Putting the "Dead" in Deadline

There was so much hype going into the trade deadline that the Blue Jays might be baseball's biggest seller. So much, in fact, that I was actually losing sleep because my mind was running over all the possibilities. What big-time prospect will they get for Downs? What kind of young player could they get for Buck? Who's going to be stupid enough to give up something for Gregg?

Most of all, I was excited to see some of our young guns knocking on the doorstep come up and get their feet wet. Two months of everyday MLB action could only help when the team comes back in 2011 with a shot at contention. Then Wallace got traded and I still haven't been able to wrap my head around it enough to rant about it. I don't think I dislike that trade at all, but it was such a weird move for a team that's almost ready to compete that it was a mind-boggler. I was also anxious to see some of the veteran bullpen arms get shipped out so that guys like Josh Roenicke and Jeremy Accardo get back up here and be given a real shot. So much for that.

But, you know, with a few days to get over the let-down of no action at the deadline, I've fully come to terms with it. Sure, it was disappointing not only that the Jays couldn't add to their quickly deepening minor league system and it was disappointing not to be able to watch some fresh blood up here when the games in the last couple of months will be otherwise meaningless. I guess I can accept what's happened because of the organization's philosophy. They're looking to add players with very high ceilings any way they can. When teams did not offer some of their best prospects, the Blue Jays rightfully said no and will wait until their veterans, many of whom are Type A's and B's walk in free agency. The high-round draft picks that they will get next June will take much longer to reach the MLB than a Double-A guy that could have been had, but it's the ceiling that they're looking at, not the timeline.

There is possibly no better example of this than in the Wallace-Gose trade. The Blue Jays gave up a sure-fire MLBer - who was pretty much immediately called up by the Astros - in Wallace for a guy who will likely be no more than a fourth-outfielder. Although he's struggled with making contact and drawing walks (and hitting for power [and not getting caught stealing this year]), Gose is still 19 and supposedly has insane amounts of speed and if he develops properly, he can be a guy around whom empires can potentially be built.

So that's that. I haven't stupidly lost faith in the Blue Jays front office for failing to make a trade for the sake of it and acquire new, mediocre prospects for us to drool over and watch turn into mediocre MLB players. That's not how you'll ever win, especially in this hell of a division the Blue Jays have been damned to inhabit. We've already waited 17 years for a taste of the playoffs. Getting back there isn't a process that can be rushed. Quality still rules over quantity. That said, I still believe that next year, the team will be strong enough to have a legitimate shot at contention. They probably still won't make the playoffs in a division with three of the top 5 teams in baseball, but they've been consistently in the top 10 for most of the last decade and are improving.

Updated: I was pushed off the computer between the fourth and fifth paragraphs for long enough that... J.P. Arencibia will be called up after all. I feel bad for John Buck, who's been everything we could have hoped for as a $2MM catcher (and seems like a good person, unlike that f?ckhead who juicedly fouled the ball off of him), but I'm definitely really excited to see him play Cito bench the penguins out of him. Here's hoping to that not happening, as he figures to be a big part of our future, whether it means he stays on as catcher for a few years or gets traded for other stuff.

Oh yeah, and maybe they make some trades in August.