How Blue Jays could've easily outbid Giants in bombshell Rafael Devers trade talks

On one hand, the Toronto Blue Jays will be glad to see Rafael Devers go, after the Boston Red Sox traded the superstar slugger to the San Francisco Giants on Sunday. On the other, the Toronto front office has to be asking themselves; why is Devers not coming to Toronto?

The package the Red Sox got back in return for one of the best hitters in the game was certainly comparable to what the Blue Jays could have offered. Right-hander Jordan Hicks, lefty starter Kyle Harrison, outfield prospect James Tibbs and pitching prospect Jose Bello are all now part of the Red Sox organization. None of them will likely do much to help the Red Sox chances of competing this season, although the speculation is that Boston will use that freed up $300-million of cash to have a splurge in the upcoming offseason.

Let’s just play the “we’ll believe it when we see it” card on that suggestion and stick with what we know for sure in the meantime, as the Blue Jays made it clear this offseason that money is not going to be a deterrent to how they do business after trying to land Juan Soto and Shoei Ohtani in recent years, plus the $500-million extension they gave to Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

The Blue Jays had an array of Jordan Hicks type pitchers on their roster. In 48.2 innings pitched this season, Hicks had a 6.47 ERA and made nine starts before being moved to the Giants bullpen in the middle of May. Between Easton Lucas, Dillon Tate and Paxton Schultz, surely there’s a name in there that offer the Red Sox an intriguing combination of guys who can start and come out of the bullpen like Hicks. Each of those guys has filled both roles to varying success – with more of that success either coming in the bullpen, or as a starter in Triple-A, but at least they have had success this season, which is more than can be said for Hicks.

Harrison is a guy who feels like he is on the cusp of breaking out and maybe needs a change of scenery. At just 22-years-old he’s got one full MLB season under his belt, which came last year when he pitched to a 4.56 ERA, with 118 strikeouts in 124 innings pitched. He showed flashes of potential and had stretches last season where it looked like everything was coming together. In fact, he gave up three earned runs or less in 11 of his first 14 starts and had a season ERA of 3.69 going into August and was placed on the injured list after just one start in September. Harrison started the year in Triple-A, was called up to pitch out of the bullpen in May, and has made four starts since May 24, giving up 10 earned runs in 18.1 innings pitched.

The only guy that really compares to Harrison on this years’ Blue Jays would be Bowden Francis. While Francis is six years older than Harrison, they have followed similar paths the last two seasons, and when Francis plays to his potential, he is a tough opponent for batters to face. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t shown that very consistently this season.

Tibbs was drafted just last season by the Giants and almost made the cut for MLB.com’s Top 100 prospects list in February. The 13th overall pick went 17-for-41 at Single-A San Jose but picked up just four total hits in his first 15 games with High-A Eugene. His a lefty-hitting outfielder who made consistent, hard contact while playing at Florida State and he rarely struck out (10.2 percent).

Once again, the Blue Jays have a ton of guys who could have fit the mold for the Red Sox here. Between higher level guys like Joey Loperfido, RJ Schreck and Yohendrick Pinango to lower-level guys like Jace Bohrofen, Victor Arias, or Je’Von Ward – there were players the Blue Jays could have dangled for the Red Sox within this category. They probably could have also offered guys with MLB experience in Davis Schneider or Alan Roden to sweeten the deal.

Lastly, the pitching prospect Bello is a very young pitcher, who is pitching at the lowest levels of minor league ball. While he looks like he is someone to keep an eye on, it’s not as if the Blue Jays don’t have their fair share of young hurlers with upside down in Dunedin.

To wrap it all up, the Blue Jays could have out bid the Giants in a deal to get the bat they need to make a real run at the Yankees at the top of the AL East. A package of Bowden Francis, Easton Lucas, Alan Roden, Victor Arias and Landen Maroudis would have not only been equal, but probably a higher return for the Red Sox in the long run, than what they received from San Francisco.

While it is a completely different scenario, it feels like another miss for a Toronto team that seemed to be in on some big bats during the offseason including, Juan Soto, Pete Alonso and Alex Bregman.