Blue Jays Trade History Part 11: Troy Glaus

The Blue Jays have made numerous big trades to try and get to the top of the league. In every case, these trades had a huge impact on the team, either good or bad, that changed the course of at least a couple of seasons. One of these trades involved star third baseman Troy Glaus, as he was traded to Toronto.

The 2005 Toronto Blue Jays team wasn’t great. They finished with an 80-82 record for third in the AL East, but had some bright spots. Roy Halladay and Shea Hillenbrand were All-Stars, while Orlando Hudson and Vernon Wells earned Gold Gloves for their work in the field.

The Jays had some obvious holes in the lineup, with third base being one of the biggest. They had Corey Koskie there, and he put up 11 home runs, 36 RBIs, and a .249 batting average. Glaus represented a good power bat that could work well with Wells, Hillenbrand, and Alex Rios.

This is what the trade looked like:

December 27, 2005

To Toronto: Troy Glaus, IF, Sergio Santos, IF

To Arizona: Orlando Hudson, IF, Miguel Batista, RHP

Orlando Hudson was a good player with Toronto, but he got even better after the trade. He spent four seasons with Toronto, with 2004 being his best. He hit .270 with 12 home runs and 58 RBIs. He had three straight gold gloves from 2005-2007, but only one of those with  Toronto. The other two came in his first two seasons with Arizona.

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In 2006, his first season with the Diamondbacks, he hit .287 with 15 home runs and 67 RBIs. The next season, he made his first All-Star appearance, by hitting .294 with 10 home runs and 63 RBIs. After the 2008 season, he signed as a free agent with the Dodgers. With the Dodgers, he won another gold glove and had another All-Star season, both in 2009.

Miguel Batista had two subpar seasons with Toronto, after coming in as a free agent in 2004. In that season, he pitched in 38 games, starting in 31 of them, while pitching to a 4.80 ERA with 104 strikeouts and a league leading 96 walks. The next season he pitched exclusively out of the bullpen, doing a bit better with a 4.10 ERA in 71 games. After pitching with Arizona in 2006, he went to five other teams, retiring in 2012 with Atlanta.

Sergio Santos, in this trade, came as a shortstop. He became a pitcher later on, and was traded back to Toronto. But in this trade he came as a shortstop prospect. Santos never played shortstop in the MLB, instead, he spent time only in the minors, having solid, but not great seasons. After being traded back and forth between the White Sox and Giants, he was sent to extended spring training to convert from shortstop to pitcher.

Troy Glaus is the big piece in this trade. He was a known commodity at the time of the trade, after hitting 218 home runs in his first seven full seasons in the league. The season after the trade, Glaus hit .252, with 38 home runs and 104 RBIs, while becoming an All-Star and finishing 30th in MVP voting. In 2007 he slipped, and hit only 20 home runs, 62 RBIs, with a .262 average. The next year, he was traded to St. Louis for Scott Rolen, but I’ll get to that in the next Trade History.

Next: Blue Jays: Biagini got the cheers he deserved

In 2006, the Jays went 87-75, finishing second in the AL East, but missing the playoffs. This shows the trade as a clear win for Toronto. They needed help, and while Glaus wasn’t the only change they made, it was a big one, that clearly helped.