Toronto Blue Jays: the 10 biggest mistakes in Blue Jays history

Blue Jays mistake No. 1: Wasting Carlos Delgado and Roy Halladay

The Toronto Blue Jays were blessed at the turn of the century to feature two of the top players in the league on their roster.

First baseman Carlos Delgado was among the most feared hitters in the game while wearing a Blue Jays uniform. Between 1996-2004, Delgado was in the top-10 in the league in home runs (324, more than Ken Griffey Jr. and Mark McGwire) and RBI (1,023, more than Barry Bonds and Jim Thome). His OPS was better than eight players who are currently in the Hall of Fame.

Delgado finished his Blue Jays career as the all-time franchise leader in home runs, RBI, doubles, OPS, and offensive WAR. He has six of the franchise’s 12 highest OPS seasons and the club’s top three RBI seasons.

On the mound, Roy Halladay overcame early career struggles to become one of the game’s most dominant and dependable starting pitchers. Despite not throwing a pitch since 2013, Halladay still leads all pitchers since 2000 in complete games (65; the active leader, Justin Verlander, has 26) and shutouts (19, four more than Clayton Kershaw). Seven times between 2003-11 he led the league in complete games. Verlander and Kershaw have only averaged 7.2 innings per start twice in their careers; Max Scherzer, another future Hall of Famer, has never done it. Halladay averaged that many innings over an entire decade.

Delgado and Halladay have something else in common, though: they never appeared in a playoff game while with the Blue Jays. Delgado kept seeing his fellow star batters leave town. Shawn Green hit 42 home runs for the Blue Jays in 1999 but was traded that offseason to the Dodgers. Raul Mondesi, acquired in that same deal, averaged 25 home runs and 26 stolen bases in two full seasons in Toronto before being dealt to the Yankees in July 2002 for Scott Wiggins, who played three games in a Blue Jays uniform.

No Blue Jays starter other than Halladay made 90 starts between 2002-09. Only two, Ted Lilly and A.J. Burnett, won at least 15 games in a season.

Despite having these two perennial All-Stars, the Blue Jays only finished as high as second in the AL East once in their time in Toronto. Delgado eventually left for Florida in 2005 and got his first taste of postseason experience with the Mets in 2006. Halladay was traded to the Phillies before the 2010 season and immediately made the playoffs, throwing a no-hitter in his first career postseason start.

The Delgado and Halladay eras of Blue Jays baseball will be remembered as a lost opportunity for the franchise, one in which they failed to take advantage of the talent they were fortunate to have.