Former Blue Jays who find themselves with an AL East rival this season

New York Yankees

Josh Donaldson

Regarded as one of the top five trades in Blue Jays history, third baseman Josh Donaldson was acquired from the Oakland Athletics in the 2014/2015 offseason and became a staple on the active roster over the next four seasons. As a member of the Jays, Donaldson slashed .281/.383/.548 with 116 home runs and a .931 OPS through 462 games. Donaldson would earn MVP honours in his first year North of the border and also earned two Silver Slugger Awards and two All-Star appearances while manning the hot corner.

With the club undergoing a rebuild following the 2016 playoff run, Donaldson would be traded in at the 2018 trade deadline to the Cleveland Indians, where he would finish out the campaign. After a quick one-year stop in Atlanta, the Florida product signed a four-year $92 million dollar contract with the Minnesota Twins. After two campaigns with Minnesota that saw the former Jay earn a .829 OPS, Donaldson was traded to the New York Yankees earlier this week alongside Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Ben Rortvedt in exchange for Gary Sanchez and Gio Urshela (also a former Jay).

Tim Locastro

Drafted by the Blue Jays in 2013, outfielder Tim Locastro spent parts of three seasons in the minor leagues, advancing as far as A ball before being traded alongside Chase De Jong to the Los Angeles Dodgers in exchange for international signing slots. Those slots would come in handy, as they would use that additional bonus money to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. the following international free agent period.

Locastro flirted with the Dodgers’ active roster through 2017 and 2018 but found more playing time once he was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2019. He has split his time between AAA and the MLB over the last few seasons and was traded to the Yankees halfway through last season. The Boston Red Sox would pick him off of waivers after the 2021 campaign but he was non-tendered roughly a month later. He signed a one-year deal with the Bronx Bombers this past offseason.

Jimmy Cordero

Dominican product Jimmy Cordero signed with the Blue Jays as an international free agent back in 2012, spending the next three seasons in the minor leagues before being traded in 2015 to the Philadelphia Phillies that saw Ben Revere come the opposite way.

Cordero would make his MLB debut in 2018 with the Washington Nationals but would rejoin the Jays in 2019 via waivers, appearing in one game and allowing one home run through 1.1 innings. He would be picked off of waivers by the Seattle Mariners days later.

After two years with the Chicago White Sox, posting a 4.16 ERA through 60 outings, the right-hander would miss the entire 2021 campaign after undergoing Tommy John surgery in March. He joins the Yankees for the 2022 campaign on a MiLB deal.