Blue Jays: In hindsight, the worst trades that weren’t made

Roy Halladay almost ended up in L.A.

Back in 2009 the Blue Jays had accepted their fate in the AL East, and had resolved themselves to the fact that they were going to have to trade Roy Halladay. They did the same with Scott Rolen that July, and likely would have done the same with “Doc” had things gone the way that J.P. Ricciardi had planned.

There were multiple reports surfacing that talks got very close before the deadline, with the most commonly linked names being one of Jered Weaver or Joe Saunders, Erick Aybar, and outfield prospect Peter Bourjos. Weaver was the best of the bunch as far as career accolades, earning three straight top-5 finishes in Cy Young voting, and annual All-Star appearances from 2010-2012.

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The trade that didn’t help was re-lived well by Ian Hunter of bluejayshunter.com, and apparently fell apart because the Angels weren’t willing to part with Aybar in addition to the other pieces discussed. It’s hard to say if Halladay would have been the difference maker or not for those Angels teams, but he definitely would have given their rotation a boost regardless of what the trade package in return had been.

It’s not that this return is overly spectacular for someone like Halladay, however, when you compare it to what they eventually got from the Phillies then it looks a lot more appealing. The trickle down effect would have been interesting as well, as Aybar would have negated the need for a shortstop, and maybe Troy Tulowitzki never comes to town. The Blue Jays also got Travis d’Arnaud back in the Halladay trade, who was later a key piece that went to New York for R.A. Dickey. The rabbit hole is pretty endless on this one.

Most of the time it’s fun to think about “what could have been”, but in the case of Josh Donaldson’s recent trade, and with most of the examples I’ve listed above, it’s more painful than it is enjoyable.