The Miami Marlins may be getting the last laugh on a deal that sent Griffin Conine out of Toronto.
Conine, the son of former two-time All-Star and “Mr. Marlin” Jeff Conine, was shipped from the Blue Jays to Miami at the 2020 deadline in a move for Jonathan Villar. It was technically a player-to-be-named-later deal, but the return has long since come into focus - and it’s not flattering for Toronto.
Villar never gave the Blue Jays much. He hit .188 with a .481 OPS in 22 games, adding three runs, no home runs, six RBIs and seven stolen bases. Toronto was so underwhelmed that Villar was limited to just two plate appearances during that year’s expanded playoffs.
Conine, meanwhile, is starting to look like the kind of bat the Blue Jays badly needed in 2026.
In 88 games this season, the 29-year-old outfielder has hit .256 with an .831 OPS, along with 42 runs scored, eight doubles, 17 home runs and 39 RBIs. That kind of production would have put him on pace for 80-plus runs, 30-plus homers and 70-plus RBIs over a full season.
The power has been real, too. Conine recently tied a game with a monster home run against one of the best closers in the game.
Griffin Conine ties the game with a MONSTER home run 😳 pic.twitter.com/8lWBWvULMO
- MLB (@MLB) September 20, 2026
His 17 homers would have ranked second on the Blue Jays this year behind Kazuma Okamoto. That matters because Toronto spent the season searching for more punch in the lineup, and the outfield picture never quite settled either. Conine would have fit both needs.
At the time, Ross Atkins was chasing speed when he made the Villar deal. That didn’t work out, and the player going the other way has now become the more valuable piece by a wide margin. Nobody could have predicted this exact outcome, but Conine is looking like the kind of hitter Toronto could use right now.
There’s also the development curve to consider. Toronto drafted Conine in the second round in 2018, and he spent 131 games in the organization’s minor league system between 2018 and 2019 before the 2020 minor league season was canceled.
Over those 137 games, he played at three different levels and hit 29 home runs, the fourth most among Toronto minor leaguers in that span. He posted a 140 wRC+, ranked seventh, and slashed .266/.348/.515 during his age-20 and age-21 seasons.
Without that lost 2020 season to keep showing his progress, Conine became expendable. Now, with Toronto still struggling to generate offense in 2026, that trade looks even tougher to swallow.
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