The Blue Jays are taking Miami's talent (and contracts) from South Beach
The Blue Jays are still waiting for the MLB to approve the blockbuster trade that has been agreed upon with the Miami Marlins. There does not appear that they can put a stop to this like David Stern did last year with the proposed trade last year with the Chris Paul to the Lakers.
It is interesting to look at this deal not from a Blue Jays point of view but some other vantage point. As for the 3 fans of the Marlins, it is tough. For the few that there were actual fans there is only 1 player left in Miami, OF Giencarlo Stanton. He was on Twitter lat night and said basically ``Ok, i`m pissed``. Clearly he was not a fan of the deal. One can only presume that fish fans feel the same. Miami just moved into a new stadium last year and spent like drunken sailors to make a splash. They hired Ozzie Guillen. All of that turned out to be a colossal failure. Now the Marlins are operating under the marketing slogan ``The Marlins are ALL IN...Toronto``.
Not a minor point either is the money, and not just the salaries that are being picked up by the Jays. Florida is a no tax state and the contract that each player signed is going to be a little less then it was. The numbers work out to roughly 14% of 45% of the players salaries are going to be taxed. Players are taxed on the 81 games they play in Canada.
It is interesting to note that the Marlins have had fire sales in the past, but never to this extent. This time it was the Blue Jays that were the benefactors of this method. Jays fans are not used to the kind of buzz that this deal has created not just in Toronto but all over Major League Baseball but the US and A. When Miami went on the spending spree last season, baseball people were already apparently worried that if their experiment did not work the possibility that a deal like that could happen. What was even more of a sign was that one of the big ticket contracts that were given out included a no-trade clause ..guess that should have been a warning sign. That is a possible good thing for the Jays too as they are not restricted buy such a restriction as well, especially with the deals being very back loaded.
What was always aggravating was that people were always blaming the Jays for not going out and spending. It appears that this was part of the plan all along. If they had spent just for the sake of spending and not doing it wisely. Building a team and then filling it with high price players when he could. People seemed to always place blame on the Jays GM for not spending on past Free Agents. Just remember that it takes 2 to Tango. Just because you have money and a spot doesn't mean that that the player will be willing to play for your team. Canada has never been a destination spot for big time free agents so to get the big names is not as easy as just spending money. What Alex Anthopoulos was able to do was get last years free agents...this year instead. This time via the trade rout. In the big picture it does not matter what method was used the players are coming now... whether they wanted to or not.
The great thing right now is you know that the Jays are ready to put the big plan into motion and it is only November and there are still winter meetings to be held where a lot of talks take place among GM`s plus free agents are yet to be signed. There is plenty of time to continue tweaking the roster. You never know, just because these players are on the way to Toronto right now does not mean that they will be on the opening day roster. Just remember Mike Avilas was brought over from Boston for Manager John Farrell...he was traded for a power arm to help out the bullpen and is now in Cleveland. There seem to be a lot of catchers on the roster and Adam Lind and Colby Rasmus are far from safe with holes that can be upgraded at second base and left field. Stay Tuned this could just be the tip of the iceberg!
Oh yeah, there is still no manager in place.
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