When the Blue Jays made their signature moves in the infamous offseason of 2012, they didn't just acquire a host of big named players and take on a ton of salary; they gave up on a lot of their future prospect capital. Trading away pieces like Noah Syndergaard, Travis d'Arnaud, Jake Marisnick, Yan Gomes and Henderson Alvarez was no small story, and in complete fairness, nobody acted like it was. Many were upset over the talent that the Jays turned their back on in a year where going all-in was a suspect approach at best, considering where they were on the win-curve.
As much as people have a right to be upset over what happened in 2012, one thing that nobody can deny is this: the Blue Jays front office under Alex Anthopoulos, for all their faults and flaws, have shown a very strong propensity to rebuild the farm system.
Many believed that in 2012, the Jays had obliterated hopes of their future for a shot to win now. Very little talent was left in the system beyond Aaron Sanchez and Anthony Gose, with names like Osuna, Stroman and Norris still unproven or far away.
Just two years after the much maligned offseason of 2012, the Jays had rebuilt an arsenal of prospects rich enough to afford them trades for Devon Travis, Michael Saunders, Josh Donaldson, Troy Tulowitzki and David Price in a span of eight months, while having promoted Marcus Stroman, Aaron Sanchez and Roberto Osuna to the major leagues.
When Anthopoulos became the GM in 2009, he inherited a bottom ranked farm system. Two years was all it for the new administration to evolve the system into one of the best in the game, and two years was all it took to return it to that level after the blockbuster moves of 2012. If we are to take into account this team's ability to draft, sign and develop prospects in recent history, they should have more than enough time before their current major league core is gone to rebuild the system.
6 years of control after 2015: Dalton Pompey, Anthony Alford
5 years of control after 2015: Troy Tulowitzki, Marcus Stroman, Devon Travis, Kevin Pillar, Roberto Osuna, Aaron Sanchez
4 years of control after 2015: Russell Martin, Liam Hendriks, Chris Colabello
3 years of control after 2015: Josh Donaldson, Drew Hutchison, Aaron Loup, Steve Delabar