May 11, 2013; Kansas City, MO, USA; New York Yankees left fielder Vernon Wells (12) runs the bases after hitting a 2 run home run in the fifth inning against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. Mandatory Credit: John Rieger-USA TODAY Sports

It’s surprising but it’s certainly not jaw-dropping.

Vernon is just 34-years-old and his last big season was just in 2010. In 2010 Vernon Wells made the all-star team. That had to be one of the factors that helped the Toronto Blue Jays trade him to the LA Angels.

When thinking about Vernon’s great start to 2013, it occurred to me he could not just be an All-Star again this season, but that me he could in fact start the All-Star game!

The All-Star game has its flaws.

Fans vote for the players that are in it but there is no limit to how many players can go from one team. So big market teams tend to have more players on the team, while the less popular teams All-Stars sit at home. Like Edwin Encarnacion last season.

You may have heard the New York Yankees are a big market team, so they tend to vote more All-Stars to the game than anyone else.

So you’ve got to love Vernon Well’s chances of getting voted in. If he continues playing well he could get enough votes from all baseball fans not just Yankee fans to start the game.

Vernon Wells starting the all-star game could mean players like Jose Bautista, Melky Cabrera, Mike Trout, Josh Hamilton and all the other outfielders that you actually expect to be stars could start the game on the bench or end up not making the team at all. Because of Vernon Wells!

Vernon’s got as good a chance as anyone in the AL to make the All-Star game this year. Whether he starts it or comes off the bench it’s going to feel weird seeing him at the all star game in a Yankee’s uniform. That’s saying something because it already feels weird seeing him in a Yankee’s uniform.

Plus seeing bitter Jays fans get mad at Vernon for being good with the Yankees is fun.

But hey I love me some weirdness and being a passenger on the bitter train so if he continues hitting well or even if he doesn’t he’s got my vote.

Where does Mark Buehrle and his contract fit with the Blue Jays. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

While the Jays were able to mount an epic comeback on Monday night after Mark Buehrle gave up seven runs to the Rays, that sort of offensive firepower is not the sort of run support  Buehrle can expect  in every start. Monday marked the fifth time in seven starts this season that Buehrle that Buehrle gave up five runs or more. Normally if a pitcher is performing consistently at this level you would try him in the bullpen or even assign him to the minors, however when that pitcher is owed $48 million over the next three seasons those options become much less palatable.

Most of the time Blue Jay’s GM  Alex Anthopoulos is lauded for being able to dump Vernon Wells and his bloated contract on the Angels it seems he may have picked up something similar in Buehrle in his deal with the Marlins. Obviously the Wells contract, which had four years and $85 million remaining on it, was a much bigger burden than what the Jay’s picked up in Buehrle. There are however other factors besides the money to take into consideration when looking at how much a contract burdens a team.

One reason Wells received such a lucrative deal was because of his performance at a premium defensive position. As Wells defensive abilities have declined he has found himself in left field, while this makes him theoretically less valuable it also allows that position to be occupied by a higher WAR player, similarly he can be moved around in the batting order to come up in less crucial situation or less often in general.

In Buehrle’s case however it doesn’t matter which rotation spot he holds, none of them provide any leeway for regression the way defensive placement or batting ninth can. Even in Well’s worst days with the Jays, or Angels for that matter, no matter how many high fastballs he whiffed on, or how many times he popped up to the infield, none of those actions would put the club down 5 runs.

Former Jays Albatross Vernon Wells rounds the bases after hitting a home run off of Mark Buehrle. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-USA TODAY Sports

Therein lies the real problem with Buehrle. Moving to the American League East after a career in the AL Central and one year in the NL East Buehrle has seen a spike in his home run rate, on pace to give up 52 long balls over the course of the season. This is well over his previous career high of 36 allowed in a season, and more than double his career average of 24.6 home runs per season. This is a troubling trend for any pitcher on the wrong side of 30 regardless of what type of money is owed them.

