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As first reported by Ken Rosenthal, of FOX Sports, with , the Jays receive Tulowitzki and veteran right-handed reliever LaTroy Hawkins for shortstop Jose Reyes and minor-league right-handed pitchers, , Jeff Hoffman and Jesus Tinoco.

The pressure was on Anthopoulos to add a starting pitcher to the rotation of a disappointing 50-50 Blue Jays team for trades without waivers. But as he so often does, the Jays’ GM went in another direction, upgrading at a position of perceived strength, with an all-star.

The stealth bomber of baseball executives last winter had Dioner Navarro as his starting catcher, but signed free agent Russell Martin as an upgrade. He had Brett Lawrie as an up-and-coming young third baseman, but traded for Josh Donaldson as a clubhouse and on-field upgrade. Now he obtains Tulowitzki when he had former NL batting champion Reyes for the next two seasons.

Make no mistake about it. Anthopoulos still needs to find a starting pitcher before the deadline, but Reyes was one of his biggest problems if this team ever made the playoffs.

Whether it was that had caught up to his 32-year-old body, or simply an issue that showed up with more than half of his games on artificial turf, Reyes had become a in terms of range, especially to his left, and in terms of a shaky glove and often erratic arm.

And with his status as the highest-paid player on the team, manager John Gibbons hands were tied in late innings when it came to the tempting possibility of inserting defensive wiz, Ryan Goins, when holding a lead.

An issue like that would have shone brightly in October, but with Tulowizki on board, that problem has been corrected. Now that Anthopoulos has thought about the Jays in October, he needs to address how he’s going to get there. The only way is to find another starting pitcher that can slot in with Mark Buehrle, R.A. Dickey, Marco Estrada and Drew Hutchison. Keep working Alex.

In terms of money owed, Tulowitzki has a long-term deal in place, signed with the Rockies, that runs through 2020, with about $104 million still owing. That includes a $4 million buyout of a $15 million club option for 2021. Reyes contract has about $55 million left through 2017, with a $4 million buyout of a $22 million final year in 2018.

The Jays, if all things remain the same, have a major-league powerhouse batting order that has been improved in terms of run production and OPS, with four of their players — Tulowitzki, Donaldson, Martin and Jose Bautista — that all finished Top 25 in MVP voting in their league in 2014. Defensively, the left side of the infield has been significantly upgraded.

As for the Jays prospects surrendered, Hoffman is the one player that they would have been most reluctant to part with.

Ranked No. 3 in the organization by Baseball America in its pre-season Prospect Handbook, he finally returned to action this spring after being drafted out of college while still recovering from Tommy John surgery. He throws 99 m.p.h. with a terrific slider. But in a deal like this, the Jays will just look in another direction within a farm system that has other young, power arms.

As for Castro, he , breaking camp with the big club at 20 years old, being after just one series in New York, but over four months, it was apparent that another 20-year-old, Roberto Osuna, was the one the organization wanted to keep.

The fourth and latest addition, as the night went on was said to be Jesus Tinoco, a 20-year-old Venezuelan who projects as a groundball machine —important for the Rockies at mile-high altitudes.

That’s good work by Anthopoulos, but his task is not completed if this team was to accomplish something over the final 62 games of the schedule. Back to work.