Traded Blue Jays outfielder who ‘hated’ Ross Atkins gets honest about GM
· Yahoo Sports
The April 2019 trade that sent Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Kevin Pillar to the San Francisco Giants for three players is a minor note in franchise history.
MORE: Former Blue Jays prospect announces immediate retirement at 28
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Not to Pillar. The now-retired outfielder held a grudge against Ross Atkins, the general manager who traded him, for years after the fact.
Pillar began his career with the Blue Jays as a 2011 draft pick, and played the first seven of his 13 MLB seasons in Toronto.
“I was one of his biggest critics,” Pillar said on Blue Bird Territory March 24. “For a long time, I did not like Ross Atkins for multiple reasons.”
Pillar said it wasn’t just the trade that sent him to San Francisco that soured him on Atkins. It was all the trades that followed the Blue Jays’ 2016 playoff run, after which Atkins succeeded Alex Anthopoulos in Toronto.
“He had this long-term vision that at the time I didn’t see, or didn’t agree with, and I wanted to be part of that vision too,” Pillar said. “And a couple years into his opportunity to be the GM of the Blue Jays, he traded me, and I hated him for that. I thought I would never move on from that, and forgive him. It took me a long time. That was a wound that was open and took a really long time to close.”
All’s well that ends well. Pillar bounced between nine teams in seven seasons before retiring with the Texas Rangers in May of last year. The Blue Jays finally broke through, capturing the American League pennant before losing the 2025 World Series in seven games to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Atkins signed a five-year contract extension with the Blue Jays. Pillar has changed his tune.
“First to congratulate him now on what he has done with the organization,” Pillar wrote on his X account Tuesday.
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