Miami Marlins vs. Toronto Blue Jays: Which Team Is Winning The Trade So Far?

Feb 18, 2013; Dunedin, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays infielder Jose Reyes (7) during photo day at Florida Auto Exchange Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

We are a month into the 2013 season, so I thought it might be interesting to check into the results of the Blue Jays – Marlins trade from this past offseason.  The Blue Jays expected this trade, along with a few other moves they made, to put them in the driver’s seat to win the division.  The Marlins contend that, from a pure baseball standpoint, this was an excellent move on their part.  (And, oh yeah, the Rays and Mets sort of got in on the action a bit later as well by acquiring Yunel Escobar and John Buck, but I will leave them out to avoid cluttering things up too much). 

Let’s take a look at how the players have fared for their new teams so far:

Blue Jays

Hitters

Level

G

PA

AVG

OBP

SLG

wOBA

HR

R

RBI

SB

WAR

Jose Reyes

MLB

10

43

0.395

0.465

0.526

0.434

1

5

5

5

0.6

Emilio Bonifacio

MLB

24

73

0.179

0.222

0.313

0.233

0

7

4

0

-0.5

Pitchers

Level

W

L

GS

IP

K/9

BB/9

ERA

FIP

WAR

Josh Johnson

MLB

0

1

4

19.2

8.69

4.12

6.86

4.59

0.2

Mark Buehrle

MLB

1

1

5

28.1

6.04

1.91

6.35

5.38

-0.1

Marlins

Hitters

Level

G

PA

AVG

OBP

SLG

wOBA

HR

R

RBI

SB

WAR

Adeiny Hechavarria

MLB

14

52

.184

.231

.286

.230

1

3

3

0

-0.2

Jeff Mathis

MLB

0

0

.000

.000

.000

.000

0

0

0

0

0

Jake Marisnick

A+

3

15

.200

.200

.267

.211

0

2

0

0

Derek Dietrich

AA

24

105

.279

.410

.488

.413

3

16

11

2

Pitchers

Level

W

L

GS

IP

K/9

BB/9

ERA

FIP

WAR

Henderson Alvarez

MLB

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

Justin Nicolino

A+

0

1

5

25.0

2.88

1.80

3.60

3.16

Anthony Desclafani

A+

3

1

5

20.2

6.97

1.31

0.44

2.72

The Blue Jays have received a combined 0.2 WAR from the 4 players they received in the deal.  Jose Reyes was actually playing well with a .395/.465/.526 slash line and .434 wOBA before injuring his ankle after 10 games played.  The injury was supposed to keep him out for a month and he has yet to return.  Bonifacio has been bad both at the plate and in the field and has been relegated to a bench role.  Both Johnson and Buehrle are sporting 6+ ERAs and have won only 1 game between them.  Johnson missed his last start due to triceps soreness, but is expected to return for his next scheduled start.  The Blue Jays as a team are currently in last place in the AL East with a record of 10-17 on the season, just 2 more wins than the Marlins.

The Marlins at the major league level have gotten only 52 fruitless plate appearances from Adeiny Hechavarria before he succumbed to an elbow injury 14 games into the season.  Pitcher Henderson Alvarez and catcher Jeff Mathis were both injured in spring training and have yet to return.  Surprisingly, of the 12 players involved in the trade the best season so far has come from the least heralded participant, minor league pitcher Anthony Desclafani who is 4-1 with a 0.44 ERA. 

As much as I hate to say it, so far Loria and the Marlins look justified in having made this trade performance wise.  All of the players they traded away have been terrible or injured or both (except Buck!).  Even though the Marlins have received next to nothing on the field at the major league level from the players they received, off the field the savings in salary clearly makes them the winners so far (if only they had reinvested those savings in obtaining better players!).  That being said, neither side could have imagined the performances would be this bad.  I’ll continue to check in on the players involved throughout the season to see if things improve as some of the injured players get healthy and report back.