Advertisement

The pressure is on Blue Jays after David Price trade

(AP Photo)
(AP Photo)

Trading for David Price is far from the first blockbuster deal that Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos has pulled off in his six years running the team. It's not even the first one this week, after the Blue Jays stunned the baseball world Tuesday by getting Troy Tulowitzki from the Colorado Rockies.

But it's by far the boldest move he's ever made.

Toronto agreed Thursday to send pitching prospects Daniel Norris, Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt to the Detroit Tigers to acquire Price. If you needed any more proof that the Blue Jays are all-in and eager to break their 22-year playoff drought, there you have it.

[Friday Daily Fantasy contest: Turn $5 into $5K]

There's no questioning Price's pedigree. He's been one of the best pitchers in the game for years and is proving that again this year, posting a 2.53 ERA in 21 starts to go with a 9-4 record.

There's also no question that the Blue Jays really needed a starting pitcher. The team ranks 12th in the American League with a 4.34 starter's ERA and despite having outscored opponents by 100 runs are just 51-51. When Price became available, Toronto pounced and upgraded their rotation in a big way.

What makes this trade different than all of Anthopoulos' past dealings is that Price is set to become a free agent after the season ends.

"Ideally you don’t shop in the rental market, that doesn’t mean we’ll rule it out, we’re open to it, but our preference is always to have guys under control that can be here for a while," Anthopoulos told reporters Tuesday.

Tulowitzki is under contract through the 2021 season. Before that, Josh Donaldson arrived in Toronto with four more seasons of club control. Even the two big trades that came ahead of the 2013 season guaranteed that R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle and Jose Reyes would be around for a few years.

There's no guarantee Price sticks around after he hits the open market. In fact, it's fairly unlikely. He's going to be highly-sought after as a free agent and the 29-year-old left-hander will command a huge, possibly historic contract

[Follow our trade deadline tracker for the latest MLB news and rumors]

Considering they were going to have trouble keeping Price too, Detroit did well to come away with the package they got from Toronto. Norris, 22, came into this year as a top-20 prospect according to ESPN's Keith Law and Boyd and Labourt are well-regarded as well. It's a high-price to pay for a rental, but given where the Blue Jays stand, it will be all worth it if Price can help get them into the playoffs. He's expected to make his first start for Toronto on Sunday at home against the Kansas City Royals.

Heading into Thursday's action they trail the New York Yankees by seven games in the AL East and are two games out of the wild-card play-in game. With 13 games left to play against the Yankees, the division title is still in reach if the Jays play up to their potential over the next 60 games.

Anthopoulos managed to improve what was already the league's most dangerous offense by slotting Tulowitzki next to Donaldson, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Russell Martin in the lineup. Now they have their ace. And they might not be done either. Toronto is still in the mix for an outfielder or even another starter and they've fortified the back end of their bullpen with LaTroy Hawkins coming over from Colorado and Aaron Sanchez returning to the late-inning role he excelled in last year after opening this season in the rotation.

Will it be enough to push the Blue Jays into the postseason for the first time since 1993? Anthopoulos and his front office are thinking it is. They've shown us that by making the kind of move we weren't quite sure they would ever make.

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

- - - - - - -

Israel Fehr is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter.