Blue Jays GM on adding Price: We haven't had a true No. 1 since Halladay

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Steve Russell / Toronto Star / Getty

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The Toronto Blue Jays finally have their ace.

Armed with the league's best offense, Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos pulled the trigger on his second blockbuster deal in 72 hours, landing left-hander David Price from the Detroit Tigers for a trio of prospects.

"We feel we added a No. 1 starter," Anthopoulos said. "We really haven't had a true No. 1 since Roy Halladay was here."

The addition of Price comes two days after the Blue Jays landed All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki. Anthopoulos admitted he had no idea he'd be able to land both impact players until the Tigers made him available late Wednesday.

"It wasn't even on the radar," Anthopoulos said of acquiring Price. "Totally came out of nowhere."

Price's numbers over the last four seasons:

Year W-L ERA IP SO WHIP
2015 9-4 2.53 146 138 1.11
2014 15-12 3.26 248.1 271 1.08
2013 10-8 3.33 186.2 151 1.10
2012 20-5 2.56 211 205 1.10

The Blue Jays' GM said that he and Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski had haggled over the third player in the deal for almost five hours, reaching an agreement at 3 a.m. Thursday morning.

Price's turn in the rotation would fall on Sunday, though Anthopoulos remained non-committal on when the five-time All-Star will make his debut.

"Haven't locked in a date for when Price will make his first start," he said. "Sunday is an open date, but it could be Monday, too."

The Blue Jays open a four-game series with the Kansas City Royals trailing in the race for the second wild card by two games.

The Digest

Complete guide to the David Price trade

by theScore Staff
Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Blue Jays pulled off their second blockbuster trade of the week Thursday, acquiring ace David Price from the Detroit Tigers for a trio of left-handed pitching prospects.

Top-rated Blue Jays prospect Daniel Norris is among the three players headed to Detroit, along with Matt Boyd and Jairo Labourt.

Blue Jays acquire David Price from Tigers in blockbuster trade

Blue Jays Reaction

Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos said that he and Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski haggled over the third player in the deal for almost five hours before reaching an agreement at 3 a.m. Thursday morning. In the end, the Blue Jays finally landed their long-pursued ace.

Blue Jays GM on adding Price: We haven't had a true No. 1 since Halladay

Blue Jays players took to Twitter to welcome Price to the organization, and hurler Marcus Stroman was scorned by a professor at Duke University for his reaction to the news during class.

Bautista, Donaldson, Stroman react to Blue Jays' acquisition

Tigers reaction

Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski insists the club is not going into a full rebuild mode after dealing the ace, and is happy with his return in the deal.

Tigers' Dombrowski on Price trade: 'We're rebooting, not rebuilding

Opinion

The acquisition of Price followed Monday's six-player deal with the Colorado Rockies that landed the Blue Jays All-Star shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, elevating Toronto's contender status in what's become a wide-open wild-card race in the American League.

3 reasons why David Price makes the Blue Jays a World Series contender

Speaking of odds

Las Vegas reacted quickly to news that the Blue Jays had landed the coveted ace from Detroit, upping the club's chances of winning the World Series dramatically after news of the reported deal broke.

Blue Jays' World Series odds get big bump with Price, Tulowitzki

Rivals speak out

Several Blue Jays players, including Jose Bautista and Josh Donaldson, have already weighed in on the trade, but perhaps no reaction was better than Price's former teammate Chris Archer.

Rays' Archer says Blue Jays are 'all in' on postseason after Price trade

Further reading

FanGraphs' Chris Mitchell looks at the prospects the Tigers obtained in the deal, and whether their future impact balances out the loss of the club's top pitcher:

The centerpiece of the players headed to Detroit is easily Daniel Norris, who was widely considered to be one of the top-20 prospects in baseball heading into the year. Norris enjoyed a meteoric rise through the Blue Jays farm system in 2014. After 13 dominant starts at High-A, the Blue Jays bumped him up to Double-A for eight starts, and then Triple-A for four starts, before giving him a taste of the big leagues last September. Norris pitched to a 2.53 ERA and 2.57 FIP in the minors in 2014.

Ben Lindbergh of Grantland says Anthopoulos landed the ace his team needed, but wonders at what cost?

This is the sort of situation in which we wonder about moral hazard, the conflict between the short-term incentives of a GM who’d prefer to stay employed and the long-term incentives of his organization, which would prefer to play competitive baseball long after its current regime moves on. Anthopoulos, who took over Toronto’s GM job in October 2009, has expended enough currency — both in prospects and in loonies and toonies — without a playoff appearance that he’s probably one more October absence away from being an ex-GM.

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