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Trade Tree: How failing to sign their 2011 first-round pick led to the Blue Jays acquiring Marcus Stroman and José Berríos
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Photo credit: © Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images
Cynthia Ryley Delaney
Oct 30, 2026, 17:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 30, 2026, 14:43 EDT
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There was a time when the Toronto Blue Jays failed to sign first-round picks.
It hasn’t been an issue since Ross Atkins and Mark Shapiro took over in 2016, but under Alex Anthopoulos, the Blue Jays failed to sign three players selected in the top 40 on three separate occasions.
One of those players that didn’t sign, Tyler Beede in 2011, didn’t up hurting the Blue Jays. In fact, it turned into the Blue Jays acquiring two All-Star pitchers out of the ensuing trade tree: Marcus Stroman and José Berríos. Let’s take a look at how the Marcus Stroman trade tree.

The drafting of Stroman

Entering the 2011 MLB Draft, Beede was one of the top high school arms eligible to be drafted. The Jays offered him a bonus of $2.5 million, but he elected to attend Vanderbilt instead. Thanks to the Competitive Balance Agreement, the Blue Jays received the 22nd overall pick in the following draft, using it to select Stroman.
Three years later, Beede was selected 14th overall by the San Francisco Giants, making his big league debut in 2018. Across five seasons, Beede posted a 5.55 ERA and 4.98 FIP in 201 innings of work. He spent parts of four seasons with the Giants, before being claimed off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2022.
After a season in Japan, Beede returned to North America to pitch with the Cleveland Guardians, appearing in 13 games before being DFA’d. He spent the 2025 season in the Minnesota Twins system, as well as the Independent League and the Mexican League, before pitching in the Chicago Cubs system in 2026.
Beede never developed into a big league calibre starter, but the same cannot be said for Stroman.

Stroman’s tenure with the Blue Jays

The Blue Jays selected Stroman with the 22nd overall pick in 2012. Less than two years later, the 5’7” righty was in the big leagues and was a bright spot in the Blue Jays rotation. Over 130.2 innings of work from early May until the end of the 2014 season, Stroman authored 3.65 ERA and 2.84 FIP.
In Spring Training the following season, Stroman tore his ACL and was expected to be out for the season. That wasn’t the case though, as Stroman returned to the Blue Jays’ rotation in mid-September 2015, allowing just five earned runs over 27 innings of work to help the Blue Jays make the postseason for the first time in 22 years. The righty appeared in three postseason games that year, finishing with a 4.19 ERA and 3.39 FIP in 19.1 innings of work.
His final four seasons with the Blue Jays alternated between really good and a mixed bag. In 2016, Stroman finished with a 4.37 ERA and 3.71 FIP in 204 innings of work. He bounced back in 2017, ending the season with a 3.09 ERA and 3.90 FIP in 201 innings of work.
Stroman missed part of the 2018 season, appearing in just 19 games where he had a 5.54 ERA and 3.91 FIP in 102.1 innings of work. Again, he bounced back the following season, authoring a 2.96 ERA and 3.51 FIP in 124.2 innings of work, earning his first career All-Star nomination.
With the Blue Jays in a rebuilding year, Stroman was traded to the New York Mets ahead of the 2019 trade deadline.

The Stroman and Berríos trades

With the Blue Jays well out of the race in late July, the Jays sent Stroman to the Mets in exchange for Anthony Kay and Simeon Woods Richardson.
Stroman finished his tenure in the Big Apple with a 3.77 ERA and 4.15 FIP in 59.2 innings of work in 2019. After taking the pandemic-shortened 2020 season off, Stroman returned and finished the 2021 season with a 3.02 ERA and 3.49 FIP in 179 innings of work.
Signing with the Chicago Cubs for the 2022 season, he had a 3.50 ERA and 3.76 FIP in 138.2 innings of work, followed by a 3.95 ERA and 3.58 FIP in 136.2 innings of work in 2023. Stroman returned to the American League East in 2024, signing with the New York Yankees. He had the worst numbers of his career in his 39 games with the team, and was released after nine starts with the Yankees in 2025.
Kay spent parts of four seasons with the Oilers, posting mediocre numbers before being DFA’d and claimed by the Cubs, where he joined Stroman for 13 outings. Before the end of the 2023 season, the Mets claimed him off waivers, and he made three appearances.
After two seasons in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Kay returned to the big leagues and made 33 appearances with the Chicago White Sox in 2026.
Woods Richardson was undoubtedly the big piece coming back in the trade. He worked himself to be a top 100 prospect in baseball, but was traded to the Minnesota Twins. Woods Richardson was a typical back-end of the rotation starter in 2024 and 2025, but was DFA’d by the Twins and acquired via trade by the Blue Jays in June 2026. He appeared in eight games and had a 3.93 ERA and 4.95 FIP in 18.1 innings of work.
But what about the trade? Well, he and fellow top 100 prospect Austin Martin were shipped to the Twins for Berríos before the 2021 trade deadline, giving the Blue Jays their second All-Star in this trade tree.

Berríos’ tenure with the Blue Jays

Unlike Stroman, Berríos’ two All-Star Games came before his stint with the Blue Jays. In 2018, he posted a 3.84 ERA and 3.90 FIP in 192.1 innings of work. The following season, he finished with a 3.68 ERA and 3.85 FIP in 200.1 innings of work, earning back-to-back All-Star nods.
Berríos was having a solid season before the trade, owning a 3.48 ERA and 3.58 FIP in 121.2 innings of work. Following the trade ahead of the 2021 trade deadline, Berríos made 12 starts and finished with a 3.58 ERA and 3.28 FIP in 70.1 innings of work, as the Blue Jays just missed the playoffs.
Since then, Berríos’ season has been a mixed bag with the Jays. In 2022, he finished with one of the worst seasons of his career, owning a 5.23 ERA and 4.55 FIP in 172 innings of work, giving up an MLB-leading 100 earned runs.
He returned to form in 2023 and 2024, posting a 3.63 ERA and 4.36 FIP in 64 starts of the two years, those his FIP in 2024 ballooned to 4.72 as opposed to 3.99 the season before. Berríos started in 30 of the 31 outings he appeared in during the 2025 season, finishing with a 4.17 ERA and 4.65 FIP across 166 innings of work.
Before the end of the season, the 32-year-old was placed on the injured list, missing the entire American League pennant winning playoff run. Berríos hasn’t pitched since, as he underwent Tommy John surgery.
Berríos has a player opt-out this off-season, which he almost certainly won’t reject given he’ll miss a large chunk of the 2027 season.
Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, DFOEdmonton, and DFOCalgary. She can be followed on Twitter @CynthiaRDelaney.
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