When Cliff Lee gets you Jason Knapp, Victor Martinez gets you Justin Masterson, and George Sherrill gets you Josh Bell, everyone had to be a little suspicious when early reports indicated the Jays would receive Edwin Encarnacion and stud prospect Yonder Alonso for Scott Rolen.
Those doubts were proven to be true when the official report came down the wire, and Alonso's name, unsuprisingly was nowhere to be seen. Instead, to accompany Double E on his way to Canada is right-hander Josh "Don't Call Me Jeremy" Roenicke and minor league right-hander Zach "Don't Call Me Dave" Stewart.
Encarnacion was in dire need for a change of scenery. Once a guy with real good promise a few years ago, he's still pretty young, and certainly a viable candidate to be an above average third baseman if his defense improves. His stock really seemed to have bottomed out, so I'll give the Jays credit for the gamble and getting some other live bodies in return for a player whose stock had nowhere to go but down.
To be perfectly honest, I've never heard of "Don't Call Me Jeremy" or "Don't Call Me Dave", but then again, I'd never heard of Jeremy Accardo when the Jays grabbed his then-electric arm from the G-Men. So we'll see how this all shakes down. It's certainly a nice first step in the rebuilding program, and hopefully if/when the Dodgers flame out in the postseason once again, they'll come to the Jays Brass this offseason will a desparate plea for Halladay that includes something resembling fair value for the ace.
Today marked the first baby steps in what should be a long road to recovery. This World Series hangover has been neverending. 16 years strong, what's another half dozen?
