The Fifth Liners

It has been a big week trade wise in Ontario and the Toronto Blue Jays have succeeded in giving fans a renewed faith. After a season of fans and experts talking about changes that needed to be made, GM Alex Anthopoulous has apparently been listening keenly. From out of nothing the last 48 hours have been a trade deadline whirlwind. On Wednesday, All Star short-stop Troy Tulowitzki was traded to Toronto from Colorado Rockies for Jose Reyes , Miguel Castro , Jeff Hoffman and Jesus Tinoco. This move came a big but very welcome surprise to Jays fans and it is a move that has bolstered their already thriving offense. There were rumblings that Tulo wasn't made aware of the deal until moments before and that he wasn't at all happy. Any baseball fan could probably side with his mentality here because his entire career had been played at Coors Field. Despite any misgivings, he still gave Toronto fans a debut to remember with a home run blast in an 8-2 win over the Phillies. Given...

The Toronto Blue Jay s off season activity just got another major shot in the arm last night when it was announced that third baseman Brett Lawrie along with Kendall Graveman , Sean Nolin and Franklin Barreto have been traded to the Oakland A's in exchange for Josh Donaldson ! One of the best in the game at third base, this trade marks both an offensive and defensive rise for the Blue Jays! Impressively, the Jays didn't have to trade away a great depth of quality to acquire their man. Donaldson is coming an All Star season where he hit a. 301 average and an .883 OPS. He also slugged his way to 29 home runs and 98 RBI's to push Oakland to a post season appearance! The trade caught the A's man off guard, but he has insisted that he holds no grudge against his old side. This man could play an important role in the rebuilding of Toronto and along with the Free Agency capture of Russell Martin, runs maybe more frequent at the Rogers Centre this season. Lawrie struggl...

Seems like the Toronto Blue Jays have a massive stride forward in the free agency market today as according to Sports Net, they have netted Pittsburgh catcher Russell Martin on a five year deal worth $82 Million! This deal if completed would become the second largest in club history, as well as being the largest ever handed out by GM Alex Anthopoulos . Melky Cabrera recently turned down a qualifying offer from the Blue Jays which along with the perhaps unwise trade of Adam Lind seemed to limit Toronto's hitting options. Martin could prove to be an excellent signing for the Blue Jays due to his great power hitting skills and his superb handling of pitchers. He also boasts a good record on playing on winning teams and  has been to the post season over seven times in nine years! As well, Martin provides a similar offensive threat to that of Cabrera! But with Dioner Navarro already a skilled catcher, could this prove problematic in the club house? In April last season Martin rec...