To the people who hated the trades...

[Duffman100]

Do you still hate them?

I'm genuinely asking, not trying to call you out. But the last couple of months and now with legit shot at the World Series, was it worth giving up the prospects?

Or do we still need a long postseason run to justify what we gave up?

[cram]

I think they were worth it. They have a good shot at winning the whole thing.

At the time I thought it was throwing away the future for a "chance" to catch up from behind. Given a time machine (and the ability to see into the future) I'd make those trades today. Without it, I still would've have.

[0 - 100]

I was all for the trades when they happend.

They had to do it. They made the Blue Jays organization alive again.

[Skin Blues]

Didn't like the Price trade at the time, and still don't like it. I love having him obviously, but I'd love having Norris and Boyd for 7 years a lot more. The Reyes/Castro/Hoffman for Tulo trade was a no-brainer, and yeah I'm still happy about that.

[Dennis 37]

That walk off homer of Donaldson as the final play of the last home game was the best feeling I have had from a Toronto sports team in 22 years.

Without the trades that moment doesn't happen. The trades were worth that moment. Anything else will be gravy and I suspect that the Blue Jays will be dishing out much more gravy.

[TheDoctor]

I was wondering yesterday when this thread would come out. I had my money on actually clinching the East (or even AL overall) first.

To be fair to the naysayers, the probability of things turning out as amazingly as they have were not high. The most optimistic expected us to be clawing our way toward a chance at the division.

Who would have said that the Price would be WAY better than Cone for us.

Feels good to be here.

[whysoserious]

Didn't like the Price trade at the time, and still don't like it. I love having him obviously, but I'd love having Norris and Boyd for 7 years a lot more. The Reyes/Castro/Hoffman for Tulo trade was a no-brainer, and yeah I'm still happy about that.

What those next 7 years with Norris and Boyd look like though is a lot of unknown. There's unknown now as far as playoff performance but at some point you just have to go for it and clearly it was the right decision, they are likely going to win the division now and be the top team in the AL. Norris and Boyd on this staff, there's no guarantee they make the playoffs in those 7 years.

[IMAN5]

I'm 100% for it. In any sport I'll trade prospects that might be good players for current players that are currently great. Sure David Price can bolt, but you take that risk. The pitchers traded can all be nice starting pitchers but who knows if they can reach that superstar level. We also have a core of Donaldson-Bautista-Encarnacion-Martin that aren't getting any younger. They're not super old or anything, but now is the time to make a move.

The city is alive, I look everywhere and people of all ages, races, backgrounds are wearing blue jays hats all over the city. It's a lot of fun. I used to think the We The North campaign when Toronto was facing Brooklyn was the best thing to happen to the city over the last 10-15 years but Blue Jays fever has beat that, and the playoffs haven't even started.

[Skin Blues]

Didn't like the Price trade at the time, and still don't like it. I love having him obviously, but I'd love having Norris and Boyd for 7 years a lot more. The Reyes/Castro/Hoffman for Tulo trade was a no-brainer, and yeah I'm still happy about that.

What those next 7 years with Norris and Boyd look like though is a lot of unknown. There's unknown now as far as playoff performance but at some point you just have to go for it and clearly it was the right decision, they are likely going to win the division now and be the top team in the AL. Norris and Boyd on this staff, there's no guarantee they make the playoffs in those 7 years.

Of course it's an unknown, since it hasn't happened yet. August and September were unknowns when we traded for Price, too. Since literally nothing can guarantee a future playoff run, I suppose that means literally any trade can be justified, even if it's giving up 14 seasons worth of resources.

[Santoki]

To be fair to the naysayers, the probability of things turning out as amazingly as they have were not high. The most optimistic expected us to be clawing our way toward a chance at the division.

I think this is something that people have to remember in hindsight. Not even the most optimistic of people thought we'd go 38-14 after the trades. People did think we could challenge for the division or grab a wildcard spot but not a single person had us catching the Royals. The sheer probability of all this happening was super low and wasn't a risk I wanted to take at the time.

I think it's too early to say that it was entirely worth it because I still believe they need to make a deep postseason run/win the World Series to ease the pain of likely losing Price in the offseason. Bowing out in the ALDS will change the tone of this thread in a hurry.

[whysoserious]

Of course it's an unknown, since it hasn't happened yet. August and September were unknowns when we traded for Price, too. Since literally nothing can guarantee a future playoff run, I suppose that means literally any trade can be justified, even if it's giving up 14 seasons worth of resources.

The difference is Price is a known performer, whereas prospects are even more of an unknown. You know trading for price (and yes I acknowledge the risk of not winning or him walking without an extension in place) you are getting a true ace.

