Toronto Blue Jays: the 10 biggest mistakes in Blue Jays history
Blue Jays mistake No. 9: The Mike Sirotka trade
David Wells has said the trade that sent him from the New York Yankees to the Toronto Blue Jays in 1999 was the worst day of his baseball career. He was leaving the defending World Series champs, a club that had won an AL-record 114 games the previous year. The Blue Jays club he was joining was coming off the first of what would be six straight seasons of being the little brother to the Yankees and Red Sox in the division, finishing third every year between 1998-2003.
Wells, though, gave the Blue Jays two solid years. He won 37 games in 1999-2000, third in the Majors behind Pedro Martinez and Greg Maddux in that span. In his second year in Toronto, he was 15-2 at the All-Star break and started the game for the American League; he finished the year with a career-high 20 wins and was third in Cy Young balloting.
But Wells wanted out, and on Jan. 14, 2001, the Blue Jays obliged him. They sent Wells to the Chicago White Sox in a trade involving minor leaguer Mike Williams, pitcher Kevin Beirne, and outfielder Brian Simmons. Williams never played in the Majors, Beirne appeared in five games in Toronto, while Simmons played 60 games in his one season in a Blue Jays uniform.
The centerpiece of the deal, however, was pitcher Mike Sirotka. The 29-year-old lefthander had won 15 games for the White Sox in 2000 with a 3.79 ERA. He was expected to join a Blue Jays rotation that already included future All-Stars Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter. But he never did.
After the trade was completed, the Blue Jays discovered that Sirotka needed shoulder surgery. While he passed his initial physical, a second visit to Dr. James Andrews showed he might have a torn labrum. Blue Jays General Manager Gord Ash complained to the league office that the White Sox hid Sirotka’s health information during trade discussions, but to no avail.
“After careful consideration of all the information before me, I uphold the transaction and deny the Toronto club’s claim for relief,” Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement. “Although there is a dispute about whether certain facts about Sirotka’s condition were disclosed before the clubs agreed to the trade, the Toronto club talked directly to Sirotka about his health on the day of the trade and believed it had the opportunity to make the trade conditional. The Blue Jays never elected to do so.”
Sirotka joined the Blue Jays in 2001 but never left the dugout, sitting out the entire season. The Blue Jays paid him $3 million in 2001 and $3.8 million in 2002, but he never played another game in the Majors. Wells, meanwhile, wound up back on the Yankees a year later.