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Marlins and Blue Jays near deal that sends Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle and Josh Johnson north

The Miami Marlins kicked their fire sale into high gear on Tuesday night and the Toronto Blue Jays were only too happy to come warm themselves with the talent that was cast off by Miami owner Jeffrey Loria.

Seriously, try this one on for size: Toronto is reportedly set to receive shortstop Jose Reyes, catcher John Buck, infielder Emilio Bonifacio and pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle, a roster infusion that immediately makes the team a serious contender for the AL East in 2013.

In exchange, the Marlins will receive (among others) shorstop Yunel Escobar, shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, starting pitcher Henderson Alvarez, catcher Jeff Mathis, pitching prospect Justin Nicolino and tens of millions of dollars cut from the team's payroll. The swap completes a top-to-bottom cleansing of all the Marlins' big-name signings in the franchise's rebranding effort last winter. In addition to Reyes and Buehrle being dealt, Heath Bell was traded to Arizona and manager Ozzie Guillen was sent to the unemployment line.

[Also: Marlins pull $175 million con job]

The trade has not been made official, but was first reported by Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports on Tuesday night.

This is obviously a huge trade and it's hard to imagine what could possibly top this once the winter meetings start early next month. We'll have more on the swap in a bit — particularly the final nail it drives in the coffin of professional baseball in south Florida — but we'll leave it now with the vastly different reactions from two players on opposite sides of the trade.

"Alright, I'm pissed off!!! Plain & Simple" — Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins outfielder

"Its a good day to be a bluejay" — Jose Bautista, Jays outfielder

Yup, that's about right.

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