Blue Jays: 10 stars the club missed out on that would've changed franchise history

Tim Lincecum

This one hurt a bit, as “The Freak” Tim Lincecum almost became a Blue Jay back in 2007. At the time, the Jays thought about acquiring Lincecum from the San Francisco Giants for Álex Ríos, who appeared to be heading towards stardom at the time, as he ended up hitting .297 with 24 home runs and 85 RBI for the 2007 season. Lincecum would have joined Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett to form a scary three-headed monster for their starting rotation for years to come. The Giants had a strong interest in Ríos as well, but were hesitant to give up Lincecum (and rightfully so).

However, the trade speculation eventually fell through, and Lincecum would go on to become a four-time All-Star, capture two NL Cy Young awards, and become a part of three World Series championship runs with the Giants. On the plus side, Lincecum did begin to struggle in the latter part of his career, but in his prime, he was literally unstoppable. Ríos eventually was traded to the Chicago White Sox in 2009, and got his World Series ring in 2015 with the Kansas City Royals. So both players did have the impact that was expected of them to help lead their teams to the Holy Grail, but just unfortunately it wasn’t with the Jays in doing so.