The question that really needs to be asked though. Is the money the Jays owe Buehrle only well spent if he is successful? One can argue that taking on Buehrle and fellow overpay Jose Reyes from the Marlins, the Jays not only bought the services of those players (and Josh Johnson), but also bought the club relevance. Without picking up the contract of Buehrle would the club have gotten a chance to sign Melky Cabrera or lock up the reigning Cy Young winner for only $30 million. These team friendly deals that the Jays handed out could in theory cancel out the bad value on Buehrle’s contract making it easier to stomach. And even if his effectiveness has been questionable so far this season, Buehrle’s true calling card throughout his career has been his durability and consistency, for any club hoping to contend innings need to get eaten and how much is it worth having someone who you know should be able to do that for you?

While his ERA sits at an ugly 7.02 Buehrle has still been pitching fairly deep in the games, and although pitching like garbage for 7 inning is less than ideal, somebody needs to pitch those innings. Even with his homer happy tendencies it won’t seem to have a dramatic impact on bullpen usage, as believe it or not despite his rocky start,with troubling signs of decline and adjusting to a new division, Buehrle is still the model of consistency on pace for 195 innings. As long as you have no one clearly better to pitch those innings Buehrle is still a valuable cog on the 25 man roster. However if the money he is owed results in him blocking a young pitcher who could be more effective from pitching the picture becomes a little murkier as to what value he can provide.

Will Buehrle and his contract become nothing but a burden on the team, or will he be a valuable fixture in the rotation logging innings and always remembered for being a part of the franchise changing trade? Only time (and home runs) will tell.

Apr 13, 2013; Cleveland, OH, USA; Chicago White Sox right fielder Alex Rios (51) tosses his helmet after flying out in the fifth inning against the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

This week Alex Rios comes back to Toronto with the White Sox and Vernon Wells comes back to Toronto with the New York Yankees.

If one of your favorite things about attending Blue Jays game is booing ex-Jays then boy is this week for you!

Even though people that work at Rogers Centre have no political power they would not be wrong in declaring it National Boo Week in Toronto.

It’s not just because Rios and Wells are in different uniforms that Blue Jays fans are going to boo. They’d probably be getting booed just as much if they were still Jays.

In fact let’s pretend we live in a world where salary dumping doesn’t exist. Reader discretion is advised.

Alex Rios is now 32 years old. From 2010 until the end of 2014 the Blue Jays would have been paying him over 58 million dollars. That seems like a lot of money because of how awful he was in his last season with the Jays in 2009, which is all people seem to remember. It’s very easy to forget he had two 5 WAR seasons in a row with mid 300 on base percentages for the Jays in 2007 and 2008.

Any Blue Jays fan that says Rios isn’t talented is lying.

Even though he’s had 2 good seasons with the White Sox in 2010 and 2012 he was bad in 2011 so it’s not like he suddenly found consistency in Chicago.

Jose Bautista may have never gotten playing time if Rios was still a Jay which would have been very bad. But if Bautista did get to play and Rios was still on the team Travis Snider might have got the opportunity to develop properly in the minor leagues. But chances are Snider still would have been a bust and Rios still would have been an upgrade over all the players the Jays have had playing left field. Melky Cabrera has been better than Rios the last 3 years but it remains to be seen if he’ll be better than Rios in 2013 and 2014.

The thing about Rios is he just plays baseball half-heartedly and is annoyingly inconsistent which can get on anybody’s nerves so he’d probably still be getting booed as a Toronto Blue Jay whether he’s having a good season or not. After all R.A. Dickey got booed for being bad in just his 2nd start!

Then there’s Vernon Wells. Wells makes double the money Rios does with way less than double the production. Unlike Rios, Wells hasn’t gotten back to being a decent player. Since the Jays dumped Wells in the offseason after the 2010 season Rasmus has been marginally better than Wells. Rasmus has just been mediocre for a LOT less money. If Wells was still a Jay between his mediocrity and contract would still be getting booed.

Oh yes Lyle Overbay and MAYBE Ben Francisco and Jayson Nix will get booed just because their ex-Jays in Yankee uniforms but at least none of them are still supposed to be Blue Jays.

