Yesterday’s flurry of transactions ended an era of Blue Jays baseball: when Devon Travis was outrighted and removed from the 40-man roster, the last link to Hall of Famer Roy Halladay was broken.
Prior to the moves, Travis was connected to Halladay in a rare linear chain of trades: Travis was acquired in a trade with the Tigers for Anthony Gose, who was acquired from the Astros for Brett Wallace, who was traded from the Athletics for Michael Taylor on the same day that Taylor was moved to the Jays from the Phillies as part of the haul for Halladay.
On the Toronto Blue Jays Roster Tree Route Map, the TRAVIS (Pink) Line operated a route to Halladay serving the intermediary stops at Gose, Wallace, and Taylor. However, the line has experienced severe service disruptions the past few years and was completely out of commission for 2019.
It was somewhat of a sad move to remove the Pink Line to Halladay, which had existed since the very first Roster Tree Route Map here. It wasn’t much of a surprise; I was dreading making that deletion ever since Travis’s injury.
Beyond this frivolity, I am genuinely sad that Devon Travis could leave the Blue Jays organization—he was outrighted, but has enough service time to elect free agency—as he seems to be one of the good human beings in the game. I have heard of many really thoughtful acts he has done for various people in the Jays organization behind the scenes. He will be missed.