With players beginning to report next week for spring training, the MLB offseason is almost officially over and the 2013 Toronto Blue Jays finally has a chance to play its rebuilt roster. The team introductions are over, roles for the coming year are being defined, and our biggest disappointment of the offseason now seems to be the look of the new practice caps. After one wild offseason that saw R.A. Dickey, Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Emilio Bonifacio, Melky Cabrera and Maicer Izturis join the club, the replacing of John Farrell with former Jays manager John Gibbons has been shown to be a smart move.
When Farrell was "traded" to the Boston Red Sox back in October, the Blue Jays looked to be heading in the wrong direction and fast. After a disappointing injury filled season, they were a depth challenged team with many holes to fill. The optics of the situation weren't favourable for the Jays, making them seem weak and inferior to the big spending Boston bullies.
At the time Alex Anthopoulos handled the situation with grace, not opting for cheap shots and putting the situation to rest by not responding to it much. Looking bad for a bit may have been seen as a small price in exchange for an easy way out of a bad situation for the Jays. To fans of the team, it seemed that there were rifts between the front office and Farrell that were starting to surface.
The Blue Jays ridded themselves of an inexperienced and sub .500 manager. Even better they sent him to a division rival who for some reason were just drooling to get him back. You want him, take him. The whole ordeal is almost forgotten now with the breadth of the trades AA went on to make. There was no need to bring in a big name expensive manager to make fans feel good and have the team save face. Not with the talent they went on to acquire in the biggest offseason in team history. On the flip side for Farrell, well it's akin to leaving your partner for a younger woman. Just after your divorce is final your now ex-wife wins the lottery, never has to work again and has never looked better. He left a team that soon after became favoured to win the World Series to manage one with current odds at 25-1.
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