We want Dickey, we want Dickey!
I must say yesterday was…intensely stimulating…and a bit exhausting. As I woke up around 7:40 and and went largely until late afternoon sitting in front of my computer completely enamoured with all the R.A. Dickey talk of him being sent to Toronto. This is incredibly exciting that our Blue Jays are close to acquiring a Cy Young winner that will further cement the notion that they’re going for it in 2013 and beyond!!
I found it so amusing interacting with various Jays fans and had to laugh when I came across these tweets because they’re so true!!
Also, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at these hilarious tweets below using Dickey references:
As for my comments on the proposed package, earlier rumours had Gose as part of the deal going to NY which I immediately thought to myself – NO – that’s way too much to give up mainly due to the fact that we will most likely need Gose at some point this year to be up with big club. To me he’s more valuable to the Jays for that reason. Plus, he can take over center field in 2014 if Rasmus puts in a poor showing this year.
For Travis d’Arnaud, a lot of fans don’t seem inclined to want to include him and I get that because he’s a much-hyped prospect that could potentially be an all-star calibre player. But you have to give up something to get something and the Mets weren’t going to accept a J.P. Arencibia & Chad Jenkins package as much as we would hope. In addition, Arencibia is a fine, MLB average back-catcher that has pop which is nothing to shake a stick at. He has value in that he knows the staff and the staff is comfortable with him. I get the feeling too that fans are fearful of what these prospects may develop into (see Michael Young) but at the same time they are young, unproven and as Dirk Hayhurst mentions, are an asset to trade away for established MLB players. Besides, how realistic is it to put the expectation on d’Arnaud that he’s going to be the next Mike Piazza, or Joe Mauer or Johnny Bench!!
Instead of Gose, Noah Syndergaard’s name is now the one being rumoured to go the other way. Yes, this is a biggie, a huge price to pay being #3 on Baseball America’s 2013 prospect list for the Jays. I mean, how do you justify this? For me, it’s all about right now in 2013. Syndergaard only pitched in Low A ball last year and will at least be two years away if everything turns out hunky-dory in his development. Yes two of our previous big three will be gone with this trade, but the system is continually developing names to watch for i.e. John Stilson, Alberto Tirado, Matt Smoral, Marcus Stroman, Sean Nolin, Daniel Norris, Roberto Osuna, and of course Aaron Sanchez. If the Blue Jays are confident they’ll have more players coming up soon through the system, then you make this deal. Not to mention, Anthopoulos apparently is seeking another prospect from the Mets to help offset the value being sent to New York.
As for the swap of Buck for Thole, Mike Puma on Sportsnet590 last night mentioned Anthopoulos wants him simply because he knows how to catch the knuckleball. And indeed he does! In reading Dickey’s book earlier this off-season, which you can read my review about it here, there is a nice anecdote about Thole inside where he explains how it’s done. Yes, it’s kind of sad that Buck will be heading the other way especially after all those nice things he said to Johnson and Buehrle about Toronto, but Toronto needs a familiar backstop to catch Dickey. Toronto simply can’t afford to have someone who can’t catch the pitch put any fear and lack of assuredness into R.A. from throwing it.
In sum it all up, Toronto will be a better team with Dickey on it than without and if the cost of it are these other players, than we do it and move on, and relish the fact that we’ll hopefully be cheering during baseball games in October.
Besides, this looks pretty darn great:
Pumped Up Jays 