Is R.A. Dickey a one year wonder?

[LBJSeizedMyID]

Travis was the centerpiece of the Halladay trade.

He wasn't at the time, actually; Drabek was the centerpiece, D'Arnaud was the third-rated prospect in the trade.

I heard it from AA's own mouth that Travis was the centerpiece of the deal. Maybe not in 2009, but last year, Alex said on a couple of occasions (one time on the Fan 590 in an interview- that Travis was the centerpiece of the Halladay deal).

Of course he's going to say that. By that time AA knew one of his catchers was going to get traded, so who are you going to hype up? Kyle Drabek who's in his second TJ surgery?

[Schad]

Actually, what the Jays should have done in my opinion was what everyone was asking them to do before last season--get Prince and Darvish.

I think most people would rather have Fielder, Darvish, and all of the prospects back rather than Dickey, Reyes, etc, but the Jays did not want to spend that year for whatever reason. I said at the time that both guys (Darvish in particular) presented a rare opportunity where the Jays did not have to bid with big spending teams to acquire them, as Fielder's market was minuscule and Darvish just required the highest blind bid, but what's done is done. Darvish was also a big risk given the lack of long-term success for starters coming from Japan, so AA likely did not want to risk Darvish becoming a bust and possibly having ownership lose faith in giving him money to spend in the future.

So yes, the Jays were a day late and a dollar short as far as when they decided to spend, but you can't turn back time.

We didn't want to spend then because the AL East looked like a vicious meat-grinder...the Yankees, Sox and Rays were all coming off of 90+ win seasons, and ratcheting spending up to $120m+ in that environment (with a $50m up-front for Darvish) was a risk that they were not willing to take; had it failed (and even with their combined 10 WAR, we likely would have fallen short) we might have been rather nervously eyeing the trade market. We had an awful lot of holes last year.

Which is also why I was concerned about the moves we did end up making...the AL East is weaker, but I'm still pretty uncertain about Rogers' commitment if we fall short, given the fact that merely retaining our players could send our payroll into the $140-150m range next season.

[flatjacket1]

Which is also why I was concerned about the moves we did end up making...the AL East is weaker, but I'm still pretty uncertain about Rogers' commitment if we fall short, given the fact that merely retaining our players could send our payroll into the $140-150m range next season.

They need a top 15 finish for revenue sharing reasons. They won't back out because then they will lose kajillions of dollars.

[Michael Bradley]

Actually, what the Jays should have done in my opinion was what everyone was asking them to do before last season--get Prince and Darvish.

I think most people would rather have Fielder, Darvish, and all of the prospects back rather than Dickey, Reyes, etc, but the Jays did not want to spend that year for whatever reason. I said at the time that both guys (Darvish in particular) presented a rare opportunity where the Jays did not have to bid with big spending teams to acquire them, as Fielder's market was minuscule and Darvish just required the highest blind bid, but what's done is done. Darvish was also a big risk given the lack of long-term success for starters coming from Japan, so AA likely did not want to risk Darvish becoming a bust and possibly having ownership lose faith in giving him money to spend in the future.

So yes, the Jays were a day late and a dollar short as far as when they decided to spend, but you can't turn back time.

We didn't want to spend then because the AL East looked like a vicious meat-grinder...the Yankees, Sox and Rays were all coming off of 90+ win seasons, and ratcheting spending up to $120m+ in that environment (with a $50m up-front for Darvish) was a risk that they were not willing to take; had it failed (and even with their combined 10 WAR, we likely would have fallen short) we might have been rather nervously eyeing the trade market. We had an awful lot of holes last year.

Which is also why I was concerned about the moves we did end up making...the AL East is weaker, but I'm still pretty uncertain about Rogers' commitment if we fall short, given the fact that merely retaining our players could send our payroll into the $140-150m range next season.

I agree that this off-season was a good time to spend as the AL East is up for grabs, but the group that is more desirable from a talent standpoint is clearly Fielder, Darvish, and keeping TDA/Syndergaard/Nicolino, etc, IMO. It would have been a huge risk to sign those two, either due to the unknown (Darvish) or the years involved (Fielder), but all it would have cost was money and those two (assuming all went well with Darvish) would have contributed for more than the 3 years the current Jays team figures to be at its peak from a competitive standpoint.

It's pointless to worry about it now as the Jays do have a good team, but it does suck that they decided to spend the year after a perfect scenario.