The Sleeping Giant Awakens: Jays Relevant Again

 The revamped logo of the Blue Jays is going to mean something again starting in 2013

Who finally woke up Rogers, owners of the Blue Jays, and told them that they had a baseball team?  Did someone knock on the door of the CEO at Rogers and remind them that this is the same team that used to spend the most money in baseball (1991-1993) and actually won the World Series in that time as well? Whoever it was (Paul Beeston, who was there at the time, or Alex Anthopolous or someone else) deserves their very own statue in front of the Skydome. Remember that place Rogers? The one that used to have 4 million people a year come out to watch the Blue Jays back when the team was, you know, the best in the game?

Whatever it was that led to this past week’s amazing turn of events, all I have to say is that its about F-ing time!!! For years (decades maybe if you actually consider that it has been 20 years since the 1993 World Series win) the Blue Jays have been an afterthought in MLB. Whether it was pathetic ownership (Labatt’s, then Belgian company Interbrew S.A., finally Rogers), piss poor decisions by the GM (Gord Ash, JP Riccardi I am speaking about both of you here) or just bad players drafted or signed, followed up by poor performance from players you would expect better from. The team has never really been in a realistic position to be considered a contender, not even for a playoff spot, let alone to actually win anything again if they somehow managed to get themselves into the playoffs (its been 19 years since that happened)

Even with the expanded playoff format in place (now with 2 wildcards in the American League no less), the team hasn’t been any closer than 6 games back of said playoff position at the end of any season since it came into existence.

All that is about to change and this is the week that we will look back to a few years from now and say was the seminal moment when a giant awoke from its 20 year slumber. Double A pulled off a gargantuan mega-trade with the suddenly fire-selling Marlins in South Florida, taking on 4 former all-stars and another useful player. Those players are Jose Reyes, Mark Buerhle, Josh Johnson, Emilio Bonifacio and former Jay (and all-star when he WAS here) John Buck.

Did one trade re-shape the future of the Blue Jays? 

In a word....YES!!!

All of those players are now Blue Jays and all it cost them was their much maligned former starting short stop (Yunel Escobar), their back-up catcher (Jeff Mathis), a 2 pitch starting pitcher who could be great, if he ever gets a solid 3^rd pitch (Henderson Alvarez),  two “A” ball pitchers (Nicolino and Descalfino) who may be pretty good in 3 years (or may not), a “AA” outfielder with a “glitch in his swing” according to one scout (Marisnek) and a potential blue chipper in Edeinny Hechevarria (who along with Escobar is Cuban and should at least help get more Cubans in Miami to come out to games).

Then, as MLB commish Bud Selig (who is very tight with Paul Beeston I should point out) decided it was a good idea to review the deal (as a way to appease the now incensed fans of Miami who agreed to help fund the new Marlins stadium (and are left with a $2.4 BILLION debt because of it) based upon promises made by the worst owner ever in sports history (that would be you Jeffery Loria, the man who put the final nail in the Montreal Expos coffin), Double A went out and signed Melky Cabrera (former Giant, All-Star Game MVP and fresh off of serving a 50 game PED ban) last night to add yet another weapon to a team that is now among the odds on favorites to not just make the playoffs but have a serious chance of winning it all in 2013.

Once again, the only words that come to mind are “WOW” and “WTF took so long?”

You have to remember that the Blue Jays, despite being in the same division as the Red Sox and Yankees (who have rabid fan bases and massive revenue streams) should be able to easily compete with both of those teams year after year based upon being in the 7^th largest market in North America. They have many revenue streams available to them and, since their owners are a monolith of a company that now owns or is part of the ownership of EVERY MAJOR SPORTS TEAM IN THE CITY and stadium and/or arena, it is not a stretch to say that they are able to draw upon massive amounts of revenue for this team if need be.

 You just know that there is a TON of money to be made when 2 of the

BIGGEST rivals in Canada join forces to buy MLSE

Even before this became a fact, the team squandered its glory years in the ‘Dome in the early 1990’s when they could have continued to use that fan generated power to keep them at the top. Instead, Labatt decided to change direction entirely and it cost the team, the city and the fans a chance to have a real dynasty. Their own short sightedness cost them so much that they were themselves purchased by a Belgian brewery called Interbrew S.A. and the downward spiral continued as these new owners had no idea how to use the team to their benefit. Payroll was slashed and the team, despite a small resurgence when they signed Roger Clemons in 1997, would remain in the middle of the pack for the next 15 years.

When Rogers purchased the team and the stadium, things were thought to be on the uptick seeing as how Ted Rogers was an avid sports fan and truly believed that one day he would be able to lure an NFL team to Toronto. His failed attempts led him to the Blue Jays and his belief that demonstrating his abilities as their owner would lead to opportunities for the NFL to eventually come up here as well. He was able to get a deal with the Bills for a few games over a 5 year period but he died a few years ago without ever realizing his dream. Sadly, his fixation on the NFL actually continued to make the Blue Jays a second class entity with the Rogers family until his passing.

When Nazir Mohammed became CEO of Rogers, replacing the late Ted Rogers, he brought with him a different approach to the Blue Jays and very soon Jays fans would start to see that even in someone you would consider a “bean counter” therein lies a true Sports fan. He brought back Paul Beeston to the fold. He allowed Beeston to fire JP Riccardi (who had run the team into the ground when his 5 year plan to rebuild the team and make them a contender had gone nowhere after 8 full seasons at the helm) and allowed his Assistant, Montreal born and Expo trained Alex Anthopolous, as the new, 32 year old GM of the team. Mohammed would continue to show his sports flare when he involved Rogers in a joint purchase with Bell in the purchase of  MLSE from previous owners the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund. Under Nazir, Rogers now has a stake in the Jays, Leafs, Raptors, Marlies, TFC, the ACC, Skydome, BMO field and the Ricoh center as well as at least 3 condo towers and Maple Leaf Square across from the ACC. Maybe this was the prelude we should have read more into as to give us an idea of what was coming for the Jays.

