The Toronto Blue Jays woke up yesterday morning and chose violence.
After spending a portion of the beginning of the season in first place, the flame has cooled a bit, and they’re now looking up at New York, Montreal, and Washington. So naturally, rather than simply accepting that perhaps the season isn’t going exactly as planned, Toronto has decided to blow the whole damn thing up.
Honestly? Good for them.
A team that entered the season with basically no assets it actually wanted to trade has suddenly discovered the beautiful world of selling. They’re finally in possession of their first-round pick next season, which doesn’t do much for them in 1998, but does at least give the front office something to look forward to while the current roster is being dismantled piece by piece.
And they’ve been busy.
Let’s review the carnage.
Frank Wills to Orlando
Toronto Blue Jays trade RP Frank Wills to the Orlando Devil Rays for RP Matt Mantei.
Frank Wills has been a Toronto mainstay for nearly his entire career and has been nearly automatic out of the bullpen this season, taking over as closer after losing some of that starter status.
He’s also 39.
So yes, this seems like a pretty obvious guy to trade.
Matt Mantei is the sort of player you acquire when you’re rebuilding and would like to pretend you’re not rebuilding. Nice rates, plenty of intrigue, hasn’t really put it all together yet. The downside is that his contract is up next year, meaning Toronto will have to make an actual decision at some point.
Which, frankly, sounds like a problem for 1999 Toronto.
For Orlando, they get a quality arm for an expendable piece. For Toronto, they get a younger lottery ticket for a 39-year-old reliever who is unlikely to be part of their next good team.
Everybody wins.
Trade Grades: Toronto: A, Orlando: A
Dean Palmer to Cincinnati
The Toronto Blue Jays trade 3B Dean Palmer, with all allowable money eaten, to the Cincinnati Reds for a 1999 2nd-round pick.
Not too long ago, I wrote in these pages that after trading Scott Rolen, the Reds had a 3B problem.
Problem solved.
Dean Palmer, in the final year of his deal and now costing Cincinnati manageable money, is an interesting fit for a team in contention. Twenty home runs, positive defense, low average — basically everything you could ask for from a third baseman if you don’t particularly care about batting average.
With an OPS+ of 129, he’s having one of the better seasons of his career.
Cincinnati gets a legitimate contributor without giving up anything that helps them this year. Toronto gets a second-round pick for a 34-year-old player who probably wasn’t coming back anyway.
This is one of those trades where everyone gets what they want, which is usually how you know somebody is going to complain about it later.
Toronto gets future value. Cincinnati gets a third baseman.
Trade Grades: Toronto: A, Cincinnati: A
John Smiley to Charlotte
The Toronto Blue Jays trade SP John Smiley and a 1999 4th-round pick to the Charlotte Knights for P Jeff Grey, a 1998 2nd-round pick and a 1999 2nd-round pick (via Toronto).
This one fascinates me.
Mostly because Toronto is eating all allowable salary this year and next year.
For all of that money, and for the value Smiley brings to a rotation, Toronto gets a second-round pick, another second-round pick in 1999, and Jeff Grey. That’s certainly not nothing. In fact, it’s pretty good.
But I’m still sitting here wondering why Toronto agreed to pay Smiley next year.
They aren’t planning on being good.
They’ve just traded Mark McGwire, Dean Palmer, and Frank Wills. They are actively turning the roster into a yard sale. At this point, if someone wants to take your expensive veteran, you should probably be charging them admission.
A first-round pick probably would’ve been too much to ask. But Toronto eating future salary has real value in this league, and I’d have liked to see them squeeze a little more out of Charlotte.
Still, two second-round picks is a pretty decent return.
Trade Grades: Toronto: B+, Charlotte: A
Mark McGwire to Colorado
The Toronto Blue Jays trade 1B Mark McGwire to the Colorado Rockies for a 1998 1st-round pick and a 1998 3rd-round pick.
Wow.
Just… wow.
Mark McGwire is 34 years old, is among the top five in home runs, and is batting .196.
He is permanently at DH, and his WAR this season is 0.8.
Not even a full season removed from a 6.7 WAR campaign, the decline in batting average has to be at least a little concerning. The power is real. Nobody is disputing that. The man can still hit the ball a very long way.
But Colorado just gave up a first-round pick and a third-round pick for a 34-year-old DH having a mediocre season.
And I love it.
Presumably taking over for Bob Hamelin, McGwire gives Colorado another massive bat on a team that, despite being below .500, apparently believes the division is sitting there waiting to be won.
Which, to be fair, it might be.
Colorado clearly believes it is.
Toronto, meanwhile, should be sending the Rockies a thank-you card.
A first-round pick and a third-round pick for an aging DH who isn’t hitting particularly well? That’s the kind of return that makes rebuilding general managers start looking for other people’s players to trade.
McGwire will help Colorado. The power isn’t going anywhere.
But Toronto absolutely nailed this one.
Trade Grades: Toronto: A+, Colorado: A-
So Who Gets Moved Next?
And now we get to the fun part.
Toronto has apparently decided that if a player is over the age of 30, has a pulse, and someone is willing to offer a draft pick, they should probably at least hear them out.
Looking at the marketplace post from Toronto, here’s who I’m watching.
1B Will Clark — I worry a lot about what kind of market he’s going to have. He’s playing terribly, and this feels like one of those situations where, if I’m Toronto, I’m accepting pretty much anything. A 1999 fifth-round pick? Sure. A bag of baseballs? Let’s hear them out.
INF Jay Bell — This one is considerably more interesting. Bell is on his way to a career year, and for the first time he’s putting up an .800+ OPS with an OPS+ of 130+. There are enough teams that need infielders that you have to assume somebody is going to make a run at him.
SP Scott Garrelts / SP Melido Perez — Teams need starting pitching. They always need starting pitching. One or both should be relatively easy to move, assuming Toronto isn’t asking for the moon.
RP Curt Brown — Same story. Contenders need relievers, and Brown is pitching well. If you’re Toronto, you might as well cash that check while it’s still clearing.
So that’s where we are.
The Toronto Blue Jays started the season in first place.
Now they’re trading everybody.
At some point, the question stops being whether Toronto is rebuilding and becomes how much of the stadium they’re willing to trade for a second-round pick.
And frankly, I’m not ruling anything out.
Who gets moved next?