The notion that the Blue Jays chose Luke Prokopec over Eric Gagne in the Paul Quantrill trade of 2001 is myth, folklore and urban legend, according to Jeff Blair in the Toronto Globe and Mail - although once you read the article, it's not quite in the way you'd expect.

It's not that Prokopec was chosen over Gagne by the Blue Jays. It's that Gagne wasn't even considered in the trade - by either side.

"Nobody ever said, 'Hey, you want Gagne?' We didn't ask for him, either," (Toronto general manager J.P.) Ricciardi told Blair, adding: "... if it had happened, I'd be the first to admit it."

Said former Dodger general manager Dan Evans to Blair: "It's just not right to say that J.P. passed on Eric in favor of Prokopec. J.P.'s goal that winter was to get a starting pitcher, and the fact is that Eric was at best a pedestrian starter. Would we have traded Eric had J.P. asked? My guess is probably no."

The interesting thing about this trade for me was that it was the first time in my life that I truly placed my faith in a player with a mediocre ERA but a higher strikeout rate, Gagne, and was not upset that the otherwise promising Prokopec had been traded.

In a different article, Blair reports that in 2000, former Dodger general manager Kevin Malone vetoed a trade that would have sent Paul Lo Duca to Toronto for Cesar Izturis - according to Malone. Score one, apparently, for the much-maligned Sheriff.