Feb 21, 2013; Port St Lucie, FL, USA; New York Mets starting pitcher Shaun Marcum (38) poses for a picture during photo day at Tradition Field. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes good teammates and good people are not the same thing. There was no one to rally around. Scott Rolen would have been the best choice as a leader but from the moment he got here, even though he was a true pro and played hard, he didn’t want to be here. A lot of players in MLB thought the same. We were turning into the place to sign when your first choices are gone. The fans deserved better than a professional team. Sure they won more than they lost but winning in 4th place is still losing. For our Home Opener we had to face a very strong and determined Boston Red Sox team. Perennial playoff contenders. How would the 2008 Jays stack up? For this game ans actually the 3 game series…pretty good.

Date: April 4, 2008
Location: Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
Game: Boston Red Sox vs. YOUR Toronto Blue Jays
Weather: Check an Almanac…it’s dry inside and that’s what matters…

Shaun Marcum got the call after the Jays returned home from a 1-2 start in Yankee Stadium. The pitcher for this game would be the knucklehead, Tim Wakefield. The Jays have never been that great against knuckleballers but for this day at least they were on top of that bouncy pitch. Wakefield almost had a quality start with 6 innings and 3 runs given up. Marcum went 7 innings giving up 3 as well. It came down to the bullpens. David Aardsma, Javier Lopez and Manny Delcarmen each gave up a run in an inning of work while the duo of Brian Tallet and Jeremy Accardo threw up goose eggs. The result was a 6-3 Jays win. The first of a sweep they would lay on the Red Sox. The hitting star was really no one in particular. Most Jays had 1 hit (Lyle Overbay had 2). The only Jay to get more than 1 RBI was Frank Thomas with 2. A very well rounded team win.

We would be relegated again to cheer on individual performances. My favourite is one I literally discovered while researching this article. Halladay became the first pitcher to have a 5–0 record against the Yankees in a season, since Luis Tiant accomplished the feat in 1974. I was 1 (grumble grumble)!!! He also became the second Jay to have two 20 win seasons (Clemens in ’97 & ’98). Still…we finished fourth. Dammit. Perhaps 2009 will do us better…

Oct 23, 2011; Arlington, TX, USA; MLB former player Frank Thomas before game four of the 2011 World Series between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals at Rangers Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Tired of losing, we perused the papers and that new fangled intranet to see just what JP had in store. To build off of what was a pretty decent 2006 season and hopefully turn the tides and be that man to lead us into the playoff promised land. Except this is the year of the Vernon Wells contract. The Tomo Ohka, John Thomson, Victor Zambrano debacle in the rotation. B.J. Ryan was lost to injury. Dustin McGowan pitched the most starts in a season he ever would and Frank Thomas came here to DH and pad his stats and launch Hall of Fame clinching HR number 500. We lose reliable Ted Lilly to to Cubs and replace him with Ohka?? This was going to be a strange season in Blue Jays land…and a very lucrative year for the medical community as 12 different players succumbed to injury. It was a wild year in all the ways you wouldn’t want it to be.

Date: April 9, 2007
Location: Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
Game: Kansa City Royals vs. YOUR Toronto Blue Jays
Weather:…likely better than Minnesota….

We would send up the enigma that is A.J. Burnett to the mound against Odalis Perez?? I smell a whoopin’…and I smelled right people. Odalis and some guy named Jason Stanridge combined to surrender 8 earned runs in 4 innings. Burnett, on the other side of the coin, pitched a good above average game giving up 1 earned with 3 walks and 5 Ks. Scott Downs, Jeremy Accardo and Victor Zambrano finished them there Royals. They stepped up and protected the integrity of the club that had been starting to sway a bit. The difference with Gibbons is that he loves to let the kids play (from the Bobby Cox school of knockdowns). 9-1 was the final as we out hit them Royals 14-4.

It would key a brutal season where people dropped like flies from injury, infighting is just a waste. I would rather converse….but maybe that’s the old school talking. I should have said cheque…lol. Thank goodness the debacle of ’07 is over…but not the end of the debacle…just where would you like me to put it?