[Duffman100]

To be fair to the naysayers, the probability of things turning out as amazingly as they have were not high. The most optimistic expected us to be clawing our way toward a chance at the division.

Totally. Which is why I was wondering if people STILL didn't like them. I would expect a bunch of people to have converted, but I'd be curious to see if people are still against the trades.

[Ramako]

I was in favour of the trades only because I couldn't stand the idea of our league-longest playoff drought going any further. It was getting embarrassing, and there was equally no guarantee that a small handful of prospects was going to get us over the hump. But ultimately I think the biggest value to this run has been giving Rogers a taste of what a successful club could mean for their bottom line. That may have a larger impact on this team's fortunes going forward than any one player or prospect. The "we'll spend the money when the fans show up" argument is now off the table.

[duppyy]

I was in favour of the trades only because I couldn't stand the idea of our league-longest playoff drought going any further. It was getting embarrassing, and there was equally no guarantee that a small handful of prospects was going to get us over the hump. But ultimately I think the biggest value to this run has been giving Rogers a taste of what a successful club could mean for their bottom line. That may have a larger impact on this team's fortunes going forward than any one player or prospect. The "we'll spend the money when the fans show up" argument is now off the table.

Sadly it wasn't just league-longest..it was the longest of the biggest pro sports.

I thought these trades would lock us up for the Wildcard spot. Never did I think we'd be on top of the AL.

[Skin Blues]

Of course it's an unknown, since it hasn't happened yet. August and September were unknowns when we traded for Price, too. Since literally nothing can guarantee a future playoff run, I suppose that means literally any trade can be justified, even if it's giving up 14 seasons worth of resources.

The difference is Price is a known performer, whereas prospects are even more of an unknown. You know trading for price (and yes I acknowledge the risk of not winning or him walking without an extension in place) you are getting a true ace.

There's no question Price is better than Norris and Boyd. But we have price for 2 months, versus 84 months of Norris/Boyd. What has happened since the trade was extremely unlikely, and could have much more easily gone in the other direction where we lose the division to the Yankees and at best had a good chance at making it to the coinflip game. The very real chance of that scenario makes the trade indefensible, in my opinion. Over the long-run we will most certainly get way less value from Price than the Tigers get out of those two. But like I said at the time, what's done is done, so we might as well enjoy it.

[whysoserious]

There's no question Price is better than Norris and Boyd. But we have price for 2 months, versus 84 months of Norris/Boyd. What has happened since the trade was extremely unlikely, and could have much more easily gone in the other direction where we lose the division to the Yankees and at best had a good chance at making it to the coinflip game. The very real chance of that scenario makes the trade indefensible, in my opinion. Over the long-run we will most certainly get way less value from Price than the Tigers get out of those two. But like I said at the time, what's done is done, so we might as well enjoy it.

We clearly have different opinions and I love prospects as much as the next guy but comparing two months to 84 months means very little. Oh great, we could have had some prospects for the next 7 years that we have no clue how they do and what team we put around them. We could be looking at 30+ years of not competing.

I know we had a great run here in August and the likelihood of us being as good as we were was slim but the chances of still improving were great and we clearly had a shot at the division while adding a true ace.

Anyways, I'm sure we've all had this conversation over and over again so I'll just let it go.

[Schad]

Don't know, yet. If we get bounced in the AL rounds and this playoff run ends up being a one-off, I'll still regret that we made the trades...ending the streak and transitioning into another drought would be pretty painful, and concerns about our lack of young reinforcements are still real even if payroll gets bumped.

If we turn this into something sustainable, or win the Series, that absolutely changes things.

[Santoki]

Don't know, yet. If we get bounced in the AL rounds and this playoff run ends up being a one-off, I'll still regret that we made the trades...ending the streak and transitioning into another drought would be pretty painful, and concerns about our lack of young reinforcements are still real even if payroll gets bumped.

If we turn this into something sustainable, or win the Series, that absolutely changes things.

That's why this thread is just another iteration of the "How far do the Jays need to go to make the Price trade worthwhile?" thread. I still maintain we need at the very least an ALCS appearance for it be to worthwhile but deep down I won't be happy with anything other than a championship. I'm sick of almost of winning and being satisfied with that.

[RapsAndJays21]

I think that regardless of if you hated the trades, or were for them, you are enjoying the result right now.

No one is not going to cheer for the Jays this year because they feel like the future is mortgaged.

[Santoki]

I think that regardless of if you hated the trades, or were for them, you are enjoying the result right now.

No one is not going to cheer for the Jays this year because they feel like the future is mortgaged.

For sure, that's for future Santoki to worry about. Screw that guy.