Crying Over Spilled Milk - The Marlins Superdeal & What Could Have Been

Well, things sure have changed in a week. After a relatively slow offseason, this week exploded with a couple of moves that have brought the MLB hot stove back to life.

Of course, the biggest news of the week was the super trade between Toronto and Miami.

The Marlins shipped Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Emilio Bonifacio and John Buck to the Blue Jays for Yunel Escobar and a handful of prospects (6 in total).

First and foremost, I’ll say I side with the professional MLB writers in regards to this trade and the actions that Mr. Loria and the Marlins brass have taken. Do yourself a favor and read about Mr. Loria’s sketchy history with Montreal and the Expos and the (frequent) accusations that he was using baseball’s revenue sharing funds for personal gain (Pick an MLB writer and look at their blog / webpage – they’ve all covered this topic over the past few days). In short, his actions as an owner as despicable – he flat out lied to a city, used their tax dollars to build a new revenue generating machine for himself (the atrocious Marlins Park) and, in a bold fake out, traded away every big name player the team had one year later.

From a baseball standpoint, the deal does make a little (emphasis on little) sense for the Marlins. They finished dead last in an average division and never once looked like they were going to be competitive. Trading away some veteran talent for a haul of prospects is not unheard of – in fact, it could be deemed a savvy move on the part of Marlins, pending the results of these prospects.

For the Blue Jays, the trade makes all the sense in the world. They immediately fill their biggest needs (infield help, starting pitching) and while they admittedly did have to deal a decent chunk of their farm system away, they are getting tangible assets for potential (which is all prospects really are until they prove otherwise). The Blue Jays also get to dump the toxic Yunel Escobar, whose homophobic slur on his eye black this season was yet another chapter in the “bad decision” history Escobar has shown in his major league career.

Since this is a Twins focused blog, I have to pose the question, where were the Twins in all of this? According to Twins GM Terry Ryan, the team was “aware of the Marlins feelings” which is a fancy way of not really answering a question.

In all honesty, the Twins could have easily built a package around Miguel Sano, Joe Benson, Eddie Rosario, Liam Hendriks and Pedro Florimon / Brian Dozier / Eduardo Escobar (pick 1) that would have delivered the same value the Marlins were looking for. The Twins could have turned future potential into players that could help a team built around Mauer, Morneau, Willingham and Span (the established ‘vets’) compete right now.

Instead, the Blue Jays now have a solid middle infield with Reyes, Lawrie, Izturis, Hechavarria and Lind (that’s a top tier MI) and a rotation featuring Buehrle and Johnson (solid 1-2 punch).

Alas, this:

C: Joe Mauer

1B: Justin Morneau

2B: Jamey Carroll

SS: Jose Reyes

3B: Trevor Plouffe

LF: Josh Willingham

CF: Ben Revere

RF: Chris Parmelee

DH: Ryan Doumit

P: Josh Johnson

P: Mark Buehrle

P: Scott Diamond

P: James Shields (Theoretically traded for Denard Span)

P: Kyle Gibson

Bench:  Dozier, Bonafacio, Hermann, Mastroianni

Will only be a pipe dream of what “might have been”.

Other news worth looking at this week:

1) The Twins are reportedly in contact with all of the top free agent pitchers on the market. With only $26 million to allocate across 4 rotation spots, I find it unlikely that they will land the big boys, but it’s nice to know they’re trying.

2) The team is also seeking an alternative at 3B to “motivate” Trevor Plouffe. Obviously if they want Plouffe to be their everyday starter they aren’t looking for top tier 3B talent – but it’s worth following this story to see if anything develops.

3) Former Twins pitcher Scott Baker opted to sign a $5.5 million deal with the Cubs this week, ending his nine year tenure with the team that drafted him. Baker’s deal has $1.5 million in incentives, which is exactly what we all figured his contract would look like. What’s odd is that Baker, notorious for giving up home runs, chose to try to rebuild his value in Chicago’s Wrigley Field, known for giving up its fair share of home runs as well. Apparently the sticking point for Baker came to the option for a second year. The Twins (smartly) insisted on that, the Cubs decided they didn’t need to have that security.

While it’s a little surprising to see Baker leave, the Twins were never going to contend on the basis of signing Scott Baker alone. He was projected to be the #5 starter in a “timeshare” with Kyle Gibson. This does lower the options the Twins have, but it’s not a blow to their rebuilding plan. Terry Ryan was right to insist on a team option for a second year – the second year off of Tommy John surgery is usually the better year – why should the Twins build Baker’s value this season and not be able to reap the rewards next year?

The hot stove is heating up and the Twins, while silent so far, have been connected to some of the big fish. The team likes to play things close to the vest, so it’s not a shock that very little info has come forth about their plans so far this offseason. Here’s hoping the next 2 to 3 weeks have the some exciting news for Twins fans.