With the Toronto Blue Jays cleaning out the Miami Marlins' payroll on Tuesday by acquiring Mark Buerhle, Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, John Buck and Emilio Bonifacio, there are several ways the deal could affect your Texas Rangers.
1. Catcher depth — The Blue Jays are now deeper than they already were at the catcher position. With Buck being a solid veteran he might end up being the starter when the 2013 season gets underway. That leaves J.P. Arencibia and even mega prospect Travis D'Arnaud on the market for the Rangers, a team searching for a catcher, especially if Mike Napoli goes elsewhere. You'd have to think there's already been talks between the Blue Jays and other teams before this trade went down.
2. Hamilton sweepstakes — With the Blue Jays instantly in the AL East running now, along with the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays and the upstart Balitmore Orioles, the AL East might instantly become the top division in baseball. The Orioles have been a club that has reportedly been a favorite to land Josh Hamilton over this winter. So does this change in the AL East landscape make the Orioles even more desperate.
2a. It also takes one team out of the Hamilton sweepstakes in an already seemingly thin market as the Blue Jays were one of the few teams who have been linked to Hamilton solely because of the amount of money they had to spend. You'd have to think that's no longer the case as they just added $160 million to their payroll.
