Funny, last season when I was doing Baseball Central At Noon For Rogers and 590 the Fan, people saw a loosing team on the field and screamed “who cares about prospects, we need to put together a winning team NOW! Winning here is what matters!”
At the time I tried to temper the out cry saying that the Jays are not the Yankees. They can’t run out and buy free agents. They’ll have to wheel and deal and that’s when all these prospects you hear about will become important.
Now the outcry is “We’re paying to much! Don’t gut the farm system! Think of the future…”
Oh, fans, you befuddle me.
In fact, just a month back, after the 12 player mega-marlin-fire sale, there were cries for AA to get Dickey too.
Well, now he is. But getting big name talent has it’s costs. When a team feels it has a chance to strike—and strike 3-4 times in the coming year—however, it is happy to pay those costs.
Here are a few things (thanks to the mighty internet for these words, specifically Geoff Allen over at Battersbox.ca aka greenfrog—I’m totally stealing them) to think about for those of you who swear to the high heavens that getting Dickey is a bad deal (granted, it’s a costly one, but it’s not a fleecing)
– Dickey has a demonstrated track record, having been outstanding over the last three years. There is a good chance he continues to be a valuable front-rotation starter
– He’s pretty much the ideal addition to the Jays rotation, adding depth, quality *and* innings (the latter a huge plus for this staff)
– A two-year extension would give the Jays three full years of control (four if they can obtain a team option), which nicely meshes with the remaining years on the contracts / controllable years of other core players (Bautista, EE, Morrow, Reyes, Buehrle, Romero, Cabrera, Lawrie, Izturis) – the Jays could have a run of at least three years of legit contention, even if they lose Johnson to free agency after 2013
– It potentially allows the Jays to come charging out of the gate in 2013 – no waiting around for reinforcements at the trade deadline. And it puts the team in a position to make a serious run at the divisional title, which would allow them to avoid the “coin toss” wild card game
– It could give the Jays a potentially dominant playoff rotation
– Next year’s free agent starting pitching crop looks weak, which will make pitching (especially front-rotation pitching) harder than ever to acquire – the Jays are getting ahead of the curve
– The RC seems like a potentially good pitching environment for Dickey
– Assuming his contract demands are being accurately reported, he will be very reasonably priced
– While the farm system has clearly taken a big hit, the organization still has some prospects to dream on (including Sanchez, Stroman, Osuna,Norris, Davis, Smoral, Nolln, Jimenez, Nessy, Tirado, Barreto and others)
– Lastly: this deal *has* to be a powerful incentive for Oliver to come back. If he can’t get excited about this team, then he probably *is* ready for retirement…