The one that got away: James Paxton and the Toronto Blue Jays
Canadian James Paxton is having a breakout season for the Seattle Mariners If things have gone differently he could have been a member of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The 2012 RA Dickey trade is a move that still haunts many Blue Jays fans. The deal saw prospects Noah Syndergaard and Travis d’Arnaud shipped off to the Mets in exchange for the reigning Cy Young Award winner.
But in that time Syndergaard has established himself as one of baseball’s best young pitchers for the New York Mets.
The Jays also traded away former first round pick Jeff Hoffman in the 2015 Troy Tulowitzki trade and he too is establishing himself as an exciting young starter.
But there is another power arm that slipped away from the Blue Jays, that people may not even be aware of – James Paxton.
The Ladner, BC native, nicknamed Big Maple is set to pitch against Toronto on Sunday at Safeco Field for the Seattle Mariners.
He is in the midst of a break out season as a member of the Mariners rotation. The former Blue Jays draft pick has gone 5-0, with a 1.69, and 55 strike outs in 48 innings so far in 2017.
Although it’s early in the season, Paxton is in the race for the AL Cy Young, despite Chris Sale being well ahead of everyone.
Toronto picked the big Canadian lefty in the first round of the 2009 Amateur Draft, but failed to sign him. The Jays couldn’t reach the pitcher’s signing bonus demands before the August deadline. It was reported that Toronto offered him an $873,000 signing bonus as recommended by the league.
The then 20-year old Paxton was represented by the infamous player-agent Scott Boras, a man who is never afraid to walk away from the table, if his demands are not meet.
Former Blue Jays President Paul Beeston was quite critical of the relationship between Paxton and Boras at the time, as reported by Matthew Seekers of the Globe and Mail
"“Because it was Scott (Boras), the way you deal, you deal through him,” he said. “You don’t deal through the family.”"
Beeston claimed that Boras representing Paxton was a violation of NCAA rules. Collegiate athletes are allowed “family advisors” but agents aren’t allowed to get heavily involved in contract negotiations before they go pro. The Jays President felt Boras crossed that line.
Paxton then got in a legal dispute with the University of Kentucky, after refusing to cooperate with NCAA investigators. The outcome was he was forced to play independent ball in a Texas League and wait for the 2010 draft. When the June draft came Paxton dropped from 37th overall a year before to 132nd despite still being regarded as a top-level prospect.
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Boras is now representing another young Blue Jay pitcher, in Aaron Sanchez, and was critical of the Jays not giving his new client a raise after his breakout 2016 season.
Toronto fans can now only day dream of a young, cheap starting rotation featuring Paxton, Syndergaard, Hoffman alongside Sanchez and Marcus Stroman. These five twenty-somes would cost only $7.42 million in 2017 (a little over half of what Francisco Liriano is making this year).
But the former top-100 prospect may feel more at home in Seattle than playing in Toronto. He is currently a little over 200 kilometres away from his hometown in southern British Columbia versus the 4,000 plus he’d be in Toronto.
Safeco functions as somewhat of a second Canadian stadium, especially when the Jays are in town. Paxton will take the ball on Sunday in front of a stadium full of Blue Jay blue.
In fact some patriotic Canadians at Paxton’s last start were showing love to the ace of the north. The Mariners broadcasters were having a field day with the Canucks who were placing “eh”s signs up instead of “K”s every time Paxton got a strikeout.
The announcers made the generic Bob and Doug McKenzie remarks, as they light-heartedly ribbed Canada.
Next: Justin Smoak’s breakout season for the Toronto Blue Jays
It will be bittersweet for the Toronto fans watching at Safeco on Sunday – watching a homegrown kid, that could have been the poster child for Canada’s team. But the way I see it, it’s a win-win situation for Canadian baseball fans: if Paxton dominates, it helps a Canadian’s Cy Young candidacy, if he doesn’t the Jays might get the W..