Report: Blue Jays' Ross Atkins checked in on Rafael Devers before blockbuster trade

It's a bit of a surprise to see the Boston Red Sox actually pull the trigger on this deal, but what's not particularly shocking is that the Toronto Blue Jays were among the teams that reportedly checked in on the Devers situation, at least according to Sean McAdam from MassLive.com.

Ross Atkins and the Blue Jays' front office team have long been known to conduct thorough due diligence in exploring potential player acquisitions, so it makes sense to me that they inquired about Devers as well, even with the AL East rivalry at stake.

It doesn't really matter all that much at the moment, but the fit would have been pretty great for the Blue Jays, giving them another elite bat to add to a lineup that has performed much better more recently after struggling to start the year.

Devers is still one of the better left-handed hitters in the American League, and the Jays could have looked at a few different options for him.

They could have used him as their primary DH for this year, as he's mostly been doing for the Red Sox in 2025, or maybe they could have even looked at returning him to third base, where he's played most of his career.

He wasn't a particularly strong defender at the hot corner in 2024, which is part of why the Red Sox asked him to DH in deference to free agent Alex Bregman for this season, but at the time, Devers was still adamant that he wanted to be viewed as a third baseman.

His left-handed power bat would have fit very well in Toronto, as would his strong relationship with Vladimir Guerrero Jr and others on the roster.

There's no doubt that the fit made all the sense in the world, at least as far as the Blue Jays expressing their interest, but they were never going to be the only suitor, and sharing a division with the Red Sox also makes coming to a deal a lot more difficult.

I'm not sure the Blue Jays would have been comfortable beating the package that the Giants sent for Devers, even if it wasn't overwhelming.

Instead, the Jays won't have to see Devers as often as they used to, which won't be such a bad thing.

Time will tell if the Red Sox did the right thing in moving on from their longest tenured hitter, but for now, the Red Sox likely weakened their lineup in the immediate term.

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Source: Blue Jays Nation