We have a quartet of Blue Jays’ birthdays today. Jim Clancy would have turned 70 (but he died in July of this year), Roy Howell turns 72, Jeremy Accardo turns 44, and Willie Blair turns 60. Clancy was an original Jay, picked up in the expansion draft in 1976. The Jays called him up in […]
3 months ago | 12 reads
We come back to a former Blue Jays player. Well, a sort of former Jay. He played 60 games for us. It is Omar Vizquel’s ninth time on the ballot. He hit a high of 52.6% in 2020. In 2023, he dropped to 19.5%; the last two were 17.7 and 17.8% (so we know exactly […]
3 months ago | 7 reads
We’ve entered a slow stretch of the offseason, with the early deals done and the free agent market now seemingly frozen as everyone waits for Kyle Tucker to make his decisionThere were little bits of Jays news: • Jose Berrios says he was battling bicep and elbow issues all season, which contributed to his down year. […]
3 months ago | 7 reads
Chase Utley is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the third time. He was on 28.8% of the ballots, his first year and 39.8% last year. That’s a nice jump. He played 16 seasons and played in 1937 games. He hit .275/.358/.465 with 259 home runs and 154 stolen bases. He also led the […]
3 months ago | 7 reads
Mike Flanagan was a left-handed pitcher who played in the majors for 18 seasons. Four of them with the Blue Jays. He would have turned 74 today, but he passed away in 2011. He was a good pitcher. You don’t play for 18 years without being a good pitcher. He finished 167-143 with a 3.90 […]
3 months ago | 11 reads
The Jays made the signing of Tyler Rogers official. He’s getting three-years and $37 million with an option for a fourth year. His ERA was 1.98 for the Giants last year. I’ll hope for the same this year To make room, the team has DFAed Justin Bruihl. He pitched 13.2 innings for the Jays this […]
3 months ago | 7 reads
There is little for Blue Jays news or even rumours at the moment. So I thought I’d ask for suggestions of baseball related books for Christmas. Or, for that matter, books of any sort. There is a book “The Last Manager: How Earl Weaver Tricked, Tormented, and Reinvented Baseball“ that I’d like to get for […]
3 months ago | 6 reads
It is Jimmy Rollins’ fifth time on the ballot. He got 18.0% last year, so he’s moved up a bit from his 9.4% the first time. But he’s not moving up quickly enough to make it. Rollins played 17 seasons, 15 of them with the Phillies. He hit .264/.324/.418 with 231 home runs and 470 […]
3 months ago | 3 reads
Coming into the 2025 season, we had gotten to know Daulton Varsho as a great glove/low average/with some power guy. He had a .217/.289/.398 batting line with 38 home runs in his first two seasons with the team. The old man in me has a hard time believing a .217 hitter could be a valuable […]
3 months ago | 4 reads
Francisco Rodriguez is next on the list. He is number six all-time in saves (Kenley Jansen and Craig Kimbrel passed him recently) and had a terrific career. The three guys ahead of him in saves are all in the Hall. So maybe he should be there, too? Rodriguez has a 16-year MLB career. He played […]
3 months ago | 6 reads
The Jays have made their big move on the relief market, signing Tyler Rogers to a three year, $37m deal with a $11m vesting option for 2029. It’s the largest reliever contract the current front office has handed out. Rogers, who turns 35 on Wednesday, is atypical for a shutdown reliever. He’s a true submariner, […]
3 months ago | 5 reads
The Blue Jays have traded minor league left hander Johan Simon to the Detroit Tigers for righty reliever Chase Lee. The move clears a spot on Detroit’s 40 man roster for newly signed closer Kyle Finnegan. For the Jays, Lee takes the final spot on the roster. He has two options left, so his role […]
3 months ago | 7 reads
Davis Schneider was called up in early August 2023 and started amazing, going 9 for 13 with 2 home runs in his first three games. After that, he was up and down from there. 2024 did not go well, he hit .191/.282/.343. I doubted that he would make the team in 2025. But then he […]
3 months ago | 7 reads
Álex Rodríguez is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the fifth time. Last year, he was on 37.1% of the ballots (his high mark in the first four times). He’s been in the mid-30s each time. He doesn’t seem to be gaining much traction. By the numbers, he is easily a Hall of Famer. […]
3 months ago | 5 reads
Not a surprise, after the Jays came within a couple of inches of winning the World Series, but the Jays (or I guess Rogers signed) signed Mark Shapiro for five more years, which would have him in the job for 15 years. Mark has overseen improvements to Rogers Centre and the Jays’ Spring Training facilities. […]
3 months ago | 9 reads
Next up would be Rick Porcello. Porcello was a first-round draft pick in 2007 (the Jays got JP Arencibia that round). He had a nice 12-year career, going 150-125 with a 4.40 ERA in 355 games, 351 starts, with an 18.8 bWAR. He won one Cy Young and was third in Rookie of the Year […]
3 months ago | 7 reads
The Jays got through the MLB section of the Rule 5 draft without losing a prospect, and actually added a player. Yohendrick Pinango, who posted video game numbers in AA and has very strong underlying contact and exit velocity data, and Yondrei Rojas, a reliever with big stuff and strong results in A+ and AA, […]
3 months ago | 11 reads
As a Jays fan, I’ve always been cognizant of the fact that my fandom comes with a certain myopia. As a kid, what I knew of other teams outside of the American League was limited to what was pulled from baseball card and sticker packs (one year, every pack seemed to have a Ryne Sandberg […]
3 months ago | 8 reads
Hunter Pence would be next on the list, but I don’t think many people, who aren’t related to him, would vote for him to make the Hall of Fame. He played for 14 seasons, had a 30.9 bWAR. Hit .279/.334/.461 with 244 home runs and 120 steals. He got MVP votes four times, finishing as […]
3 months ago | 8 reads
After much throat clearing, it’s time for me to actually lay out my main move for the off season. Initially I’d also expected to have to debate starting pitching options, but Dylan Cease and Cody Ponce solve that problem. As it is, I can just focus on one main decision: Bo Bichette vs. Cody Bellinger. […]
3 months ago | 8 reads
There were little bits of baseball news today. I was sad to see that the Dodgers signed Edwin Diaz. He’s getting 3 years at $23 million a year. I’d imagine that the Jays would have matched that, but who knows. I’d guess that the Dodgers are a a draw for any player. So we turn […]
3 months ago | 6 reads
I’m going to skip a few, because I doubt anyone would consider them Hall of Famers. Matt Kemp had a nice 15-year career. He hit .284/.337/.484 with 287 home runs, 184 stolen bases and a 21.6 bWAR. He had one great season, an 8.0 bWAR. He hit .324/.399/.586 with 39 home runs and 126 RBI […]
3 months ago | 7 reads
There were little bits of Jays news yesterday:
3 months ago | 8 reads
This is part three of a series I started the week before last. Part 1 surveyed the current Jays roster, while Part 2 looked at the team’s financial situation and prospect capital. Since I wrote, they’ve signed Cody Ponce to add depth to the rotation and outrighted Yariel Rodriguez off the 40-man roster. I’d hoped […]
3 months ago | 8 reads
The Jays picked up Myles Straw in trade from the Guardians, along with some international bonus pool money. At the time, we thought we were getting Roki Sasaki, and the bonus money would go to him. It didn’t happen. We were to send Cleveland a ‘player to be named’. I don’t know if that player […]
3 months ago | 7 reads