June 17, 2011; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Ted Lilly (29) in the dugout after he was pulled in the 6th inning of the game against the Houston Astros at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

Thing is, there wasn’t much coming up from the farm…at least not in quality. This team was built to hit and was made up of whom we thought were true professionals. How so? The Blue Jays as a team fanned less than 1000 times this season. That is some pretty decent hitting. So who would be the first team to get smoked by our new found power in the Rogers Centre?

Date: April 8, 2006
Location: Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada
Game: Minnesota Twins vs. YOUR Toronto Blue Jays (anyone else who has followed this series notice we seem to always be the team facing the Central division first thing? Hmmmm…)
Weather: will always be there

This Twins team was pesky and no one moreso than Johan Santana. He had a rubber arm and a filthy fastball and left players in fits. He took the mound against our proverbial Cy Young candidate in Halladay. Opening series like these are always fantastic because you get both teams number 1s and if you enjoy the pitching aspect of the game as much as the hitting this type of match-up was always special. So special that this game went exactly as it should have…if you were a Jays fan of course.

Halladay went 7.2 innings, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) on 4 strikeouts. The blemish was the homers to Tony Batista and Shannon Stewart. Both of them came back to Toronto and hit 4 of the 5 hits that the entire Twins team would get on that day. Scott Schoeneweis got the 8th inning hold and Ryan came in to shut the door with two strikeouts and a save to add to his stat book. This was a great sign for the year.

In 2006 we finished in 2nd which would be the first time we were higher than third place since 1993. That’s a long time to suck. So the fans bought into the team and were flying high until a couple instances derailed the club (see Ted Lilly getting into a punch up with John Gibbons and Shea Hillenbrand‘s sinking ship fiasco). It took the focus off of what was a pretty good year. 87-75 is a great record to build on. Were we on the right track? 2007 would be the watershed year for Ricciardi to prove 2006 wasn’t an aberration. So here came 2007…

May 3, 2011; Flushing, NY, USA; New York Mets assistant general manager J.P. Ricciardi before the game against the San Francisco Giants at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: William Perlman/The Star-Ledger via USA TODAY Sports

With Roy Halladay coming off a Cy Young season, Ted Lilly and Miguel Batista settling into the rotation and the likes of a ramped up Vernon Wells, Carlos Delgado and Eric Hinske, we had the makings of a decent team. Maybe not playoff caliber yet but good enough to see light at the end of the tunnel. Then we started to play. The beginnings of April were, in a word, horrid.

Date: April 5, 2004
Location: The SkyDome, Toronto, ON, Canada
Game: Detroit Tigers vs. YOUR Toronto Blue Jays
Weather: …only weather here were the dark clouds hanging over our impending doom…

When you first see the match up of Jason Johnson vs. Roy Halladay you would think that the game was a gimme. A shutout and blowout waiting to happen…and it was. Only it was the Tigers who would bash us all around the dome. It is here we realize the Halladay may not be at his best during the first month of the season. As long as the others pick him up it should be ok.

The only pick me ups on this day were Johnson’s 6 innings with no runs and 4 hits. Halladay got rocked to the tune of 6.2 innings 10 hits (including homeruns by Carlos Pena, Rondell White and Ivan Rodriguez) 7 runs, 6 earned, 2 walks and 9 strikeouts. Strikeouts are great except when coupled with just as many hits. You could see the writing on the wall already. 24 pitchers would be used this season, along with 23 men in the field. 47 men playing in the majors in one year. That is doom spelled…well dooooooooooom.

In looking back it truly seemed there was no vision to this team. When Russ Adams is your first draft pick ever, it speaks volumes to how Ricciardi didn’t have the right men evaluating the talent that the organization needed. He drafted on major league need as opposed to best player available. He always had an excuse and over time it would drive the fan base mental. We never knew what to expect. We tried to watch them. We tried to love our team as much as we could. Unfortunately, when you see the Red Sox and Yankees spending ridiculous money for all the best players, you were left to wonder why you should even bother watching the team. There was no post season to wish for. Just the next season, hoping it would be better…was 2005 better?

