Ted Lilly turns 50 today. Ted had a 15-year career, 3 of them with the Blue Jays. He came to the Jays in trade for Bobby Kielty from the A’s. Lilly went 37-34 as a Jay, with a 4.52 ERA in 89 games and a bWAR of 6.0. I think we won the trade. In […]
2 months ago | 7 reads
I don’t think there will be any more news about the Kazuma Okamoto deal today, as much as I’d like to hear from the Jays about how they intend to use him. It makes it clear we aren’t going after Alex Bergman (or if we did, I have no idea where we would play everyone. […]
2 months ago | 6 reads
I expected Okamoto to get more money. $15 million a year seems pretty team-friendly. We’ll put up a poll a little later, but figured he’d be getting $20 million per, but Ben Clemens thought he’d get 4 years at $18 million, so we got the under. Clemens said: Okamoto isn’t the same kind of shooting […]
2 months ago | 8 reads
I wasn’t expecting this, since Kazuma Okamoto seems to profile best at first base. But he will be able to play third (maybe not at Ernie Clement’s level on defense) for at least the next couple of years. In Japan he was a three true outcome hitter. Lots of homers and strikeouts and a good […]
2 months ago | 6 reads
The Jays signed Jeff Hoffman to a three-year, $33 million contract, before the 2025 season, after deciding not to sign Jordan Romano. Romano ended up with the Phillies, Hoffman’s former team, and had 8 saves and an 8.23 ERA in 49 games. It turned out the Jays were right not to sign him. Hoffman had […]
2 months ago | 8 reads
David Cone turns 63 today. Cone had two short stints with the Blue Jays. The Jays traded for him in 1992 at the end of August. We were in first place, 2.5 games ahead of the Baltimore Orioles. We were doing alright except for the 5th starter spot. Dave Stieb had the role, but his […]
2 months ago | 9 reads
Unsurprisingly, there is little Jays’ news today. The team signed Josh Winchowski to a two-year minor league contract. Winchowski is recovering from ‘internal brace surgery’. He’ll likely be able to pitch towards the end of this season, but then he should be good to go the second year. He’s a right-handed, 27-year-old pitcher who has […]
2 months ago | 5 reads
We’ve been doing this for the last few years, your mission is to tell us: What was the best thing that happened to you this year? What was the best part of this past baseball season for you? For me, best thing that happen? We had a fantastic holiday in Africa. We did safaris for […]
2 months ago | 9 reads
The Jays signed RHP Nic Enright to a two-year minor league contract. Generally minor league contracts are one-year but Enright will be rehabbing from Tommy John surgery most of the coming season. Enright turns 29 on January 8th. He’s thrown 31 MLB innings with a 2.03 ERA for the Guardians, all last season. He was […]
2 months ago | 9 reads
Oh, this won’t be fun. The Jays picked up Brendon Little in November 2023, in a trade for cash. Little was a first round draft pick in 2023. He pitched in 49 games in 2024 with a 3.74 ERA, 0.1 bWAR with 1 save, 7 holds and 3 blown saves. Not bad for a guy […]
2 months ago | 7 reads
Sorry, there was nothing posted yesterday. We hit the day between Christmas and New Year’s when friends and I had finished family time and had a friend’s time, which was very nice. And I tasted what I was told was Turkish whiskey, but as it was home-made (brought to Canada in a plastic Coke bottle), […]
2 months ago | 6 reads
We had our Christmas yesterday. We had Christmas dinner at a Brazilian barbecue place, eating roughly a month’s supply of meat in an evening. It was very good. And then came home and did the gifts. I now have a couple more bottles of whiskey (including a nice bottle of bourbon from the Cooperstown Distillery. […]
3 months ago | 5 reads
B.J. Ryan turns 50 today. Looking at his picture, I see that he looks like a former neighbour of mine, Scott. Off-topic, but I’m terrible with names. Around then, I used baseball players’ names to help me remember. Unfortunately, the player I picked for Scott was a former pitcher, Scott Terry, and I spent six […]
