The Toronto Blue Jays stunned and excited their fans last week when rumours surfaced about a blockbuster player trade.
The trade is not finalized yet, and it still has to be approved by the Commissioner of Baseball.
(The official announcement of the trade and its likely approval should happen in the next few days, according to reports.)
If the trade goes through it would be, arguably, the biggest trade in Blue Jays’ history.
Twelve players are involved: seven going from the Blue Jays to the Miami Marlins and five going from the Marlins to the Blue Jays.
The Jays would mostly be trading younger players who have potential. The Marlins would mostly be trading away established, star players.
The trade would put the Blue Jays in serious contention for the World Series next season. It would also put the Blue Jays’ payroll at more than $100-million for the first time ever.
If the trade goes through, the Blue Jays would get:
• pitchers Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle;
• shortstop Jose Reyes;
• multi-position player Emilio Bonifacio; and
• catcher John Buck.
The Marlins would receive:
• pitchers Henderson Alvarez, Anthony DeScalfani and Justin Nicolino;
• infielders Adeiny Hechavarria and Yunel Escobar;
• catcher Jeff Mathis; and
• outfielder Jake Marisnick.
In addition to the blockbuster trade, the Blue Jays also reportedly signed free agent Melky Cabrera. A “free agent” is a player who is allowed to sign with any club because he is not under contract to any specific team.
Last year Cabrera was having an incredible season. He was voted the MVP (most valuable player) in the All-Star game, which put him at the top of the heap. He was also the National League’s best batter.
Then his world came crumbling down. It was discovered that he had been taking a type of drug that boosted his performance. It was a drug that is not allowed in Major League Baseball—it was against the rules.
Cabrera was suspended (in other words he couldn’t play) for 50 games. He sat out the games and is now allowed to play baseball again as long as he doesn’t take any more banned substances.
UPDATE: The 12-player trade was made official on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
What message does the Blue Jay trade send to their fans, their players and coaches, and the entire league?
Reading Prompt: Text Features
Today’s article explains which players are going to each team using a short sentence ending in a colon ( : ) as well as bullet points. How does organizing information in this way help a reader understand the information they are reading? Why would an author write this way instead of using paragraph form?
Primary, Junior, & Intermediate
Identify a variety of text features and explain how they help readers understand texts (OME, Reading: 2.3).
Grammar Feature: Proper Nouns
Today’s article includes many proper nouns. A proper noun is a specific word for a person, place, or thing. For example, “toy” is a noun because a toy is a thing. However, “Lego” is a proper noun because it is the specific name of a thing. Notice that proper nouns are capitalized.
Reread today’s article and underline all of the proper nouns you can find.
