The Toronto Blue Jays have a new GM in Alex Anthopoulos. He was the former Assistant General Manager and was appointed General Manager on Oct 3, inheriting a mess from his predecessor J.P. Ricciardi. Scott Miller of CBSSports.com quotes Anthopoulos saying “”The key for us is to get to a level where we can sustain it year-in and year-out and be able to keep our players and, we think, we could be one of the top teams in the league with the Anaheims and Chicagos and Bostons going forward.” Obviously that is every GM’s goal, but not everyone has the resources these major markets have.
The Blue Jays are in the tough AL East where they are constantly underdogs because of the lavish spending practices of the Yankees and Red Sox. Anthopoulos not only has these two behemoths to contend with every year but he has been saddled with some major dead weight in the contract department.
Vernon Wells is the biggest albatross. He is signed through the 2014 season and his contract balloons in 2010 from $10 million to $21 million. He also has full no trade clause protection.
Roy Halladay is another glaring red light. What does Anthopoulos do with him? Obviously you would like to keep somebody with Halladay’s talent but with the team floundering at 75-87 last year you have to consider rebuilding. Halladay will be very expensive to re-sign and you know that most teams (for sure the Yankees and Red Sox) will be waiting to sign him for the top of their rotations.
A couple of bright spots for the Blue Jays are the performances of Aaron Hill and Adam Lind. Hill hit .286 with 36 homers and 108 RBIs in 2009. This puts him in the elite performers at second base. Lind also produced in a big way in his first full season hitting .306 with 35 homers and 114 RBIs. Hill and Lind helped the Blue Jay’s offset the struggling Wells and Alex Rios who were supposed to be the anchors of the Blue Jay’s attack in 2009.
So what is a new GM supposed to do? You have 3 teams (Yankees, Red Sox and Rays) in front of you with better talent and/or better payroll figures. I believe Anthopoulos is stuck with Vernon Wells. Nobody in their right mind is going to want to touch that contract. Wells is a good center fielder, but is not worth $21 million dollars a year. Anthopoulos would have to swallow a majority of Well’s contract to even hope to move him. Then, even if he found an interested party, Wells would have to be willing to waive his no trade clause. Anthopoulos’ best bet is to hope that the 2003 and 2006 Wells shows up instead of the 2008 version.
My suggestion to Anthopoulos is to invest in his farm system like the Rays have done, because he will never be able to spend with the likes of Theo Epstein and Brian Cashman. Home grown talent is the best kind, and having a core built around Hill, Lind and Wells may be the best solution.
The Blue Jays must explore trading Halladay. He could bring in a treasure trove of new talent that could boost the team for years to come. Halladay has already expressed that he wants to play for a winner and it doesn’t look like the Blue Jays will be contending anytime soon.
Now the question is who has that starting shortstop the Blue Jays need so badly?
