JonMatrix

This is the same owner who basically got forced by the rest of the league into giving Johnson and Hanley extensions because Miami's payroll was so low. The other owners were pissed because the Marlins were making a killing off of revenue sharing. I'd imagine there is going to be some type of backlash from big market teams who are sick of Loria pocketing their money just like before.

Their payroll was $118 million prior to the fire sale, and now it's projected to be around $16 million prior to arbitration.

But I don't think Josh Johnson will be a Blue Jay for very long. He's got one year left on his deal, and if Toronto struggles, he'll probably be shipped out by the deadline.

I bet Bob Nutting (Pirates) is thrilled now that the story about him being the 10th richest owner in baseball is going to get buried.

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"I'm from America,our names don't mean ---- here"-Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction

Never underestimate the ability of stupid people in large groups.

E.H. Munro

See, I don't have a problem with the trade, per se. Salary dumps happen all the time. This isn't even the largest of them (that would be what we in Boston like to refer to as "the Nick Punto trade"). My problem here is with the management so inept that they shipped out much better players (than Boston) while getting back nothing in the exchange. Boston at least got one A level prospect and one B+ guy. But Miami got a bunch of Jerry Sands level talent.

So where I see the primary problem is an ownership group so cheap that their scouting department is extremely understaffed and the (mis)management doesn't have the information necessary to make good decisions. For all the criticism I gave Theo Epstein about outsmarting himself (for example, when Seattle decided to sell off some pitching Epstein chased after career DLer Bedard rather than Doug Fister, which ended up costing Terry Francona his job), the ownership here has made a point of putting together a large scouting staff, which has allowed them to pluck some diamonds in the rough (for example, in the same Seattle deal they demanded Josh Fields as a throw-in, who's looked much better as a reliever in the Boston system than he ever did as a starter in Seattle's).

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If everyone loves you you're doing it wrong.

"Opium is the religion of the masses." Fred Reed

The Power of 99 Press

"He thinks it's going to be fun being governor. It's only fun being governor of New York if you have money to spend, and I spent it all." Nelson Rockefeller on his successor, Hugh Carey.

Diable

This is a blatant attempt to exploit the rules and to whamboozle the municipal officials and the taxpayers of South Florida. There's no way it should be allowed. This guy isn't in the baseball business. He's in the Corporate Welfare business. The entire business model he's developed is Parasitic and simply an obscene attempt to take advantage of the current revenue sharing system for financial gain.

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Knick Killer

Anyways back to baseball, feels great to be a Blue Jays fan right now. This is the best move the franchise made since signing a no-name Jose Bautista a couple years ago. Hopefully this move will attract a great manager as well.

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seifer0406

The day after I actually feel a lot less optimistic than when I first heard the news. Assuming everyone's healthy the Jay's rotation has 3 solid pitchers at the moment with a potential 4th if Romero bounces back after a horrendous season last year.

The infield at the moment is set at 3rd and short with Lawrie and Reyes but 1st/2nd/Catcher still have a lot of questions. Edwin Encarnacion can play 1st but his defense is suspect and is better suited as a DH. Either Bonifacio and Maicer Izturis can play 2nd but they are both just above average players. Travis d'Arnaud is Blue Jay's catcher for the future but before he is ready that position needs to be filled. JP Arencibia is just average and John Buck is on the decline.

In the outfield Colby Rasmus has been a huge disappointment since arriving to Toronto. He's not that young anymore so it's likely that this is it for him in terms of potential. Rajaj Davis can play the left field position but he's a terrible fielder. Finally theres Bautista who had a scary wrist injury last year and it's questionable whether the problem will be chronic.

Overall it's way too early to call the Jays the favorites in the AL East like some writers. If everything goes well they can be pretty good but more work needs to be done roster wise if the Jays are really going for it this year.

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scdn

Excellent analysis seifer, and I agree with what you wrote. I'm still really excited about the trade though. We still have holes for sure, but less than we had, and couldn't have really hoped for a better acquisition thus far in the offseason. Our top prospects are at lower levels (sans D'Arnaud), so this deal hopefully lets them develop by not rushing them.

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KVBL Owner, San Antonio Spurs

Quincy McCall/Bo Roberts
Mikel Opoku/Willie Worsley
Norberto Rosas
Harry Kingsley
Casey Schuler/Richard Osborn

hobojoe

Bonifacio is best off as a utility guy, but when he's putting the ball in play consistently he's a very valuable asset to have on the field. Not a great defender, but he's average/above average at 2nd, 3rd and all three outfield positions. He can play shortstop, but not good enough to be there every day (shouldn't be a problem if Reyes is healthy).

But man, a day later I hate the Marlins even more. Who wants Ricky Nolasco and Logan Morrison?

E.H. Munro

Hey, throw in Stanton and we'll send on De la Rosa, Webster, Barnes, Brentz, and Sands!

__________________
If everyone loves you you're doing it wrong.

"Opium is the religion of the masses." Fred Reed

The Power of 99 Press

"He thinks it's going to be fun being governor. It's only fun being governor of New York if you have money to spend, and I spent it all." Nelson Rockefeller on his successor, Hugh Carey.

hobojoe

LINK

Piece of shit.

Floods

Mike & Mike brought up something interesting, how this could impact future stadium deals. Are the Rays gone from TB?

JonMatrix

I thought that was a foregone conclusion years ago? The stadium is crap, the fans don't show up, even when the team is winning the division like they did a few years ago.

I'm not sure where they would go. Someone else mentioned moving them to Miami and contracting the Marlins.

Contract the Marlins and Pirates, then move Houston back to the NL Central. Cincy could go to the NL East.

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"I'm from America,our names don't mean ---- here"-Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction

Never underestimate the ability of stupid people in large groups.

Diable

I don't know why you want to talk about contraction. Everyone in baseball is making money. Loria does it by leeching from everyone else, but the money is there. There's money to pay the players handsomely and the owners are all making money too. Contraction means less money. Of course the taxpayers are getting screwed big time by a lot of these owners, but so long as you can extort them into sweetheart stadium deals everything is rosy. You talk about contraction when your sport is in trouble. Baseball is doing quite well thank you.

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JonMatrix

It's "doing quite well" thanks to revenue sharing. The lower the Marlins payroll is, the more money Loria gets from MLB. The more money that goes to Loria, meaning that less money goes to the rest of MLB. He scammed the taxpayers, and now he's scamming MLB.

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"I'm from America,our names don't mean ---- here"-Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction

Never underestimate the ability of stupid people in large groups.

FSH

So Selig is reviewing the trade because the Fan are not happy? Since when the hell do the Fans have a say in if the trade should be veto or not? The Team sucked last year there is no reason why this trade shouldnt go through. Dump the salary rebuild there is no reason to keep these guys around if the team is gonna lose 100 games

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/86...blue-jays-deal

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hobojoe

If he wasn't a spineless prick he would block the trade and do everything he legally can to force Loria out of baseball. He's a criminal and horrible for the game. I love how baseball blocks Mark Cuban out of the league and allows this piece of shit to make a mockery of the sport and steal money from the other legitimately run franchises.