Vernon Wells

After seeing the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays make their own offseason splashes this week, proceeded by the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles offseason marks happening earlier on, there isn't a more accurate statement than "the AL East is the most dominant division in baseball."

In a move that will almost certainly be dissected, panned and universally mocked by writers more intelligent than I, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim have sent Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera to the Toronto Blue Jays for Vernon Wells. 

Wells—who is owed $86 million through 2014—has already waived his no-trade clause and passed a physical in Anaheim. 

Fox Sports is reporting that the Toronto Blue Jays have sent Vernon Wells and his $17 million per year contract to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for infielder Mike Napoli; pending a physical. The Angels acquire cash with the 32-year-old Wells who has waived his no-trade clause after having his most productive season since 2006 with 31 home runs and 88 RBIs.

The off-season free agency frenzy has already begun, and so far we’ve seen only a handful of players switch teams. Dan Uggla was dealt to the Braves, Javier Vazquez returned to the NL, and Victor Martinez joined fellow countryman Miguel Cabrera in Detroit.

While unsigned free agents Cliff Lee, Adrian Beltre and Carl Crawford will make great impacts for their new teams, we can’t forget that there is more than one way to improve your team.

After establishing himself as one the AL's better outfielders from 2003 to 2006, Vernon Wells failed to produce at the dish in 2007 and again in 2009. Injuries almost certainly played a part in his rough '09 campaign, but with two off years sandwiching a productive 2008 season, there were lots of questions to be answered in 2010.

Nine hitting clones of Jose Bautista (including the DH). Some 486 home runs between them. Over 1,000 "runs" (taking the average of runs and RBI to adjust for batting order). And 900 bases on balls. All with a batting average of "only" .260.

This isn't going to happen. Even Bautista himself might find it hard to hit another 50-plus home runs next season after pitchers adjust to him.

Let’s take a look at three players who would be considered hot, as well as three who had their values take a hit:

Three Hot:

As reported by Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun, the Blue Jays put both Vernon Wells and Edwin Encarnacion on waivers earlier in the week. News has come out that both of them have cleared waivers and can now be traded.

Wells comes as no surprise, given his monster contract, but Encarnacion clearing does raise questions on his future with the ball club. 

The MLB "Non-Waiver" Trade Deadline has come and gone but another has yet to arrive, the August 31st Waiver Trade Deadline. This simply means teams can still trade players but with the requirement of placing their players on the waiver wire, which is pretty secret in MLB and often if a contract is too hefty a player goes free.

Last year the Chicago White Sox shocked the baseball world by claiming outfielder Alex Rios from the Toronto Blue Jays and his expensive contract, in the neighborhood of $50 million left on it and getting him with no trade whatsoever.

The MLB trade deadline is just weeks away, and the Toronto Blue Jays new GM, Alex Anthopoulos, is expected to continue putting his stamp on the team.

With that in mind, here are the players Anthopoulos should consider trading:

John Buck

He was not meant to be much more than a stopgap catcher until a prospect (like JP Arencibia) comes up through the system.