Where does Myles Straw trade rank among the Blue Jays' worst moves of the Atkins era?

It made the Blue Jays look silly for not doing their homework and getting duped by someone outside the organization.

Tampa Bay Rays v Toronto Blue Jays
Tampa Bay Rays v Toronto Blue Jays | Mark Blinch/GettyImages
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August 31, 2018: The Blue Jays receive Julian Merryweather from the Cleveland Guardians in exchange for Josh Donaldson.

Sending Donaldson to Cleveland for Merryweather made some sense, given the fact that Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was already in the system, and they were developing him at third base at the time.

However, Donaldson had one more MVP-caliber season after the trade, and was productive up until 2023. Considering the Jays didn’t get much from Merryweather and eventually moved Vladdy to first base, would it really have been too much to ask to sign a former MVP and fan favorite to a deal that would have let him retire as a Blue Jay?

Again, it was a move that signaled the Blue Jays were going into rebuild mode, and the short-lived “glory days” of 2015 and 2016 were shockingly over.

But what makes the optics around this deal look worse is that reports surfaced indicatingToronto also had a chance to trade Donaldson for a 22-year-old named Jack Flaherty from St. Louis, but nixed the deal.

The was also the highlight of a 2018 trade deadline that did nothing for the Blue Jays to help jumpstart the rebuild, outside of acquiring Santiago Espinal for Steve Pearce from the Red Sox, who turned into an All-Star for half a season.

The other deals that season were as follows:

July 26, 2018: The Blue Jays receive Brandon Drury and Billy McKinney from the New York Yankees in exchange for J.A. Happ.

July 26, 2018: The Blue Jays receive Chad Spanberger, Forrest Wall and (PTBNL) Bryan Baker from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for Seunghwan Oh.

July 31, 2018: The Blue Jays receive Jacob Waguespack from the Philadelphia Phillies in exchange for Aaron Loup.

August 4, 2018: The Blue Jays sell the player rights of Gio Urshela to the New York Yankees

August 31, 2018: The Blue Jays receive Demi Orimoloye from the Milwaukee Brewers in exchange for Curtis Granderson.

All of these players were free agents at the end of the year, but none of the trades did anything for the immediate or long-term future of the Blue Jays.

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