I don't see the Jays moving JPA at all this offseason to be quite honest. Through my own ignorance, I did not realize how awful John Buck's 2011-2012 season was. It was beyond brutal. I don't think the Jays plan is to bring in Travis D'Arnaud and have him as their opening day catcher, coming off an injury, without a single major league at bat. Also, what type of value does JPA really have? I don't think he would get you nothing in return, especially when we look at the landscape of major league catchers. He's got pop in his bat and that's a nice thing to have in your 8th or 9th spot. I could see the Jays getting a strong bullpen arm for him, but they don't need that at all right now. Your not going to get an everyday outfielder or 1B/DH. He also doesn't have much value in a package deal because he's not really a trade asset unless he's going to a team that really needs to fill that position. I think he's back as a Blue Jay and the opening day catcher without question as of right now. One eye on the present, one on the future. His value is not going to go down this season and that way you don't rush your best position player prospect.
The more I look at this trade, the more I don't mind it at all for the Marlins. Now that does not make me like it any less for the Blue Jays. There's no way you were going to be able to make upgrades of this magnitude anyway else. The Jays got massive upgrades here. But the Marlins dumped a lot of money, they were a team going nowhere, and they got a nice pool of young talent in return. From a baseball side of things, the trade works out for both teams. The initial reaction last night was to laugh at the Marlins because we never did get a good grasp of who was going the other way, and the entire list of Marlins coming to the Jays. The tough thing for the Marlins is however that it's going to be impossible to sign free agents now, the fan base is going to have no reason to support them and how do you motivate your current talent to be energized for the upcoming season?
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