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

Randy Johnson
Randy Johnson / Lisa Blumenfeld/GettyImages
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Prince Fielder

Speaking of those struggling years: back during the 2011 offseason, the Jays had another chance to upgrade their team, this time offensively, in trying to sign Prince Fielder, the son of former Blue Jay Cecil Fielder. Prince would have teamed up well with José Bautista to provide big time power in the heart of the Jays’ lineup for years to come, and would help make up for some of the deficiencies they had in pitching at the time. Fielder had a strong proven track record with three All-Star appearances, two Silver Slugger awards, as well as being a finalist for NL MVP for two of the years.

What made the contract talks fall through was the fact that the Jays were unwilling to offer a multi-year contract beyond five years, which appeared to be an ongoing problem with Jays' management as the similar issue arose with the aforementioned Lester situation. In the end, Fielder went with the Detroit Tigers who gave him a whopping nine-year, $214M contract. The Jays did end up with a great consolation prize, as it coincided with Edwin Encarnación filling the void by having a breakout year in 2012, making the miss on Fielder a bit more tolerable.