Alan Ashby spoke during the game today regarding a tweet that Mike Wilner shared with us on air which concerned players that Alex Anthopoulos may target by this year’s trading deadline. He reminded me that AA loves the young, high-upside, and controllable talent that he’s grown accustomed to acquiring (see Rasmus, Colby; Escobar, Yunel). So this led me to thinking about players out there that might be possibilities…AND the first name that jumped into my head was Stephen Drew – the young shortstop that has recently come under scrutiny from the Managing Partner of the Dbacks. And we all know how AA loves to acquire players who aren’t getting along with their respective organizations. 
If you click on the link to Baseball Reference, you’ll see some good years out of the shortstop, and then also some down years. Overall though he remains a good player at a premium position.
Some positives for acquiring Drew:
- He’s entering his prime as he’s only 28 this year.
- He has a hefty mutual option of $13M for next year which likely will be declined (he’s not worth that much) BUT he’s still under team control till after the 2013 season.
- Again he plays a premium position.
Some negatives for getting Drew:
- Jays already have Escobar & Johnson in the middle infield this year and Hechavarria is in the mix for next year, so why meddle with this already muddy situation? Unless of course AA also deals Johnson next month as well?
- Where does he play? (see first point)
- His career averages are quite similar to Kelly Johnson already.
- Finally, what will it cost? I could imagine Arizona may just as well ask for Hechavarria….
- And will the Dbacks even entertain the thought of trading him because of course they kinda need him to get back healthy and be a big bat in their lineup (Dbacks currently sit 6.5 games back of the Dodgers).
SOOO, given the above, I think I’ve convinced myself that he wouldn’t be a good fit for the Jays. However, could Anthopoulos use him in a 3-way deal to get something else he wants? (see RASMUS, COLBY & EDWIN JACKSON).
So who else may be targeted by AA??
Pumped Up Jays 
To address two points you made:
1 – he’s 29 not 28 (will be 30 before next season starts), one year younger than Johnson with a lot less of a track record, and
2 – if his option is declined (as it most certainly will be) he is a free agent THIS offseason (FA 2013 in b-r means before the 2013 season).
So why take on the remaining ~$3 million of his deal for the rest of this year and the requirement to pay his $1.35 million buyout for a player who will hit free agency (represented by Scott Boras) in 3 months. Plus Johnson as you said is basically a wash but already plays 2B which is what you’d be moving Drew to as both Escobar and Hechavarria are vastly superior to Drew defensively.
This is a good thought but it is so similar to what they did last year with KJ and it doesn’t make sense to move two of Escobar, Hechavarria and KJ to make room for Drew on this year’s roster. If they lose KJ to free agency and Hech isn’t ready then maybe Drew is a candidate to sign this offseason. But again he is represented by Boras.
He’s a free agent after this season so why are you saying he’s under team control for next year? He has over 5 years service time entering this season.
You are correct. My mistake. I misread the asterisk on BR.
I think AA will be looking for young control-able pieces like Bryan LaHair
He certainly could be, but there’s no indication the Cubs want to move him since he’s cheap and controllable. He’s been out in LF recently for them if I’m not mistaken.
Great article but if you look at baseball-reference.com you’ll see that he actually IS a free agent after this year, and not under team control through 2013.
Hech isn’t ready for next year!
Well, he is in AAA now….what’s the next logical step?