Former Blue Jays infielder Maicer Izturis turns 45 today.
You’ll likely remember him. Alex Anthopoulos signed him as a free agent in November 2012. Maicer got three years (plus a team option for a fourth) at $3 million a year. At the time, it was Alex’s biggest free-agent signing.
It didn’t turn out well.
Alex said he was the ‘leading candidate’ to play second base but was still looking to improve the position. Near the same time, Alex traded Mike Aviles (and Yan Gomes) to Cleveland for Esmil Rogers.
That didn’t work out well either. Though we wouldn’t have been better off with Aviles at second, he was healthier, but didn’t hit much. We had just picked up Aviles from the Red Sox for John Farrell.
A few days later, Alex made a big trade with the Marlins. Included in the trade was Emilio Bonifacio, who would share time with Izturis at second for part of the 2013 season. We used many different second basemen over the next few years, including Munenori Kawasaki and Ryan Goins.
Izturis played 118 games in the three seasons, spending more time on the DL than in uniform. The Jays declined the option in the 2016 season, giving him the $1,000,000 buyout.
Izturis hit .240/.291/.310 with 5 home runs.
In January 2016, the Jays signed him to a minor league deal, but he never played again.
Maicer played 11 seasons in the MLB. He hit .269/.331/.372 with 39 home runs in 909 games. Most of those 11 seasons were spent with the Angels, but he began his career with the Expos.
Happy Birthday, Maicer, I hope it is a good one.
Clayton Richard turns 42 today.
Clayton had an 11-year MLB career, the last of which was with the Blue Jays. If you remember him, it likely isn’t fondly. He was 1-5 with a 5.96 ERA in 10 starts in 2019. We picked him up in a trade from the Padres for Connor Panas (who never made it to the majors but is playing in Mexico this year).
He was a big lefty pitcher, 6’5″, 240 pounds, but he wasn’t a hard thrower. The polite term was a ‘pitch to contact’ pitcher. He didn’t miss a lot of bats.
In his 11-year career, he had a 69-84 record, a 4.51 ERA in 275 games, and 210 starts.
Happy Birthday, Clayton.
José Ureña turns 34 today.
José played in 6 games for us earlier this season. He had a 3.65 ERA in the 12.1 innings. This year, he’s been a Met, Jay, Dodger, Twin, and now an Angel.
He’s had an 11-year career, playing for every team in the majors 11 teams. He pitched in 247 games (most of them with the Marlins) with a 4.74 ERA and a 2.9 bWAR.
