Where Are They Now

October 2, 2012; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Brandon League (31) pitches in the ninth inning against the San Francisco Giants at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY SportsIf you’re a sports fan it’s very easy to not agree with your team when they make a trade. You might not like what they got in return or you’re angry at what they may have given up. A portion of the Toronto Blue Jays fan base isn’t happy with the players the Blue Jays traded to get R.A. Dickey and the players from Miami. It’ll be a few years before we see which teams won the trades. We can however look at the Blue Jays current core players minus the players they acquired this offseason and see if we miss any of the players the Jays traded to acquire them.

The Blue Jays acquired Brandon Morrow from the Seattle Mariners in December of 2009 for Brandon League and Johermyn Chávez. Unlike most trades no one had a problem with the trade for the Blue Jays because Alex Anthopoulos made it clear Morrow was going to get a chance to start. A good reliever is useless to a rebuilding team and Brandon League was not even that back then if you can believe it. Now he finds himself playing with the Dodgers for a contract worth just 7 and a half million less than arguably the best Blue Jays starting pitcher R.A. Dickey. The Blue Jays got the better player and are saving themselves some dough. Johermyn Chávez currently has a minor league contract with the Chicago Cubs.

Earlier in 2009, July to be exact the Blue Jays acquired Edwin Encarnacion, and relievers Jose Roenicke and Zach Stewart (was a starting pitching prospect at the time) from the Cincinnati Reds for Scott Rolen. Rolen had asked out of town to be close to his family but the Blue Jays wanted and got Zach Stewart with Encarnacion as a throw in. That throw in is now the Blue Jays clean-up hitter and is coming off a 40 home run season. He’ll also just be 30 years old on opening day. Rolen is now close to retiring or at least a year away from retiring. Rolen was a fan favorite during his time with the Blue Jays but nobody’s missed him recently with Encarnacion’s power and Brett Lawrie, big fan favorite playing 3rd.

Speaking of Brett Lawrie in December of 2010 the Blue Jays acquired him from the Milwaukee Brewers for Shaun Marcum. This trade had some Blue Jays fans scratching their heads. The Blue Jays had just won 85 games and fans were expecting a possible playoff push in 2011. After all Shaun Marcum was the Blue Jays Opening Day starter in 2010 and trading him for a 20 year old player that hadn’t played above Double A doesn’t scream contention. Alex Anthopoulos even admitted he was making the 2011 team worse to help make the team better in the long term.

Shaun Marcum was also a free agent at the end of the 2012 season. As you can tell by looking at all the moves the Blue Jays made this offseason they wouldn’t have retained him anyways. Shaun Marcum is still a free agent as of right now so he’s not exactly one of the most sought out after starting pitchers. They now have a better current rotation without Marcum and have Brett Lawrie.

Colby Rasmus is one of the players the Blue Jays acquired that hasn’t panned out according to plan. Rasmus is good defensively and hits one out of the yard every now and then. When the Blue Jays acquired Rasmus from the St Louis Cardinals a lot of fans said they gave up too much to get him. Don’t think you can call a bench player and 4 relievers too much. A lot of people think the Blue Jays “gave up” Edwin Jackson but they really just borrowed him from the White Sox in exchange for 2 relievers Jason Frasor and Zack Stewart. The Jays also traded 2 relievers, Octavio Dotel and Marc Rzepczynski to the Cardinals and career long bench player Corey Patterson. Even if Rasmus was horrible, which he wasn’t and isn’t the Blue Jays losing those players are nothing. Edwin Jackson was also a free agent at the end of that season and by looking at the Jays current rotation they set their sights a lot higher than Jackson.

The Blue Jays acquired their franchise player Jose Bautista in 2008 from the Pittsburgh Pirates for catcher Robinzon Díaz. The Blue Jays acquired Bautista just for the sake of having a utility player on the bench. He turned out to be a tad better than a bench player. Diaz has been jumping from team to team on minor league contracts since. After what Bautista turned into even if Diaz turned into Pudge Rodriguez himself nobody would have missed him.

Maybe Travis D’Arnaud, Noah Syndaaguard, Justin Nicolino and the other players the Blue Jays have traded away this offseason turn into more than what the other players they’ve traded away became. If the players the Jays acquired this offseason have great and hopefully playoff filled careers you won’t even care.