Price was right: 2015 trade was Blue Jays' biggest deadline steal

Excitement is building among baseball fanbases as the trade deadline draws closer, with many of them hoping their team pulls off a blockbuster deal.

Teams typically set out to make a trade that will address a specific need or want, and it may take a while to determine whether that team did so successfully. A trade can have a sizable effect on a team's fortunes, both good and bad. But occasionally, a team can pull off a deal that overwhelmingly surpasses all expectations. These trade steals are rare, and they're even more unlikely at the MLB trade deadline.

With the Toronto Blue Jays in a fantastic position, the team is looking to add talent by Thursday's 6 p.m. deadline. Jays fans are hoping for a trade deadline deal that will put the team over the top, but whether they can come up with a major haul of talent without giving up a lot in return remains to be seen. History shows the Blue Jays have pulled off some kind of a trade heist before, but not very often.

Price was right: 2015 trade was Blue Jays' biggest deadline steal

The Blue Jays' biggest trade deadline steal was probably made 10 years ago this month: the 2015 deal for David Price. The left-handed ace was acquired from the Detroit Tigers for LHP Daniel Norris, LHP Matt Boyd and LHP Jairo Labourt.

A deadline steal could be defined as when a team receives a great return for very little cost. The Price deal certainly fills those requirements, especially when it comes to the great return.

Hovering around .500 and trailing the New York Yankees by six games, the Blue Jays were in need of a spark. The rotation included R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Marco Estrada, and Drew Hutchison, but another arm was needed. Marcus Stroman was out and wouldn't return until September, Aaron Sanchez was approaching an innings limit and the carousel of spot starters wasn't getting the job done. General Manager Alex Anthopoulos went to work.

The Blue Jays pulled the trigger on a deal with the last-place Detroit Tigers, sending them three left-handed pitchers for the ace. It turned out that cost wasn't too high, as Labourt only appeared in six MLB games. Norris pitched for 10 years, eight with Detroit, but posted a 4.73 ERA over just 582.1 innings. Boyd is still pitching, now in his 11th season, posting a 4.54 ERA over 1,027 innings and 202 games. He was named an All-Star this season — as a 34-year-old reliever with the Chicago Cubs.

Price's arrival in Toronto not only filled a need, but ignited the Blue Jays fanbase. Making his debut on Aug. 3 against the Minnesota Twins in front of 45,766 fans in Toronto, Price allowed a run and three hits over eight innings, while striking out 11 in a 5-1 Jays win. The win was the second in what turned out to be an 11-game winning streak that powered the Blue Jays into first place for good. Toronto won the AL East and ended a 22-year playoff drought, which at the time was the longest in North American professional sports.

Price was every bit the ace down the stretch. In his 11 starts, Price went 9-1 (including three wins against the Yankees) and posted a 2.30 ERA over 74.1 innings with 87 strikeouts. He wasn't close to that effective in the playoffs, but Price did pitch three innings in relief to pick up the win in Game 4 of the AL Division Series against the Texas Rangers. The win sent the series back to Toronto for the fateful Game 5 — the Jose Bautista "Bat Flip" Game.

There have been some other noteworthy deadline trades made by Toronto.

There was Rickey Henderson in 1993. Although it's debatable how much he helped Toronto, Henderson gave the Jays lineup stability and ended the team's carousel of left fielders. The Hall-of-Famer hit just .215 but did steal 22 bases and score 37 runs in 44 games. There was Jose Cruz Jr., the second and last Blue Jay to turn in a 30-homer/30-stolen base season in 2001. Acquired in 1997, Cruz never got back to the level of his 2000 and 2001 seasons.

Franchise icon Edwin Encarnacion was involved in one, as he came to Toronto from the Cincinnati Reds in a deadline deal with pitchers Zach Stewart and Josh Roenicke in 2009. The cost was high however, as the Blue Jays sent Hall-of-Famer Scott Rolen to the Reds.

Fan favorite Teoscar Hernandez was a deadline acquisition in 2017. The Blue Jays sent pitcher Francisco Liriano to the eventual World Champion Houston Astros for the young outfielder and Nori Aoki. Liriano wasn't a huge help for Houston, as his 4.40 ERA and the fact he only threw 2.1 innings in the postseason. But Hernandez became an All-Star, winning two Silver Slugger Awards and posting an .829 OPS with the Jays before being traded to Seattle in 2023.

Robbie Ray was traded to the Blue Jays for pitcher Travis Bergen at the 2020 deadline. Ray won a Cy Young Award the following season, which was also Bergen's last in the majors. Ray was gone after 2021 however, signing with the Mariners in 2022.

The Blue Jays have done well at the trade deadline. But it is difficult to match the impact of the 2015 trade, when the Price was just right.