When Rogers bought into MLSE, looking back on it now, Rogers was demonstrating their commitment to the local sports scene monetarily. They had clearly seen that Toronto sports fans are willing to pay top dollar for the Leafs (out of sheer force of habit and loyalty), have done the same for TFC and the Raptors (who have die-hard followings and solid season ticket bases) and all three draw great TV audiences. As a multi-media monolith, Rogers only main goal is to improve their customer base.

 Even in the bad times, Leaf fans are still there....

This kind of commitment to a team by its fans is exactly what Rogers wants to instill in its customers. By trying to appeal to people who show the kind of commitment to a team you own, Rogers shrewdly calculated that it could definitely help their brand improve in the eyes of the kinds of people they desire the most; Loyal repeat customers.

In the good times, there are millions of dollars to be made and Rogers is well aware of that....

Here is how this relates back to the Jays. Rogers has owned them for a few years now and, as the media market has changed over the years, Rogers has developed numerous TV channels, online content and mobile content which they have used to market the team through. They have started to see those revenue streams grow exponentially and now, after analyzing the fans of other sports teams in the region, they have come to the conclusion that it is time to invest in this team. It also helps that their rivals are reeling.

The Red Sox are re-building with their table scraps (yeah, that means you John Farrell….Guess all it took to invest in the team was to ship you back to Boston eh?), the Yankees are old and aging right before our eyes (Derek Jeter is 38 and broke his ankle on a routine play in the playoffs last year. Will he be able to have another outstanding year like he did in 2012? Doubt it) and have dedicated themselves to a specific payroll. The Orioles were a surprise team in 2012 but are a flawed team that would need everything to break right to have another shot at being a contender again in 2013 and the Rays are a small market team that has no real fan base, hardly any season tickets and play with a small budget. On top of all that, despite how good they have been for the last 5 or 6 seasons, the team is about to lose some key players (BJ Upton maybe Cy Young winner David Price as well) because they can’t afford them. Sounds like the Jays of yester year. Given how this past week has gone down, it doesn’t appear that the Blue Jays will be following that script any more.

This selfish SOB is the reason why the Blue Jays are re-making themselves this week,

Faster than a jilted ex-girlfriend who lost a ton of weight and is into "trying new things"

Is it possible to change the minds of an entire league and its players about your team and city in the span of a few days? Given the fact that the trade hasn’t even been completed yet (it will, they just had 12 physicals to perform and agents and families to speak with who had scattered all over the planet after the season had ended, before it could be completed, as well as Selig trying to give some reassurances to the Marlins fans that he is properly scolding Loria) and already Josh Johnson’s agent (one of the players acquired from the Marlins) has said that Toronto “went from a 4 to an 8.5” out of 10 with regards to potential destination for free agents. To top that off, and show at the same time that this agent was correct, the Jays went and signed Melky Cabrera to a 2 year contract on Friday.

He has to make it look like he is not 100% asleep at the wheel, 

hence the TO-Miami trade being placed "under review"

To me, the moment that this team "awoke" was more of an incident than an actual moment. To me, the entire John Farrell affair and the bush league tactics employed by the Red Sox and Farrell in an effort to get things to go their way was the trigger that sparked this brushfire of a week that the team has used to usher in their renaissance. The fact that some nobody that was given a chance to be in the Big Leagues as a Manager wormed his way out of his deal with the Blue Jays because the Red Sox came calling was the shot across the bow that this team needed to wake up and start spending like they can to be the team they used to be again. Maybe it was out of spite to make that idiot Farrell look even more foolish or maybe it was the fear that if they didn't do something drastic then they would begin to head down the same path that the Expos went to oblivion but whatever it was, something snapped within Management of this team and they went nuts this week.

By picking up Jose Reyes and friends, the Blue Jays are looking a lot more like their

late 1980's to early 1990's selves....

You have to remember that this used to be a team that all the premier players would flock to come play for. Some of the guys that they had in their line-up included Joe Carter, Robbie Alomar, Dave Winfield, Jack Morris, Paul Molitor, Dave Stewart, David Cone, Ricky Henderson. All of these guys, at one time or another, came to Toronto by free agency or trade, because they believed they could win here and they WANTED to win in Toronto. We haven't seen that around here for years. Players that the team would sign had to be egregiously overpaid and given more years then they should have on their contracts in order to be convinced. That wasn't the way things had been done during the glory years.

After the strike shortened season of 1994, and the change of commitment by ownership, things took a nose dive and the Blue Jays disappeared from relevance. Sure, they would pop up once in a while like in 1997 with Clemens and his 2 steroid-aided Cy Young Seasons, or the Tim Johnson Season where they won 88 games, or the ascension of Roy Halladay as the top pitcher in the league and then a couple of years later Jose  Bautista's rise as a premier slugger in the game, but nothing of any significance really.

In retrospect, Joey Bats being out of the line-up may have been a blessing in disguise for the team

After this week, its safe to say that the Blue Jays are back people. It only took 20 years for the team to find itself again but the REAL Blue Jays are back. And it all started with Farrell bailing on the team for his "Dream job". It says here that he will regret making that decision (if he doesn't already). It was his defection and how he basically blatantly pined for the move for over a year which was the final straw in determining the path the Blue Jays would ultimately take. For that, all Blue Jays fans across the country should all be grateful to that selfish SOB.