Missing the Big Picture

On Wednesday the Toronto Blue Jays traded shortstop Alex Gonzalez and a couple of prospects to the Atlanta Braves for their shortstop Yunel Escobar and JoJo Reyes. I for one thought this was a great trade by the Jays but all I have heard so far from Jays fans is anger over Gonzalez being traded.

To them I have only one thing to say: You're missing the big picture.

Yes Escobar is currently hitting .238 with 0 HRs and 19 RBI but he is a young player with lots of potential and he happens to be a career .291 hitter. He doesn't strike out a lot and has shown that he does posses a little power (14 HRs last season). He isn't as solid as Gonzalez defensively but he has a lot of upside and is one of the better young shortstops in baseball.

The Blue Jays have always been weak at shortstop for as long as I can remember. Think of the revolving door of players that have been through Toronto over the past few seasons: Marco Scutaro, Russ Adams, Royce Clayton, John McDonald, Frank Menechino David Eckstein and Nick Green to name a few. Now the Jays have a legitimate shortstop who will bring some stability to the position.

As for Gonzalez he served his purpose perfectly. The Jays signed him to a relatively cheap deal in the off-season and were able to flip him for a real asset. He is a career .248 hitter that is having a career year at the age of 33. Yeah he has hit a lot of home runs but other than that he hasn't done much. His OBP is only .298 and he doesn't steal bases. He is a one dimensional hitter that either hits a bomb or doesn't hit it at all.

What Anthopolous was able to do is what all GMs aspire to do with guys they sign on 1 year deals. They want that player to have a solid first half so they can flip that player for assets at the deadline. The Jays obviously aren't going to contend this year so they traded a guy who can help a contender right now for a player that will help them going forward.

Don't think Anthopolous is done either. If John Buck and Jose Bautista finish the season on the Blue Jays roster I will be shocked. Both players are producing right now and having career years. The Jays will hope that a couple of teams will need help around the trade deadline so they can acquire even more pieces to help rebuild the team.

Buy low and sell high it is a simple concept yet many Jays fans are struggling to understand it.

Another part of this deal people seem to be unaware of is that the Jays recently signed Cuban defector and reported shortstop jedi 22 year old Adeiny Hechavarria. From everything I've read Hechavarria is unreal and will be the Jays shortstop in a couple of years. So Escobar will be the place holder until that time and then he will be moved over to 3rd base. I mean it's not as if Edwin Encarnacion is blowing peoples minds right now.

So calm down Jays fans and try and look beyond this year and the current stats of the two principles involved in the deal. The Jays simply traded a guy that was no doubt gone at the end of the year anyway for a comparable player that is 5 years younger and gets on base more. It was a solid trade that needed to occur.

Then again the Jays will never make the playoffs again so it doesn't really matter what they do right?

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