Alright Jays fans...I know we look at the Jays in 27 game segments but it is time to hold our first AA meeting...AA being Alex Anthopoulos...32 year old rookie GM of YOUR TORONTO BLUE JAYS...I am a fan so far...in early October of 2009 Jays President and CEO Paul Beeston made his way to Baltimore where the Jays were in a series vs the Orioles amidst rumors of unrest in the clubhouse vs Cito Gaston...in the process Beeston fired GM JP Riccardi...Beeston summoned for AA to his hotel suite - AA knew he was meeting with the President to be formally informed of what he knew second hand just took place which was the dismissal of JP...after hearing that official word from Beeston AA knew what followed was "meeting adjourned"...instead what followed was Paul Beeston informing AA that the keys to the franchise were now in fact in AA's hands...Anthopoulos told us himself that he didn't see that coming...
On the surface it looks like an odd choice to hire such a young person to head-up your franchise...and that youngster has no MLB experience as a player...but if you look deeper you see that this is hardly unprecedented in the American League...of the 14 GM's in the AL only 2 had MLB careers (ex-Jays outfielder Kenny Williams runs the Chicago White Sox and Billy Beane, who spent parts of 6 seasons as a back-up outfielder, is the boss in Oakland) and notice that the Red Sox-Angels-Rangers-Rays-Twins are all currently contending teams in the AL and all have GM's under the age of 40...We see the background now of how AA became our leader...now after approx 9 months on the job let's have our first AA meeting and look at some of the results...
My name is Craig Ballard, and I am a Jays fan...
The first off-season for AA saw the GM pluck guys off of what seemed to be the scrapheap...SS Alex Gonzalez...C John Buck...Closer Kevin Gregg...a trade for Brandon Morrow who Seattle seemed ready to give up on...an early season trade for Fred Lewis who San Francisco had certainly given up on...
Plus the signing of Cuban defector Adeiny Hechavarria (significant in that Hechavarria is a sure-fire stud at Shortstop, and at 21 years old provides a bright future at that position...also to land him required out-bidding the New York Yankees and to have that financial commitment from ownership was very encouraging)...
We know this past off-season also was the stage for the Roy Halladay trade...I was a fan of the return on that trade too...Kyle Drabek is currently at New Hampshire (Double-A level) where he recently threw a no-hitter, and is performing to the point where the promotion to AAA Las Vegas is surely immanent...an outfielder named Michael Bradley came back to T.O. in that trade and was subsequently traded to Oakland for first baseman, or third baseman, of the future Brett Wallace (Wallace too has had the type of season that demands a promotion at some point soon - currently at AAA Las Vegas)...Travis d'Arnaud is the 21 year old catching prospect that was the third asset in return for Doc, and d'Arnaud is currently off to a nice start at A-Ball in Dunedin...
Then came the first MLB Entry Draft under the AA regime...do you think AA has a liking for tall tall tall pitchers who have that built-in downward plane to their pitches?!?! Witness this - AA drafted an amazing 32 pitchers in his first draft...3 are 5'10"...2 are 5'11"...the other 27 are between 6'0" and 6'6"!!!...I have never seen a draft like that before, and although guys like Deck McGuire (6'6") - Aaron Sanchez (6'4") - Noah Syndergaard (6'5") - Asher Wojciechowski (6'4") are not familiar to you now - they will be...this draft class has the chance to provide numerous quality arms in this organization, and AA will have great depth from which to A) trade for MLB position players or B) have as quality/emerging back-fill players for other guys higher up in the organization to be traded...My name is Craig Ballard and I am a Jays fan...
Now we approach another first for AA...his first Trade-Deadline...
A significant move has already been made...it is a dictionary definition of buy-low sell-high...the surging Alex Gonzalez gets moved to Hotlanta, and in return 27 year old SS Yunel Escobar joins the Jays...Gonzalez is surprising most people this year...the 33 year old leads all MLB SS in HR's...Doubles...Extra-Base hits...the 27 year old Escobar on the other hand is at the absolute bottom of all offensive categories...yet I love this trade...a MAJOR factor for any Jays move is the idea of is the asset coming back controllable?!?! Controllable meaning a decent/acceptable annual salary with several years left on the contract...Escobar is under control until after 2013 which is perfect and necessary for AA...Anthopoulos believes in his rejuvenated Scouting Staff and they have watched Escobar in batting practise to make sure that the raw power he has shown in his brief career is still there (he has 0 HR's this year...make that 1...he literally just hit a Grand Slam as I write this!!!)...AA has been assured that all that is required to get Escobar back to being a top SS is a tweak here-and-there in his swing...if that is accurate then AA already has a check mark in a column that went unchecked for the entire 8-year JP Riccardi era...that column being addressing the SS situation short, and long term...between Hechevarria and Escobar AA must feel very good about the direction of that position going forward...JP never could get that situation straightened out...remember JP's first draft pick ever was SS Russ Adams who was supposed to be the Jays SS for many years to come and we know that did not work out...
I look for several Jays deals to go through in the next 2 weeks...AA insists that he is not actively shopping any Jays player, but I certainly believe that a market exists for Lyle Overbay - Scott Downs - Kevin Gregg - John Buck - Jason Frasor, and perhaps someone will wow AA with an offer for MLB HR leader Jose Bautista...as we mentioned before the one thing that all assets returning to the Jays in any deal(s) will have in common are controllable contracts...
If I were AA I would be very concerned with my struggling 4-some of Aaron Hill - Adam Lind - Travis Snider - Yunel Escobar...those 4 are directly tied to the success of this organization going forward and all 4 are having miserable seasons...every Jay will have a new coach next year and AA will likely be looking for a candidate that can continue to improve this high-ceiling pitching staff, but he certainly needs a guy to put those 4 back on track
Thus concludes our first AA meeting but we will have many more...in this city I am a firm believer in the baseball smarts of Paul Beeston and Warren Sawkiw - and both have told me personally that they are very impressed and excited with AA, and the growing sentiment of Jays fans seems to be that we are in good hands going forward with AA
