Rougned Odor is perhaps Public Enemy No. 1 in Toronto, but some indications are that he actually almost became a Blue Jay.
Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports reports Thursday that the Blue Jays attempted to trade for the Texas Rangers second baseman in the past, though it’s unclear if that was before or after his notorious fight with Jays slugger Jose Bautista.
Per Heyman:
Sources say that at some points in the past the Jays have tried for Rougned Odor, though it’s possible those efforts came before the famous punch-out incident of Blue Jays icon Jose Bautista. Anyway, the Jays are in the market for a second baseman now, so it would be interesting to see if they’d try to revisit that at some point. It isn’t certain when all the inquiries were made, and Odor isn’t the most popular fellow in Toronto now. But as one Jays connected person pointed out, “Bautista’s probably a short timer there.”
It has been over a year now since Odor threw hands at Bautista (video here), but the memories of the incident still linger. Nevertheless, Bautista will be a free agent after the season (as alluded to above) while incumbent Jays second baseman Devon Travis constantly struggles to stay healthy. Thus, it might not even be the craziest timeline to see Odor eventually end up in Toronto.
