Blue Jays missed out on Pablo Lopez, which could be a blessing in disguise

All offseason long, it had seemed like the Miami Marlins were going to trade from their otherworldly starting pitching depth.

Each non-Sandy Alcantara arm in the rotation (Edward Cabrera, Trevor Rogers, Jesús Luzardo and Pablo López) were some of the most popular names in trade rumors around the league.

López wound up being the lucky contestant to be dealt away from Miami and he is headed to the Twins in exchange for the reigning AL batting champ Luis Arraez.

López, 26, has quietly been one of the more productive starting pitchers in the league since he debuted back in 2018 for the Marlins. He does not have the All-Star Game appearances or the Cy Young votes under his belt to back that up, but the numbers are there.

While there was never officially confirmed interest by the Blue Jays in landing López this offseason, the club was reportedly eyeing him as recently as the 2022 trade deadline.

Of course, adding someone of his stature to an already strong starting rotation would've helped the Blue Jays tremendously, but missing out on a deal for the former Marlin may actually be a blessing in disguise for the Jays.

The easiest way to explain why the Jays were smart not to trade for López is this: Toronto does not have a Luis Arraez on the club. Meaning, there would've needed to be much more prospect capital traded to Miami if a deal was to be made.

While the Jays don't have the worst farm system in the league, they also do not have one of the deepest. Any deal for an above-average starter like López would've costed too much for the Jays to justify moving.

While there is no insider information available on this subject, one would have to think that infield prospect Orelvis Martinez would be one of the names included in this deal. Gabriel Martinez and Sem Robberse would've also undoubtedly been on Miami's radar.

The loss of those three prospects would put too big of a dent in the farm system for the Jays to be comfortable with, understandably so.

Easily the smartest route for the club to go is rolling with Manoah, Gausman, Berríos, Bassitt and Kikuchi over gutting the farm system to add a López-like arm to the rotation via trade.