Blue Jays Trade History Part 3: Devon White

Devon White was one of the key pieces to the Blue Jays World Series runs in 1992 and 1993. One of the best defensive outfielders during his time with the Jays, the Jamaican native was acquired in a trade with the California Angels in 1990.

In 1990, the Blue Jays made two trades that drastically affected the path of the team. The first of those trades included outfielder Devon White making his way to Toronto from California.

This is what the trade looks like:

To Toronto: Devon White, OF, Willie Fraser, RHP and Marcus Moore, RHP

To California: Junior Felix, OF, Luis Sojo, IF, and Ken Rivers, C

California got ripped off in this deal. The best player they got was Junior Felix. While he was an okay player, he was nowhere near close to the value White brought the Jays right away.

Felix’s 1990 season is what made it possible for the Jays to trade him for White. Felix hit .263 with 15 homer runs and 65 RBI. This was his best season in his six-year career and saw him accumulate 2.4 WAR. He bounced around to Florida and Detroit before retiring after the 1994 season.

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Sojo played an amazing 13 years in the majors, mostly as a utility infielder, He went back to Toronto for the 1993 championship, before going to Seattle, the Yankees, and Pittsburgh. His best season came with when he batted .272 with seven homers and 43 RBI.

Rivers was really just a throw-in in this trade. He was added as a player-to-be-named-later. He never reached the majors and spent six seasons in the minors.

White was the leadoff man, and speedster for the Jays during their championship run. Before coming to the Jays he already had two gold gloves and an all-star berth. After the trade, he won five straight gold gloves from 1991-1995. His best season with the Jays was in 1991 when he had  6.3 WAR, 17 home runs, 60 RBI, and batted .282. But he may be best known for this catch, which started one of the most infamous plays in Jays history:

Fraser ended up playing with Toronto for just half a season. And that half had less than desirable results. He pitched to a 6.15 ERA in 26.1 innings, with 12 strikeouts and two losses. He was selected off waivers by St. Louis part way through that season.

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Moore never pitched for Toronto before being taken by the Rockies in the expansion draft in 1993. This is an obvious win for Toronto, because of White. Everyone one else in the trade was not great, and it’s amazing that California would trade White for the potential of Felix.