Remember when the Toronto Blue Jays' rumored and reported trade plans did not involve David Price, Troy Tulowitzki, Ben Revere, LaTroy Hawkins or Mark Lowe? Prior to the deadline the Jays were linked to names such as Johnny Cueto, Jeff Samardzija, Ben Zobrist, Mike Leake and a bunch of relievers.
So what happened?
General manager Alex Anthopoulos did his due diligence before the deadline, which is why the trade rumors surrounding Toronto were so plentiful. They were linked to so many players and were said to have had discussions with so many teams, which now proves how the club made such groundbreaking moves before 4 p.m. on July 31.
In the trades for Price, Tulowitzki, Revere, Hawkins and Lowe, the Blue Jays surrendered a ton of their prospects. Here's the breakdown:
Toronto sent SS Jose Reyes, RHP Miguel Castro, RHP Jeff Hoffman and RHP Jesus Tinoco to the Colorado Rockies for SS Troy Tulowitzki and RHP LaTroy Hawkins
Toronto sent LHP Daniel Norris, LHP Matt Boyd and LHP Jairo Labourt to the Detroit Tigers for LHP David Price
Toronto sent RHP Jimmy Cordero and RHP Alberto Tirado to the Philadelphia Phillies for OF Ben Revere and cash
Toronto sent LHP Rob Rasmussen, LHP Jacob Brentz and LHP Nick Wells to the Seattle Mariners for RHP Mark Lowe
"It was one of the great deadlines of all time," ESPN's Jayson Stark said on the Baseball Tonight Podcast. "Maybe the greatest, when you start thinking about the number of players who got traded, what they got traded for, the caliber of players that got traded."
"The Blue Jays had the best trade deadline in major league history. They acquired their Game 1 starter and a former Cy Young Award winner, David Price," writes ESPN Insider Jim Bowden. "They bolstered their bullpen with leadership and proven veteran arms in Mark Lowe and LaTroy Hawkins. They added speed and improvement in left field in Ben Revere and acquired the best all-around shortstop in baseball not named Correa, Troy Tulowitzki. The Blue Jays are now the favorites to get the second wild-card spot and are good enough to overtake the Yankees."
That may have not been the case if the Blue Jays agreed to deals with the other clubs they were in discussions with. Let's see why those trades didn't happen.
*All of the following information is provided by Bob Elliot of the Toronto Sun.
The Cincinnati Reds wanted RHP Marcus Stroman in any deal for Johnny Cueto and LHP Jairo Labourt as part of any deal for RHP Mike Leake
The Chicago White Sox wanted RHP Marcus Stroman in any deal for Jeff Samardzija (but eventually pulled him off the market because they climbed back into the wild-card race)
The Oakland Athletics wanted LHP Matt Boyd and another minor leaguer for utility man Ben Zobrist
Anthopoulos stayed patient and struck when he felt the time was right. It was previously said he was not interested in trading Stroman and he held true to his words to help preserve the roster beyond 2015. Price trumps all of the other starters the Blue Jays were rumored to be interested in; Tulowitzki is one of the best hitters in the MLB at his position; Revere can arguably be considered a better acquisition than Zobrist because Revere is signed through 2017 while Zobrist will be a free agent after this season; and the upgrades in the bullpen (Lowe and Hawkins) provide better depth as opposed to acquiring one closer (Aroldis Chapman, Craig Kimbrel and/or Jonathan Papelbon) at a high price.
Take a second to think about this: if Anthopoulos didn't wait for Price to be available and instead included Labourt in a package for Leake or Boyd in a package for Zobrist, they probably wouldn't have Price right now.
