Yeah, I don't know what the hell the Blue Jays are thinking. This is like trading Victor Zambrano for Scott Kazmir.

One year of R.A. Dickey for 6 years of the top catching prospect in baseball. Wonderful.

I suspect they're getting more than just Dickey.

This one is hard to swallow for me. d'Arnaud perhaps, may be the best young talent besides Profar,
ready for MLB. The Rangers could have really used a young and promising Catcher of Travis' BIG talent.

Absolutely the most insane "deal" I have seen yet this year. As if playing in Rogers Centre isn't bad enough.

Apparently the latest report is that the Jays will NOT be giving up Td'A.

Looks to me the Jays are biting Dickey bait. Not only giving up T d'A, but Buck also. Hello JD?
We're losing the chance at TWO catcher deals... because of? OMG, the METS of all frick'n teams?

Maybe the Jays are interested in actually winning? Maybe they understand that you have to give something of quality to get something of quality? Maybe Jon Daniels needs to get off his high horse and play ball with everyone that isn't considered a genius like he is. Jay's may know something about Travis d'Arnaud, that other teams don't, why else would they have traded for Buck and picked up two Angels catchers that couldnt hit to save their lives in Mathis and Wilson? Maybe they are concerned he is fragile based on how much time he's spent on the DL in the minors. A catcher that can't stay healthy is pretty useless.

IIRC theyre basically trading halladay for dickey

Looks like the Jays are in "win now" mode with a weakened AL East.

Yea, looks like this is a done deal. Whoever it was that said the jays wouldnt trade darnaud and syndegaad (im not even trying to spell either correctly anymore) for beltre looks really crazy now. I think this offseason will go down as the offseason of prospect overspending. Which prospect will get moved next? Dylan Bundy?

Maybe we should call the Mets and see if Piazza is available.

The most recent knuckleballer before Dickey to have extended success was Wakefield, and he didn't put up a FIP below 4.52 after the age of 38 (which is how old Dickey is). Between '07 and '011, Wakefield put up only a league average ERA. Is that worth giving up your two top prospects for? TOR was stupid to give up the best C prospect in the game plus Syndergaard for Dickey. The equivalent would be us dealing Profar plus Perez. I'm glad we weren't that stupid.

The fact that both Dickey and Wakefield throw a knuckler doesn't make their career paths destined to be the same. They both throw a breaking ball using the knuckleball principle, but very different velocity, and therefore much different methodology at play in their pitching. During the last 3 seasons, when Dickey has learned how to throw it for strikes on a consistent basis (averaging BB/9 in the low 2s), he's been an excellent pitcher throughout.

I wish the Rangers could have gotten Dickey, but I wouldn't have given up Rangers' top two prospects (Profar, Olt) for him as Toronto did. But they may have judged wisely - - it's a risk-reward deal for Toronto, and there's a very reasonable possibility they landed an ace-level performer, who will only cost them 10M AAV per year for 3 seasons, which could be a major coup if Dickey merely maintains his current ability with the knuckler. It could get better.

Anyone else find it hilarious that there are FOUR catchers involved in this trade?

No, not really, if you think that TOR might want a knuckleball catcher & his backup.
Dickey is not Wakefield. I think he's legit. Throwing it between 50-85mph, That's nasty.

It's not 1 year of Dickey. It's 3 years, with an option for 4 at an average of 10 million a year. As long as he is an effective knuckleballer into his 40s, which wouldn't be completely crazy, it may not be a horrible deal. As we've seen with the Mariners, even "sure thing" prospects can bust.

I'd still take 6 years of d'Arnaud > 3 years of Dickey.

D'Arnaud AND Snydergaard for Dickey...ridiculous trade. The Rangers wouldn't even discuss Olt and Buckel. Both Toronto prospects are better than the Rangers non offer. Buckel only has proximity value over Snydergaard otherwise the Blue Jays just said "Eff it, we have a chance to take the East" and paid max value.

^This is the key. The Jays probably don't see a realistic window to win many championships coming out of the East, so with Boston & NYY appearing to take a year off, they're trying to go all in on 2013. Huge gamble IMO, and they've got to hope the rotation (and Bautista) stay healthy.

Even if you're talking about a rotation with Johnson, Dickey and Buehrle, you're still basically talking about an injury prone TORP (JJ), a questionable NL TORP (Dickey), and an aged MORP (Buehrle). Beyond that, you have an injury prone 5-inning starter in Brandon Morrow and a guy you don't know what the hell he'll do in J.C. Romero.

Yes, I'm taking the glass half-empty take to this, but it's still relevant.

To me, based on moves that have already been made, I see the Red Sox shocking the world and winning the East, with Tampa finishing a close 2nd. I put a lot of stock in the Sox' mutiny of Bobby V last season, and most of the time when teams assemble All Star lineups out of the blue they fail to produce (see: 2012 Angels, Dodgers).

Well prognostications don't matter to them because logically we can see WHY AA made the trade under the pretense that the Jays are legit contenders. He believes it. Whether or not many of us think he paid a premium is of little consequence to him. They are clearly in win now mode and, although it's a calculated risk, it's feasible that they may succeed.

The Royals? Hell no.

I like the trade for Toronto.

It's easy to assume that Dickey will be just a solid veteran pitcher, but he may produce like Clemens did at 38-40 (2 all-star appearances, 1 CYA, over 600 IP and 50-18 W/L).

And it's easy to blindly assume that d'Arnaud may be the next great catcher (the upside for the Mets), but recall the super-hyped Saltalamacchia who was the top young catching prospect in baseball when the Rangers got him in the Teixeira deal. 6 years of that sort of post-trade performance? Nothing special at all.

The extremes are
...the big win for NYM: getting 6 years of a young catcher who is one of the best in the majors for a so-so pitcher at 38-40
...the big win for Toronto: trading 6 years of Saltalamacchia for 3 years of Clemens winning a CYA and being an All-Star SP at the top of the rotation

But with Dickey ready to win immediately, I think the risk-reward makes perfect sense for the Jays. Toronto needs immediate wins at the margins to break through and make the playoffs, so it makes sense for Toronto to risk "future possibilities" for "current solid performance." They also have a reasonably decent chance that when we get the benefit of hindsight, they actually won the trade rather than overpaid for the immediate wins they need to add. On a smaller scale (because they only got him for 3 months rather than 3 years), it's the same risk-reward trade that Texas made for Cliff Lee, and no way the Rangers wish for a do-over in retrospect.

Well, it's a bit different in that Texas knew what they had and what they needed to solidify ( or legitimize) the team's chances and the Rangers would still receive compensation if he had left in the offseason after offering a QO. The Jays have yet to go through the evaluation portion of the baseball calender so they're hopes are based on internal theory and prognostications more than in season performance analysis.

That said, D'Arnaud and Noah S is a better package than Smoak/Beavan IMO (partly due to positional scarcity at C in the majors) and received a lesser talent (although for more years) with a gimmick pitch.

*their