The baseball world is still buzzing about the mega-deal the Toronto Blue Jays recently made with the Miami “Fire Sale” Marlins, and I have to admit it looks good – at least on paper. And with the Blue Jays also snatching up Melky Cabrera to add to their riches in the outfield, there’s no question the Blue Jays have improved themselves greatly over 2012, at least on paper.

But on paper is the only place where they seem to have improved. And I would caution even the most rabid Blue Jays fan (if such a thing exists) to not start reserving their World Series tickets just yet; just as I would caution the most rabid Red Sox fan not to dismay so early in this offseason. While I doubt the Sox are going to be as talented next year as the Blue Jays (again, at least on paper) we Sox fans know all to well that “on paper” doesn’t necessarily correlate to performance on the field. How could we not forget the offseason of 2010? The Red Sox had just traded for Adrian Gonzalez an signed John Lackey and Carl Crawford. Why, the baseball media all proclaimed the Sox THE team to beat in 2011, and everyone in Boston was in a lather about the lineup the Sox would be putting out there on a daily basis.

If you’re wondering where that 2011 Red Sox world championship trophy lies, you’re not alone: the Sox stumbled out of the gate horribly, righted itself for a time, then collapsed historically in September. less than a year later, Lackey was recovering from “Tommy John” surgery, and Gonzalez and Crawford were shipped to Los Angeles after falling far short of expectations.

The same holds true for the Blue Jays – not just because of the danger of history repeating itself, but the fact that the division they play in is difficult enough as it is. The Yankees will still be good, the Rays will undoutedly trade some of their young pitching excess to bring in the offense they lackd in 2012, and the Orioles can only be expected to improve off of their 2012 performance. All the Blue Jays did was make a tough division tougher – again, that’s all on paper.

Let’s see what the rest of the offseason brings and what happens when the games begin bfore anyone starts coronating anyone with the 2013 Word Series title.