It was just 18 months ago that the Toronto Blue Jays let the Chicago White Sox take Alex Rios off their hands, free and clear, in a waiver claim -- a pure $60 million salary dump, with the Jays betting that Rios was never going to play at a level commensurate with his salary.
The Vernon Wells trade is even more of a salary dump than the Rios waiver claim, and it gives us an unvarnished view of what the Jays see in Wells' future, for the $86 million he is owed for the next four years of his contract.
What did Toronto get in return? Well, the 32-year-old Juan Rivera -- the second piece in the trade and more of a designated hitter candidate than an outfielder at this stage in his career -- is coming off a year in which he posted a .312 on-base percentage with 15 homers. Right now, he has little value as a player, but does have one year and $5.25 million remaining on a three-year, $12.75 million deal he signed before the 2009 season; his inclusion in this deal presumably came at the insistence of the Angels.
And the Blue Jays also get Mike Napoli, an arbitration-eligible DH/catcher who will make something in the range of $5.3 million to $6.1 million this year. He is coming off a season in which he hit .238, with a .316 on-base percentage and 26 homers, in 453 at-bats; the Angels have been looking to move him for a while, before his salary clearly outstripped his production.
If Napoli struggles early in 2011 -- and remember, he was hitting .210 in the middle of May -- and Toronto weighs Napoli's risk/reward balance between the trade deadline, it would seem very possible that neither Napoli nor Rivera would finish next summer with the Blue Jays.
There is no long-term talent gain in this deal for the Jays -- and maybe no short-term gain. Toronto made this trade because it saves about $76 million, because the Jays want to get out of the contract while the gettin's good.
And the Angels are taking on an older player at a cost greater than what they offered either of their primary offseason targets, Carl Crawford and Adrian Beltre.
For more on the Vernon Wells deal and the Rays' decision to bring aboard both Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez, you need to be an ESPN Insider.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Buster Olney
Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of two books. "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," is a Times best-seller, and "How Lucky You Can Be", about basketball coaching legend Don Meyer, was released in 2011.
He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).
Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."
Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN
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