It is Manuel Lee’s (I still think of him as Manny) 61st birthday.
Manny played infield for the Blue Jays for eight seasons. He wasn’t known for his bat—hitting .254/.304/.323 in 753 games—but he offered versatility, covering short, second, third, and even filling in the outfield a couple of times.
After his time with the Blue Jays, it’s worth noting that the Mets originally signed Lee as a free agent out of the Dominican Republic in 1982. In a key move, the Mets then traded Lee and two other players
to the Astros for Ray Knight, who would become a key part of the Mets’ 1986 World Series-winning team.
Following this trade, we picked him up in the 1984 Rule 5 draft.
From 1985 to 1987, he settled into the role of utility infielder for us.
In 1988, Lee played 116 games for us, mostly at second base but moving all over the infield. That year marked his best offensive season, as he hit .291/.333/.365 with 2 home runs. In addition, he was good enough defensively to be a helpful player with that sort of batting line. Baseball Reference has him at 1.8 WAR that year.
However, 1989 was less productive for him at the plate, as he hit .260/.288/.340 in 99 games. We made it to the playoffs but lost to the A’s in the ALCS. Lee had 2 singles in 8 at-bats.
The following year, 1990, he hit .243/.288/.340 in 117 games.
Before the 1991 season, the Jays made their most significant trade ever, sending Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff to the Padres for Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter. That marked the end of Lee’s playing days at second base. Fortunately for Lee, there was no one else to play short.
As a shortstop that year, Lee would hit .234/.274/.288 in 138 games. The Jays made the playoffs again, but they lost out to the Twins in the ALCS. Lee didn’t help much, hitting .125/.176/.125.
In 1992, things improved as we won our first World Series. Lee hit .263/.343/.316 in 128 games. He had a great ALCS, hitting .278/.300/.444, but then didn’t hit in our World Series win against the Braves, .105/.150/.105.
After the 1992 season, Lee left the team as a free agent, signing with the Rangers. He spent two seasons with the Rangers, hitting .256/.312/.322 in 168 games. After the 1994 season, he signed with the Cardinals, but he played only one game before they released him, and he didn’t play in the majors again.
Looking back, I wouldn’t say I liked Lee back in the day. He didn’t hit much, and I didn’t appreciate how good his defence was. Although, as a Jay, he had a 7.4 bWAR, most of that coming from his defence.
Lee is mainly remembered for his role in our collapse in 1987, when we lost our last seven games and finished two games back of the Tigers. You might remember, on September 24th, Tigers’ DH Bill Madlock rolling-block into Tony Fernandez, which knocked Tony out of the lineup for the rest of the season. With Lee stepping in at short, he hit .200/.243/.286 over those last ten games, and he made a costly error in our 12-inning loss to the Tigers in our second-to-last game.
Looking back, it’s easy to say we would have won the AL East that year if Fernandez had not been injured in that key September game against Boston. Still, putting a 22-year-old rookie in that position for the ninth inning was a tough ask. It wasn’t Manny’s fault; it was a team collapse during those final few games. I place blame on Madlock—his nasty slide into second set the disaster in motion.
Despite those rough moments, Manny had a longer career than I remembered, playing 922 games over 11 seasons.
So, happy birthday, Manuel. I hope it is a good one.
Turning to another celebration, it is also Yusei Kikuchi’s 35th birthday.
Yusei spent two and a half seasons with the Jays after signing a three-year, $36 million contract before the 2022 season. His first season didn’t go well, with a 5.19 ERA in 32 games, 20 starts.
However, the second one was much better, as he went 11-6 with a 3.86 ERA in 32 starts and posted a 1.8 bWAR.
In his third year, he had a 4.75 ERA and a 4-9 record when the Jays traded him to the Astros for Jake Bloss, Joey Loperfido, and Will Wagner to address team needs. Wagner was traded for Louis Varland. Lopefido for Jesús Sánchez.
With the Astros, he did well, notching a 5-1 record and a 2.70 ERA in 10 starts down the stretch.
He signed a three-year free agent contract with the Angels before the 2025 season. He had a good 2025 season, with a 3.99 ERA in 33 starts. This year, he made 7 pretty poor starts and then went on the IL with shoulder inflammation. He might be back in July.
Summing up his time as a Blue Jay, he was 21-22, with a 4.48 ERA in 86 games, 74 starts and a 0.8 bWAR.
Happy Birthday, Yusei. I hope it is a good one.
