Today marks George Springer’s 37th birthday.
Springer is approaching the end of his six-year, $150 million contract.
He continues to climb the Blue Jays’ all-time leaderboards:
- 22nd in bWAR for position players.
- 23rd in OPS.
- 25th in games played.
- 13th in runs scored.
- 11th in home runs (tied with Josh Donaldson).
- 15th in walks.
- 14th in steals.
And he’s likely first in huge smiles.
Happy birthday, George!
Danny Valencia celebrates his 42nd birthday today.
Valencia spent parts of two seasons with the Jays during his nine-year MLB career. The team acquired him near the 2014 deadline by trading Liam Hendriks and Erik Kratz to the Royals. Down the stretch, he hit .240/.273/.364
for the Jays, primarily at third base.
He started the 2015 season hitting .296/.331/.506 with 7 home runs in 58 games, but the Jays put him on waivers, and the A’s claimed him. That decision came after the team chose to have Ben Revere play every day. Revere went on to hit .319/.354/.381 down the stretch, helping the Jays make the playoffs.
Valencia played through the 2016 season with the A’s before moving on to the Mariners and Orioles. Over nine seasons, he hit .268/.317/.426 with 96 home runs in 864 games.
Happy birthday, Danny!
Robinzon Diaz celebrates his 43rd birthday today.
Diaz was one of several ‘catchers of the future’ who ultimately didn’t fill that role.
But we remember him because we traded him to the Pirates for Jose Bautista, one of the best trades in team history. Jose played ten seasons for the Jays and hit 288 home runs (and six in the playoffs, including the ‘bat flip home run’).
Diaz played 43 games with the Pirates, hitting .289/.315/.363 with 1 home run.
Happy birthday, Robinson!
Randy Myers turns 64 today.
Myers was a big free agent signing in 1998. A few years ago, I wrote:
The Jays signed lefty reliever Randy Myers to a 3-year, $18 million contract—a curious move (a polite way of calling it a mistake). In 1997, the Jays went 76-86, finishing 5th in the AL East, 22 games behind the Orioles. A high-priced reliever wasn’t the piece to lift us over the top.
Randy struggled, posting a 4.46 ERA in 41 games, with 28 saves and 5 blown saves.
This is where the story gets interesting. The Jays suddenly realized they were paying a ton of money for a reliever who wasn’t going to get them to the playoffs, who was 35 years old and who we would be paying for two more seasons. So Gord Ash put him on waivers. His going on waivers wasn’t surprising. Back then, most players ended up on waivers in August.
The Padres claimed him. They didn’t want him, but they didn’t want the Braves to get him. So they figured if they claimed him, the Blue Jays would pull him back and stop him from reaching the Braves.
But Ash fooled them. He let the Padres have him and saved the team roughly $14 million over the next two seasons and two months.
Myers struggled over the final two months of the 1998 season, recording a 6.28 ERA (with no saves) in 21 games. He never pitched in the majors again, and the Padres paid his salary for the next two years.
Randy played 14 years in the MLB, had 347 saves and a 3.19 ERA in 728 games.
Happy birthday, Randy!
