http://sports.nationalpost.com/2013/01/17/blue-jays-trade-that-collapsed-paved-way-for-the-one-that-didnt/

John Lott writes that Alex Anthopoulos says the team was very close to a major trade right after the World Series that would have had payroll implications that likely would mean the team couldn't make the Marlins trade.

From the sounds of it, the salary taken on would have been shorter term, but it was approved by ownership which made it easier for Rogers to quickly approve the salary in the Marlins deal.

So... what could it have been?

Just spit-balling, three possibilities come to mind of teams that may have been open to shedding major, short-term contracts.

1) The Phillies, who have a lot of money owed to Roy Halladay and Chase Utley in 2013, but both contracts likely expire afterwards. Perhaps they considered a teardown, but changed their minds?

2) The Mets. Though the Jays ended up completing a major deal with them, they're one team with high-priced assets that could have been willing to sell. We also heard the two teams talked a lot at the GM Meetings in early November. Perhaps some deal discussed involved the Jays taking Johan Santana and his salary in 2013?

3) The Cubs, who have some interesting names to discuss, potentially including Alfonso Soriano and/or Matt Garza. Like the idea with the Mets, perhaps the Jays could get controllable, proven talent if they took on a big salary in Soriano.

I may have misinterpreted the quotes, but I thought AA implied on that article that ownership took too long mulling the deal?

Ryan Howard for Lind + 2 run of the mill prospects

AA: "It was real, real close. It took a while and we got [ownership] approvals. That ended up falling apart. But because we’d already done the work in the previous deal, it didn’t take as long to get the work done here. It was more talking about ’14, ’16, ’17 and so on.”

To me it just is saying that it took a while to get ownership approvals the first time, but that made it go quick the second time. I see how you're reading it, but that's not my interpretation.

Alfonso Soriano is a FA

He is after 2013.

After 2014 actually: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/compensation/cots/national-league-central/chicago-cubs/

Ah. In any case, a terrible idea and I'm sure AA wasn't in contact with the Cubs.

I'd guess the D'Backs. AA has been known to have been in the Upton talks before, and they had/have assets they are willing to move.

This seems like a good spot for this. Listening to WFAN today (NY giants fan) and they had the Mets GM on and they got talking about the Dickey trade. He said they had been making a deal with another team but that the team was unwilling to part with the 2 player's the Mets wanted. So then they made the deal with the Jays.

What has me wondering is, the team that wouldn't give up the 2 player's for Dickey, phoned the Mets and offered them for TDA. Any idea which teams were involved and what AA may have missed out on?

"(...) we were really close to making a trade that would have impacted our 2013 payroll. It was real, real close.It took a while and we got [ownership] approvals. That ended up falling apart."

The ambiguity hinges on the indeterminate pronoun "that". Because it comes on the heel of approvals, it makes it sound like approval fell apart but since he said approvals with an s he should have said "those" if that's what he meant. It makes more literal sense and more grammatical sense for "that" to refer to "a trade that would have impacted our 2013 payroll".

And yeah I realize this is really pedantic but I'm amusing myself.

Ryan Howard for Lind + 2 run of the mill prospects

-

Hahaha, I sure hope not :)

I think rumors were pretty strong it was Texas also trying to get Dickey

My hunch is that it was with cleveland

AA apperently wanted to be rid of Escobar, so the indians deal could have been centered around SS Asdubal Cabrera, maybe with Choo, and Masterson, Jiminez...that would add quite a bit of short term salary to add

Totally agree about Cleveland, I'd throw in Chris Perez as well.

Choo
Cabrera
Masterson
Perez

DJF has done a pretty thorough job of going through different scenarios and adding up the numbers. It's a great starting point for further discussion on the matter:

http://blogs.thescore.com/djf/2013/01/17/a-nixed-pre-marlins-megadeal-with-who/

It could of been the Cubs, with Garza Soriano and not sure what else. I would guess the Dbacks with Upton and Bauer or something like that, seems more AA's style in that case. It likely fell apart because of uptons no trade to Toronto.

Because AA implied that the deal didn't have major implications beyond 13 but it was the same money for 13 it really limits the possiblities. Chicago had a 22$ million dollar option on Peavy and a 9.5 million dollar option on Floyd. It only makes sense that they would have a least considered trading both to a team willing to exercise both options. As Stoeten writes in his article, you throw in Matt Thornton ($5.5-million) and Alexei Ramirez ($7 million) and it gives you the 44 million dollar.
I don't think you're going to find another scenario where the figures match so exactly. Any other hypothetical deal is too light on 2013 commitments or too heavy on further commitments.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2013/01/18/toronto_blue_jays_jose_reyes_mystery_deal/

Another article by Shi Davidi for further discussion, he included:

"The Chicago White Sox, who faced decisions on both Jake Peavy and Gavin Floyd. Eventually they extended Peavy and exercised the option on Floyd.

-- The Los Angeles Angels, who faced decisions on Dan Haren and Ervin Santana. They had a trade for Haren to the Chicago Cubs fall apart and eventually declined his option, and dealt Santana to the Kansas City Royals.

-- A third possibility, is a deal with a team rich in pricey pitching like the San Francisco Giants, who have big tickets coming off the books next fall in Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito. They held on to both and retained the key free agents from their World Series champion roster."