Sep 21, 2011; Toronto, ON, Canada; Los Angeles Angels left fielder Vernon Wells (10) reacts after striking out in the 9th inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre. The Angels beat the Blue Jays 7-2. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

With all their injuries and lack of offseason activity Yankee fans seem to be turning on the Yankees for the same reason Dr. Evil was hostile towards his son Scott. They’re not quite evil enough.

The Yankees seem to be using Dr. Evil logic in their latest move. Why trade for a productive player when we can trade for Vernon Wells? (Yankees GM Brian Cashman puts pinky at the end of lip).

It’s safe to say paying 13 million of the 42 million on Vernon Wells contract doesn’t have that typical evil Yankee feel to it as signing the top 2 or 3 free agents would but it could still be something.

Yes the LA Angels are still crazy for taking Vernon Wells contract. They’re just not as crazy as most people like to think.

EVERYONE seems to forget how good Wells was in his last season with the Blue Jays and how that increased his trade value and was a part of the Angels decision.

In 2010 Wells put up a 3.8 WAR, hit 31 homeruns, had a 331 on base percentage, slugged 515 and had an OPS of 847! He even made the All-Star team that year! Wells was also only 32 at the time.

For a big market team like the Angels that are always in win now mode and seem to have endless amounts of money having an overpaid Wells seemed to make some sense if he could be more 2010 for the rest of his contract and less 2007 – 2009. The Angels were also desperate for offense after not being able to sign Carl Crawford or Adrian Beltre.

Unfortunately for the Angels Wells went back to being the Vernon Wells Blue Jays fans remember the last 2 seasons.

So why would the Yankees want him now?

Partly for the same reason the Angels wanted him, desperation.

Wells can still play a mean outfield. He still has some power as he hit 25 homeruns in 2011 and 11 in just 77 games in 2012. Now he’ll be playing half his games at hitter friendly Yankee Stadium as opposed to pitcher friendly Angel Stadium which will only help his power numbers. The Angels aren’t desperate for any fire power they can get right now and the Yankees are so it makes some sense for them.

Most importantly the Blue Jays host the Yankees at Rogers Centre September 17-19. The Blue Jays hopeful first playoff race games against the Yankees in 20 years just got a lot more fun and interesting to watch with Wells in a Yankees uniform.

Jun 12, 2012; Toronto, ON, Canada; Former Toronto Blue Jays player Carlos Delgado (25) and his wife with kids from a charity he supports during the game against the Washington Nationals at the Rogers Centre. The Nationals beat the Blue Jays 4-2. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

More than anything the new economic landscape was territory that was learned on the fly. There was never the dichotomy between haves and have nots as it was in 1997 leading into 1998. Pay disparity was becoming an issue: especially with the frugal sensibilities of Interbrew. How would Gord Ash deal with the have not realities of a city turning their backs on a struggling team? For a cyclical game this was still the beginning of a long and drawn out cycle. Hello to 1998…The Era of Tim Johnson…eek.

Date: April 1, 1998
Location: The SkyDome, Toronto, ON, Canada
Game: Minnesota Twins vs. YOUR Toronto Blue Jays
Weather: (insert clever joke here)

At least we got to watch another mind blowing Cy Young season form Roger Clemens (and the dawn of the HGH era…umm…yeah). The natural choice to open the season against the Twins and former St. Louis Cardinal Bob Tewksbury, a wily veteran and three former Jays: Paul Molitor, Orlando Merced and Otis Nixon. First glance says pitchers duel with the edge going to the Jays with Jose Canseco (in his last gasp of respectability) Shannon Stewart, Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green leading the charge. At least there was that, along with the beginning of a wonderfully productive tenure from catcher Darrin Fletcher. The Blue Jays got out of the gates against a truly inferior team. Roger Clemens gave up a mere run in 7 innings, though the strikeout total of 3 was a bit of an aberration.