3 months ago | 5 reads
20 Years Ago Well, the Jays made it official on the 27th. We knew about it before Christmas. Orlando Hudson and Miguel Batista went to the Arizona Diamondbacks, and Troy Glaus and Sergio Santos came to the Blue Jays. The trade was a surprise because the Jays had Corey Koskie, Shea Hillenbrand, and Eric Hinske […]
3 months ago | 11 reads
Yariel Rodríguez was signed in the winter before the 2024 season. He got a five-year, $32 million contract. In his rookie year, he had a 4.47 ERA in 21 starts but a 1-8 record. The team didn’t score much for him, but his ERA was just a little worse than league average, which isn’t all […]
3 months ago | 6 reads
Merry Christmas. We have our stocking hung by the chimney, but we are waiting a couple of days to actually have our Christmas, as our son and his girlfriend are coming down from Edmonton on the 27th. And instead of turkey, we are going for Brazilian barbecue. I haven’t watched A Wonderful Life yet. It […]
3 months ago | 6 reads
It’s the day before Christmas and there is no Jays news to talk about. So I’m going to recycle a post. Let’s talk about our favourite Christmas songs. I’m not a huge fan of Christmas songs, especially when they start playing them in early November. I like some of the traditional ones if they are […]
3 months ago | 9 reads
It was three years ago today that the Jays traded Lourdes Gurriel and Gabriel Moreno to the Diamondbacks for Daulton Varsho. I think it is fair to say the trade wasn’t universally loved at the time. Moreno was one of our top prospects and wearer of the ‘Catcher of the Future’ medalion, which was passed […]
3 months ago | 5 reads
Sixteen years ago today The Blue Jays traded Brandon League and Johermyn Chavez to the Mariners for Brandon Morrow. Hugo posted this: Ken Rosenthal reported last night that the Jays traded sometimes-brilliant pitcher Brandon League to the Seattle Mariners for sometimes-brilliant pitcher Brandon Morrow. The Jays also included a “prospect” in the deal, but we […]
3 months ago | 5 reads
Ken Rosenthal, in The Athletic, writes that the Jays are showing interest in Alex Bregman: Team officials have been in recent contact with Bregman’s agent, Scott Boras, according to sources briefed on the conversations. Ideally, the Jays want to add a left-handed hitter, but either the right-handed Bregman or Bichette would fit their defensive alignment […]
3 months ago | 7 reads
Tom Henke turns 68 today. Seeing the age of some of these guys makes me feel older than when I think of my age. The Blue Jays got Henke as compensation for the Rangers’ signing of Jays’ free-agent Cliff Johnson. Back then, teams that signed another free agent gave up a player to the original […]
3 months ago | 9 reads
It is December 20th, which means I’m going to have to start my Christmas shopping soon (joking, I’m pretty much done). I’d like some Jays news, or even a reasonable rumor, if Santa is interested in getting me something. I guess their is some almost rumors out there:
3 months ago | 7 reads
29 Years Ago Today: The Blue Jays traded 28-year-old John Olerud to the Mets for 27-year-old Robert Person. I don’t know if it is the worst trade in team history, but it is my least favourite. We won the World Series in 1992 and 1993. Then 1994, 95 and 96 didn’t go as well. The […]
3 months ago | 8 reads
The last on the list is David Wright. It is his third time on the ballot. He was on 6.2% of the ballots the first time and 8.1% the second time. I really thought he would do much better than that. Wright played for the Mets for 14 seasons, hitting .296/.376/.491 with 242 home runs […]
3 months ago | 4 reads
The Blue Jays picked up Tyler Heineman off waivers from the Red Sox in September of 2024, and he got into five games with the Jays, after playing two with the Red Sox. Before that, he played parts of four seasons with three different teams. He had 10 games with the Jays in 2022. He’d […]
3 months ago | 5 reads