A shortstop. Of course it would have to be a shortstop. In his eight years as the Blue Jays' general manager, J.P. Ricciardi had 19 different shortstops who started games. Nineteen. You can make the case it all went south for Ricciardi when he made Russ Adams - a shortstop - his first first-round draft choice.
You'd think Ricciardi's successor, Alex Anthopoulos, would want to leave well enough alone until high-priced Cuban defector Adeiny Hechevarria is ready, but now Anthopoulos has succumbed to the booty call. He's traded an every-day shortstop in the middle of a career year, Alex Gonzalez, along with an intriguing minor-league left-hander and a quick minor-league infielder for a 27-year-old shortstop whose career numbers scream "change in scenery" and a left-handed pitcher who lost a roster spot to injury.
"We think he has a chance to be a core player," Anthopoulos said Wednesday after announcing he had acquired shortstop Yunel Escobar and pitcher Jo-Jo Reyes from the Atlanta Braves. To which I can only say, well, that would be a first. Because "core" player and Blue Jays shortstop don't go together.
The truth about this trade is that unless you're a Braves fan, there is no reason to get too excited either way. Escobar has a ton of baggage, but as Anthopoulos said, so did Jose Bautista when he came to the Blue Jays from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Two things you need to know about baseball people: They all think they can reinvent the wheel, and if they're going to misread a player, more often than not it will be a Latino. Remember how Pedro Martinez was too slight to hold up as a starting pitcher? That's what the Los Angeles Dodgers thought about him, and they did Latin America better than most teams at that time.
The two happiest people in all this? Gonzalez, who is now in a pennant race, and the Braves' Bobby Cox, who is retiring as manager at the end of the season and is rid of a player he thought was lazy. The Blue Jays weren't going to the playoffs before the trade. They aren't any closer after it.
But the Braves have added a superior defensive shortstop having a blistering offensive year and playing to guarantee an option year in 2011. Gonzalez is a shortstop with postseason experience who, if he continues his offensive pace in the National League, will help address a worrying lack of offensive production out of Chipper Jones and Brian McCann, instead of exacerbating it as Escobar did.
Anthopoulos said Escobar might not have "jibed so much with Atlanta," because he was flashy and emotional on the field. Anthopoulos has done amateur scouting in Cuba, Escobar's homeland, and says Escobar could be misread.
Escobar has had a frightening drop in offensive production: 12 extra-base hits - all doubles - and no home runs after a season in which he had 42 extra-base hits and was named the Braves' most valuable player; a batting average that is 53 points off his career average and an on-base plus slugging percentage that is 153 points lower.
At least Anthopoulos has satisfied his jonesing by getting a right-handed hitter who, when he's right, will bring a little more on-base percentage to the position, a guy who is playing well below his track record instead of some waiver-wire flotsam and jetsam. Signing Gonzalez and John Buck wasn't a test of Anthopoulos's acumen. This trade is, because the little lefty who went to the Braves, Tim Collins, has eye-opening numbers, and the shortstop going to Atlanta, Tyler Pastornicky, has off-the-charts makeup.
Anthopoulos was clear: Escobar will not block Hechevarria's progress. If the Cuban blossoms at Double-A New Hampshire under Luis Rivera - who could be a dark-horse candidate to replace Cito Gaston as Blue Jays' manager - he will be in the majors when he's ready. Escobar? As Anthopoulous said: "You can move around a middle infielder." Or move them to another team.
Toronto is a train wreck of a sports city. It doesn't take much to keep people happy, so it's understandable that Gonzalez would have a surprising amount of currency with the fan base after just three months and equally understandable that in some quarters, this will be taken as a sign that Bautista, the surprise American League home run leader, will be the next to be moved. But Bautista has another year of arbitration eligibility and he's so good defensively in the outfield the Blue Jays would be silly to move him unless they get a front-end starter in return.
When a city has such a rotten sports environment, you'd be surprised what people glom on to or worry about. Put it this way: If in two years anybody in this city is really, seriously ruing the loss of Gonzalez, Anthopoulos will likely be on the way out. If Collins or Pastornicky make it to the majors? That's the price of doing business.