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Two years ago today, Alex Anthopoulos did the impossible (well I guess not the impossible, but surely the improbable) by trading Vernon Wells (and $5 million) to the Angels for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera.
Our reaction to the trade? Well:
Disbelief. And then, well, joy. Reaction from the rest of the Jays blog roll and the rest of the media was much the same. I did complain about the lack of 'win now' moves from Alex Anthopoulos, I've stopped complaining about that. Wonder why?
The timing of the trade was beautiful. In 2010 Vernon earned $15,687,500, he had a really good season and was well worth the money. In 2011 he made $26,187,500 (who was the one that decided on such strange numbers?). We paid $5 million of that, and he was terrible. Last year he made $21 million and he gets the same for the next two years.
Vernon's numbers since:
| Year | Age | Tm | G | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 32 | LAA | 131 | 505 | 60 | 110 | 15 | 4 | 25 | 66 | 9 | 4 | 20 | 86 | .218 | .248 | .412 | .660 |
| 2012 | 33 | LAA | 77 | 243 | 36 | 56 | 9 | 0 | 11 | 29 | 3 | 1 | 16 | 35 | .230 | .279 | .403 | .682 |
| LAA (2 yrs) | 208 | 748 | 96 | 166 | 24 | 4 | 36 | 95 | 12 | 5 | 36 | 121 | .222 | .258 | .409 | .667 | ||
Yeah, the trade couldn't have come at a better time. I still can't believe the Angels made that deal, but I am thankful to them.
What we got back? It really didn't matter, just getting rid of that contract made it one of the best trades ever for the Jays, but let's look anyway.
Juan Rivera, who I called a Garden Gnome for his lack of range in the outfield, and it stuck, sorry Juan, wasn't wonderful for us. He hit .243/.305/.360 with 6 home runs and 28 RBI. He had a short stint as our first baseman, filling in for Adam Lind, went he went out with an injury, he was pretty good at first base. Lind was having a great season, to that point, hitting .313/.343.516, then he had an awful 2nd half of he season, hitting just .197, but I digress. Juan was given to the Dodgers on July 12th.
Mike Napoli was flipped to the Rangers 4 days later, for Frank Francisco, not one of Alex's better trades. Napoli would go on to hit .320/.414/.631 in 2011, that would have been nice to have on our team. But then, if we had Napoli, we likely would have let Edwin Encarnacion leave, and that, knowing what we know now, would have been a mistake.
FrankieMcFrankFrank wasn't loved by fans. He had a rough start to the season, by the end of May he had 3 blown saves, 2 loses and an ERA of 6.14 (there was some saves in there too) . Bad first impressions are hard to overcome. He did pitch better the rest of the way, but, for a bit there, Jon Rauch took the closer job back. That really didn't go well. Frank finished the season with 21 saves and a 3.73 ERA. After the season he signed with the Mets as a free agent. Since Frankie was a 'Type B' free agent, we got the 50th pick in the 2012 draft for his signing and picked 6'8", left-handed pitcher Matt Smoral. That looks like a great trade to me.
All that really mattered about the trade, was the saving the money. I doubt the trade with the Marlins would have happened if we still had to pay Vernon $21 million this year. Without the Marlins trade, I doubt the trade for R.A. Dickey happens. That one trade made, two years ago likely made the fun of this season possible.
Vernon Wells will always be one of my favorite players, the man hustled, he went hard down the line on every ground ball, he always worked hard, he gives to charity, I can separate the player an the contract. But I'm glad AA found a way to get rid of that contract at just the right time.
So, Alex, great job man. I'll have a glass of wine in your honor tonight.