Oh, Okay.

Alex Anthopoulos once traded Vernon Wells, with like four years and $96MM left on his contract.  He's better at this stuff than I am.  I get that.

Alex Anthopoulos is the GM of the Toronto Blue Jays, who have a pretty reasonable core of players on the club right now, and have that entire core under contract or team control next year, making big trades this year pretty unnecessary.  I get that too.

The Toronto Blue Jays are infinty games out of a playoff spot with slightly-more-than-that-games left.  They probably need two of those patented eleven game win streaks just to get over the hump that is being in contention in September.  They haven't given up, per se, but they aren't going to even scare another team with regards to the playoffs, making the last week or so a great time to jettison players that aren't going to be on the team anymore.  I think we all get that.

You've got guys like Darren Oliver, Mark DeRosa, Rajai Davis and (hopefully to fuck) Adam Lind, who will be either retiring or at least free agents, and guys like Emilio Bonifacio and JP Arencibia who don't deserve the raises that they're going to get in arbitration.  I'm not saying that all of these guys could have or should have been traded, but there are six guys on the current version of the 25-man roster-- the .467 win-percentage 25-man roster-- that are probably going to turn in to nothing next year.  Not prospects, not organizational depth, not a controllable big league asset, not a high-price contract that doesn't fit in the current market.  Nothing.  Sure, if those six guys, or anybody else on the team, for that matter, is welcome back next year, a good way to let them know that is to not trade them.  I get that.

My issue is that it's got to be a longshot that Darren Oliver comes back for his 25th season or whatever the shit it's going to be.  Mark DeRosa is probably on his way to a retirement pretty soon as well.  Rajai Davis is a free agent and might look to go somewhere that he can play everyday, rather than be blocked by a guy who doesn't appear to have a working leg, let alone two.  Adam Lind has a couple of club options on his contract that are sure to be declined, if there is any mercy in the world.  Emilio Bonifacio and JP Arencibia are replacement level players, but will not be paid as such next season.  These are all guys that should have been shopped as potential rentals for teams with gaping holes, yet none of them were traded.  I don't get that.

To cheer up, read this.  It's awesome.