Bluebird Links - 10 Most Important Trades

On Friday, Griffin posted a piece where he lists the top 10 most important trades in Jays franchise history.

Here is his list, with some notes from me:

1. Alomar and Carter.  I think everyone will agree that this should be top 2 or 3 for sure.  The two combined for 32.1 fWAR with the Jays and helped lead the team to 2 World Series wins.  They are 3rd and 10th respectively in terms of fWAR accumulated by players that the Jays acquired via trade.
2. Halladay.  This might be up there eventually, and you could argue it should be there now since you don't trade away your face of the franchise every day.  How will it effect the franchise in the long run though?  Who knows.  Griffin doesn't include the Wells trade because it's too soon, isn't it too soon to include this as well?
3. McGriff.  The Jays absolutely fleeced the Yankees on this deal.  This is one of the most lopsided trades of all time and absolutely deserves to be on this list.  Collins accumulated 5.4 fWAR in two years with the Jays and McGriff accumulated 21.3 fWAR (4th on the Jays list of traded players).  Morgan did nothing for the Jays, but he did play 18 years after the Jays and accumulated over 30 fWAR.  The guys the Yanks got from this deal did nothing.  This could easily be number one on this list.
4. White.  This trade isn't talked about nearly as much as the Alomar and Carter deal but it deserves to be on here.  The biggest guy the Jays gave up was youngster Junior Felix but his career was short.  White accumulated 22.7 fWAR for the Jays, 2nd on the all-time list.
5. Ward.  He became an integral part of the Jays championship runs and accumulated 15.4 fWAR for the Jays.  Alexander picked up 6.8 fWAR for the Braves.  Good trade.
6. Griffin.  Yes, Griffin won rookie of the year in 1979.  The next 5 years, he was terrible though.  One of the worse offensive players for the Jays ever.  He had 4 seasons with a wRAA worse than -20.  He was a negative WAR player.  I don't buy Griffin on this list.
7. Hinske.  Another ROY winner.  Another player that didn't do a whole lot after their ROY season.  He accumulated 7.4 fWAR in 5 years with the Jays.  Same as Scutaro in 2 years.  He shouldn't be on this list.
8. Bautista.  The guy just broke the Jays homerun record so I'll give him this one.
9. Cruz Jr.  He's often the forgotten man in Jays CF history, but he had a few very productive seasons.  He accumulated 11 fWAR in 6 years with the Jays, good for 9th on the list.  This was a good trade.
10. Rolen.  I think this was a great trade for the Jays, but again, too early to call it one of the 10 most important moves of the franchise I think.

How would your list look for most important trades in Jays history?  My list, and your monday morning links after the jump.

My list would look something like this:

1. Alomar and Carter
2. McGriff
3. Guzman.  How do you forget Juan Guzman on a list of important trades?  He accumulated 24.1 fWAR which is the most ever by a player the Jays traded for.  And from 1991 to 1993, he was a machine, posting seasons of 3.4, 5.7 & 4.5 fWAR.  He started 195 games, won 76, pitched over 1200 innings and threw for 1030 K's with the Jays, and he's not on the list?  The Jays traded Mike Sharperson for him.  Big move.
4. White.
5. Ward.
6. David Wells.  The time we traded for him, not the time we traded him away.  Clemens had just put together two of the greatest back to back seasons by a pitcher in a long time, and he wanted out.  The Jays managed to get Wells back for him, and he put together two very good years, accumulating 11.2 fWAR in those 2 years, good for 8th on the list.
7. Cruz Jr.  He was a good player with potential to be great, and the Jays only gave up two relievers for him.
8. Domasco Garcia.  He solidified the middle infield when the Jays traded for him.  He accumulated 11.5 fWAR, good for 7th on the list.
9. Rance Mullinks.  Yes, he never won any awards.  He wasn't a centrepiece of the dynasty, or even a starter for a lot of it.  But he was a great platoon hitter and he played for the Jays for a long time, including the '85, '89, '91 and '92 playoff teams.  He accumulated 19.1 fWAR for the Jays, good for 5th on the list.
10. Cone for Kent.  David Cone helped win a world series, and Jeff Kent went on to be one of the best hitting second basemen of his generation.

Honourable mentions:  the Halladay and Rolen deals, but it's too early.  Halladay could easily have made my list.  Esteban Loiza or Micheal Young.  Not every trade has to be a good trade to be important, but I choose not to remember this one.  Bautista, and Scutaro, each for a bucket of balls.  Bautista could easily move onto this list.  The Morrow trade could easily be on here if he continues to pitch like he did in the second half of last year.  Obviously, this list is very subjective - am I missing any deals?

Jays Links

Wakamatsu finding his love for baseball again
The Kitsap Sun has a nice piece on Jays bench coach, Don Wakamatsu. A couple of good quotes from Waka (can we shorten his name?):

"People asked me, 'Why not Baltimore, why not Milwaukee, why not Oakland?'" he said. "The impression I got from (Blue Jays general manager) Alex Anthopoulos, (assistant GM) Tony LaCava and everybody in the front office really blew me away. I felt really good about Johnny Farrell. It felt like the right fit and I think I needed something like this to rekindle myself.

The State of the Franchise Recap
The Blue Jay Hunter with a recap of the State of the Franchise.

Examining the Jays Relief Strategy
Mop up Duty takes a look at Jays transactions including relievers since October 2009 and takes a crack at figuring out the Jays organizational strategy regarding relievers.

Arbitration Board: Jose Bautista
CBS Sports staff take a crack at the Bautista arbitration hearing with arguments for, against, and a decision.

AL East Attendance: 2001-2010; Apparently Baseball is Popular
Justin Bopp at Beyond the Boxscore takes a look at AL East attendance throughout the decade with another fantastic graph.

The Jays Frank Francisco Signing: Making Sense of the Term
Mat at Jays Journal gives a few reasons why the Francisco, 1 year deal makes sense for the Jays.  Thoughts?

Minor League POTD; Video; and Notes
The Batters Box has some minor league notes and pictures. They had this to say about Travis D'Arnaud:

At the Toronto mini-camp Travis D'Arnaud showed some impressive power and peppered Windows restaurant.  When D'Arnaud was injured last season he was able to hit the weight room, both as part of his recovery and for development.  His added power showed in mini-camp; the hotel patio just over the left-centre wall in New Hampshire might be a dangerous place to be this summer

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