clauses along with the Blue Jays having a very deep farm system to make trades from and having a substantial payroll increase because of increased attendance made this trade possible.

The fact that all the players the Blue Jays acquired have no trade clauses made it a lot easier than it normally would be to get star players to Toronto. It also makes it a lot easier for the Blue Jays to trade any of them to if they were inclined to.

This trade is so big that if the Blue Jays chose not to do anything else for the rest of the offseason, no one could say they’re not contenders. It would be a huge boost if they got someone better than Maicer Izturis to play 2nd, someone better than Emilio Bonifacio or Rajai Davis to play left field, someone better than Adam Lind to play DH, someone better than J.A. Happ to be the 5th starter but even if they don’t they would still be a very good team.

There is still a lot offseason left though which means a lot of time for the Blue Jays to make those upgrades and get even better. It also means all the other American League teams have time to get better to but the Blue Jays just got a huge head start.

July 18, 2012; Chicago, IL, USA; Miami Marlins starting pitcher

It wasn’t long ago that I witnessed the swiftness and thoroughness of a Jeffrey Loria fire sale as I cheered for both the Expos and Jays at the time. I’ve written many articles about the shrewd moves that gave him control over the Marlins at a cost which was a fraction of what they are now worth, and with extremely favourable loans. Everyone thought that he was reinvesting in the team when the new stadium came to be, but now we all know that it wasn’t likely to be his plan for the long term. Seemingly driven by the almighty dollar, he’s one owner that I would steer clear of. It looks like he’s at it again, in Florida this time, the very year his team opened a brand new state of the art stadium. While he could explain the moves made while owner of the Expos by indicating their empty seats and unattractive stadium as culprits, there’s no similar case to be made in Florida.

The Marlins unloaded Omar Infante and Anibal Sanchez to the Tigers in return for minor league players who are cheap, controllable, and one who has some real promise but has had a rough time of late. That trade seemed to make some sense, but it was the Hanley Ramirez deal that had me scratching my head. It was entirely a money move, and while it did bring a significant piece back to Florida, Nate Eovaldi, the value of the return definitely doesn’t match the value of Ramirez. The beginning of another fire sale? It seems likely, although they state publicly that they want to keep some cornerstone pieces in place. After all, someone has to play and draw some fans through the turn gates. How else will Jeffrey Loria pad his pockets? (more…)