Tewksbury held his own giving up only 3 runs through 6, including a 2 run round tripper from the enigmatic Jose Cruz Jr. Kelvim Escobar gave up a run in the eighth to make matters a bit more interesting but big free agent signing Randy Myers shut it down in the ninth for a 3-2 win in front of 41, 387…again not even a sellout. And the big free agent signing was hardly that as we eventually would dump him on the San Diego Padres to get out from the other two years. I knew San Diego was always run oddly for a long time but that coup is almost as grand as the more recent Vernon Wells dump off to the Anaheim Angels.

Another lost season, though we did finish with an 88-74 record but only good enough for third. People were truly beginning to wonder if baseball would have any relevance after the strike. Toronto had not looked this gloomy since Tim Johnson was fighting for our freedoms….oh wait no! Cmoooooon 1999…

Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Let’s take a step back for a second and look at why Vernon Wells received so much money in the first place.

The year was 2006. John Gibbons was the manager entering his third season and was leading a team that had Reed Johnson as leadoff batter and Russ Adams at shortstop. Over the course of a tumultuous season that included public altercations with Shea Hillenbrand and Ted Lilly, the Blue Jays rose to an 87-75 record, good for 2nd in the AL East and the first time this had been accomplished for the team since the 1993 World Series team. This was in no small part thanks to the wonderful offensive and defensive output from Vernon Wells.

Over the course of 2006, Vernon Wells sported a .303/.357/.542 line, 32 HR’s, 106 RBI, 92 Runs, 17 Stolen Bases, .380 wOBA, 128 wRC+ and a UZR/150 of 8.2, garnering a 5.8 fWAR for the year. More importantly, he was entering the final year of his contract with the Blue Jays in 2007 after making a paltry $4.3M for his 2006 efforts. J.P. Ricciardi, the former Blue Jays GM, decided that his team should offer Vernon Wells a contract extension, as the team was very close to making the playoffs. Wells was awarded a 7 year/$126M backloaded contract extension worth an AAV of $18M. A move meant to signal the turning of the tide for Blue Jays fans ultimately become our bane.

2007 was Vernon Wells’ worst season as a starter with a .245/.304/.402 slash line and 16 HR’s over 149 games. After suffering a shoulder injury during the season, his defense would never recover to its previous Gold Glove caliber. Over 2008-2009 Vernon Wells was last and second last respectively in UZR/150 out of all centre fielders with 850+ innings. His offensive numbers declined down to his earlier years. It was only in 2010 (in Alex Anthopoulos’ first regular season) that Vernon Wells showed promise of a return to grace, sporting 31 HR’s and a .515 Slugging Percentage. However, at that point he was earning $21M (including signing bonuses) and still maintained defense worse than league average. His contract was eating up monetary flexibility that would have restricted our new GM’s ability to rebrand and fix the team. And with a full no-trade clause, it seemed nigh impossible that a trade would ever get accomplished.

Until that fateful afternoon.

Looking back at Vernon Wells’ time with the Blue Jays prior to 2006, it looked like a good idea at the time. What Ricciardi did in offering a contract extension was a smart idea at the time, seeing as Wells sported 16.6 fWAR over the 4 previous seasons before the signing. The fault lied in the amount offered. Ricciardi was notorious for offering way too much money based on what a player was worth at the time of signing the contract. He had also offered Alex Rios a 7 year/$70M contract and waived him for nothing a year later. Giving Vernon Wells 5 years of $21-23M/year money despite never finishing higher than 8th in MVP voting was a move that made sense to nobody but our GM.

Fortunately, Alex Anthopoulos has ridden us of that contract and only had to pay $5M of the total contract. If he never pulled it off, we’d still be stuck with Vernon Wells and his albatross of a contract. In no way would AA be able to have the financial flexibility to pull off the trades with Miami and New York if we were still stuck paying $21M/year until 2014 on a bench player. It’s been only 2 years, but ever since that trade the Blue Jays have been on the slow incline up towards greatness. It’ll be interesting to see how the recent off-season acquisitions will be talked about in 2 years time.