Former Blue Jays reliever Dennis Lamp turns 73 today (he’s so old we didn’t have colour photography back then, apparently).
Lamp pitched three seasons for the Jays in the middle of a 16-year MLB career.
His MLB career began in 1977 with the Cubs, and he pitched for four seasons with the team. In 126 games, 108 starts, he had a 28-41 record and a 4.08 ERA. In 1981, he moved to the South Side to play for the White Sox for the next three years, going 25-21 with a 3.45 ERA in 120 games, including 42 starts.
Before the 1984 season, the Blue Jays signed him as a free agent. He signed a three-year deal worth $550,000 per year, with a vesting option for two additional years at $600,000 per year. In 1983, Lamp had 15 saves and a 3.71, and the Jays thought they were getting a closer type.
In 1984, Lamp went 8-8, with nine saves and a 4.55 ERA in 56 games, 4 starts. In 85 innings, he allowed 97 hits, 38 hits, and 45 strikeouts. The nine saves were just one short of the team leaders Jimmy Key and Roy Lee Jackson. He pitched okay, but not really what you would want from a closer.
In 1985, he went 11-0, with a 3.32 ERA in 53 games, 1 start. In 105.2 innings, he allowed 96 hits, 27 walks, and 68 strikeouts. The 11-0 record impressed the BBWAA. He finished 21st in MVP voting. We would finish 99-62, first in the AL East, two games up on the Yankees.
We made the playoffs for the first time that year. Unfortunately, we lost to the Royals in 7 games in the ALCS. Dennis had a great series, pitching in three games with 9.1 innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out ten. He and Dave Stieb were our best pitchers. Stieb made three starts and had a 3.10 ERA in 20.1 innings. Our other starters had a rough time. Doyle Alexander had an 8.71 ERA in 2 starts, and Jimmy Key had a 5.19 ERA in 2 starts.
Dennis had eleven wins but also five blown saves. He had two saves and eight holds. Relief work was different in those days. In 28 of Lamp’s relief appearances, he would pitch two or more innings; in eleven games, he would go three or more innings of relief. FanGraphs has him at a 2.0 WAR for the season.
1986 didn’t go as well for Lamp. He had a 5.05 ERA, 2-6 record in 40 games, 2 starts.
And, not surprisingly, he came up just short of his vesting option. It was a complicated option. The option would be vested if he got ‘100 points’ over 1985 and 1986. He got 1 point for a relief appearance and 2 points for a start. By the beginning of September, he had 94 points, and if he appeared in just six games, the Jays would pick up his option. So the Jays sat Lamp from September 2 to the 28th, getting him into two games in the last week of the season.
It was a short-sighted decision at the time. As the Jays entered September, they were just 3.5 games back of first place. From the All-Star break until September 2, he had a 2.95 ERA in 9 games. The Jays would finish 9.5 games back of first.
Lamp wasn’t happy and filed a grievance against the team, but it wasn’t successful. He said:
No matter what I did, they would release me, even if I pitched well and won a pennant. It’s frustrating as heck. They should have just released me so another team could have picked me up.
I’ve always thought that vesting options were a bad idea, at least for the players. However, if you have a team that hasn’t used one of their best pitchers for most of the last month while in the playoff race, I think it is a bad idea for the team as well.
Lamp would play six more seasons, one with the A’s, four with the Red Sox, and the last with the Pirates.
In a 16-year career, he had a 96-96 record, 35 saves, and a 3.93 ERA in 639 games, 163 starts.
He gave up Cal Ripken’s first MLB hit and Lou Brock’s 3000th. He also came within three outs of a no-hitter in 1981.
I don’t remember much about him other than his mustache. I thought he wasn’t the happiest guy, but that might be because his time with the Jays ended so abruptly.
He threw from a low 3⁄4 arm slot and sometimes would go lower to where it was a straight sidearm. I looked for a video of him. You can see him throw one pitch at the end of this, but that’s about the best I could find (and Doyle Alexander pitches in it). There is video of him imitating Dave Winfield’s batting.
Happy birthday, Dennis. I hope it is a good one.
It is also Willie Greene’s birthday. Willie turns 54 today.
Willie had a nine-year MLB career, and his second-to-last season was with the Blue Jays.
We signed him as a free agent before the 1999 season. I remember being reasonably happy about the signing. He was just 27. The season before, he had hit .270/.370/.424, with 15 home runs. Coming into his prime, I thought, ‘This could be good.’
I was wrong. Willie hit .204/.266/.394 with 12 home runs in 81 games with the Blue Jays, mainly at DH but also a few games at third base and right field. He played for the Cubs the following season and hit much the same as he had with the Jays, which was the end of his career.
He played nine seasons (or at least parts of nine seasons; he only played 100 games three times). In 655 MLB games, he hit .23/.326/.423 with 86 home runs.
Happy Birthday, Willie. I hope it is a good one.
And Easton Lucas turns 29 today.
Lucas (Nathan, this is how it should be spelled) turns 29 today.
The Jays selected Lucas off waivers from the Tigers in August 2024. He has spent most of his time in the Jays’ organization with Buffalo, although he pitched in six games, five of which were starts, with a 6.66 ERA and a 3-3 record in 24.1 innings. He threw 4.2 innings for us last year.
In his career, he’s pitched in 20 MLB games with an 8.02 ERA.
Happy Birthday, Easton.
