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On this day in Blue Jays history: The disastrous Michael Young trade
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Photo credit: © John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images
Ryley Delaney
Jul 19, 2025, 20:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 20, 2025, 14:50 EDT
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Not every trade the Toronto Blue Jays have made in their history has been a good one.
Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, every July 19th, it’s the anniversary of the worst trade in franchise history, as they sent Michael Young and Darwin Cubillan to the Texas Rangers for Esteban Loaiza.
The Blue Jays were buyers approaching the 2000 trade deadline and sent a prospect (Young) and an AAAA player to the Rangers for a starting pitcher. In Loaiza’s two and a half seasons with the Blue Jays, he finished with a 5.04 ERA and 4.49 FIP in 540.2 innings pitched, with a 14 K% and 5.7 BB%. 
Cubillan made his debut with the Blue Jays in 2000, posting an 8.04 ERA and 7.79 FIP in 15.2 innings pitched. By 2005, he was out of the big leagues. But what about Young? Well, trading him is what made this trade awful.
Young had a slow start to his career, posting a 76 wRC+ in his first 1,064 plate appearances from 2000 until 2002. He was average in 2003, slashing .306/.339/.446 with 14 home runs in 713 plate appearances. It wasn’t until 2004 that he became the player we know him as today, as that was his first season making the All-Star Game.
From 2004 until 2011, Young made seven of eight All-Star Games, slashing .312/.360/.463 with 135 home runs in 5,619 plate appearances. He also received MVP votes in five of those seasons, winning the batting title in 2005, as well as a Gold Glove in 2008.
Young retired after the 2013 season, and while he didn’t make the Hall of Fame, he was a perennial All-Star, which is better than what the Jays received.

Carlos Delgado hit the first home run in the right field 500-deck at Rogers Centre

On July 19, 1998, Carlos Delgado became the first player in the history of the Rogers Centre (then SkyDome) to hit a home run to the fifth deck in right field. Now, it had happened in left field in the past; José Canseco did so in 1989, followed by Mark McGwire in 1996. The first Blue Jay to hit a 500-decker was Joe Carter in 1996, also to left field. But Delgado’s home run was the first of its kind to head to right field.
As it stands, there have been 23 home runs that landed in the Rogers Centre upper deck on either side. The most recent was Brandon Lowe in 2024 off Chris Bassitt. He also hit one off Trent Thornton in 2019, as did Austin Meadows in the same game. Both home runs were 436 feet to nearly identical locations.
Another interesting fact is that one upper-decker was given up by Jo-Jo Reyes in 2011. Canseco has hit three different upper deckers, one with the Oakland Athletics in 1989, one with the Blue Jays in 1998, and one in 1999 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Canseco also hit the first upper-decker in Rogers Centre’s history, as well as the only postseason upper-decker.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, Oilersnation, and FlamesNation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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