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

Zack Greinke

Back during the offseason of 2010, the Blue Jays had the opportunity to trade for Zack Greinke, as they were believed to be the frontrunner at the time for his services. Roy Halladay had been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies just the year before that and the Jays’ No. 1 at the time, Shaun Marcum, was dealt to the Milwaukee Brewers for Brett Lawrie. Greinke was just coming off a subpar season in which he pitched to an ERA over 4.00. However, he was just one year removed from his Cy Young winning year and the Jays believed he could help anchor their young rotation to bring them back into their contending ways.

However, Greinke was dealt to the Brewers instead for an underwhelming package. Reports later revealed that Greinke actually executed his no-trade clause to reject any possible trade to the Jays, and actually preferred to go to the National League because he would be able to perform statistically better in preparation for free agency when it hits a couple years later. If he was a big game pitcher, that should not even be a thing of consideration, but perhaps to Greinke, it was more important to secure a big, long term paycheck than to take on the challenge to show that he was one of the best pitchers in the game for that era. Unfortunately for the Jays, they ended up having to suffer a few more years of mediocrity before finally becoming strong contenders again.