Six Years Ago Today
Six years ago today, the Jays made three trades: two turned out to be successes, while one was less fortunate.
Robbie Ray was acquired from the Diamondbacks in exchange for Travis Bergen. Bergen pitched just 6.2 innings for Arizona at the end of that season, then was reacquired by the Jays for cash in February. He appeared in 10 games for Toronto, became a free agent after the season, signed with the Padres, and was released earlier this month.
Ray made five appearances for the Jays
to finish out the 2020 season.
In 2021, under Pete Walker’s guidance, Ray became the best pitcher in the American League.
His place among AL pitchers in 2021:
- bWAR 1st, 5.9
- ERA 1st, 2.84
- Strikeouts 1st, 248
- Innings pitched 1st, 193.1
- Quality starts 1st, 23
He capped off the season by winning the Cy Young Award.
That trade was an unequivocal win for the Jays.
After the season, Ray signed a five-year, $115 million contract with the Mariners. He did not travel to Toronto during his first season in Seattle, likely due to vaccination status—a factor that may have influenced the Jays’ decision not to re-sign him.
Ray posted a solid 3.81 ERA over 32 starts in 2022. He pitched just once in 2023 before suffering a torn flexor tendon and missing the remainder of the season. The Mariners traded him to the Giants before the 2024 seasonr; after returning from injury in late July, he has made seven starts with a 4.70 ERA. He was with the Giants until the trade deadline this year, when they sent him to the Padres. Since leaving the Jays Ray has pitched in 99 games, with 98 starts. He has a 37-30 record, a 3.62 ERA and a 7.5 bWAR.
On the same day as the Ray deal, the Jays also acquired Ross Stripling from the Dodgers, giving up Kendall Williams and Ryan Noda.
Williams never made it to the majors and is now out of baseball.
Noda never reached the majors with Los Angeles. He has since played for the A’s, White Sox and Orioles. He’s in the Orioles minor league system now. In the majors, he’s played 187 games, with a .203/.338/.352 batting line.
Stripling struggled in his initial 15.2 innings with the Jays in 2020 after the trade.
He improved the next year, posting a 4.80 ERA across 24 games (19 starts).
Stripling excelled in 2022, finishing 10-4 with a 3.01 ERA in 32 games (24 starts). He signed with the Giants as a free agent after the season and played for the A’s in 2024. He’s out of baseball now.
And, the same day, we still picked up Jonathan Villar from the Marlins for Griffin Conine.
Villar hit just .188/.278/.203 in 22 games for the Jays. Over the next two years, he played for three different teams before retiring after the 2022 season.
Conine was recently called up to the majors by the Marlins at age 27. He’s played 123 games for then, with a .254/.339/.492 with 19 home runs.
Ten Years Ago
The Blue Jays traded Josh Donaldson.
The entire situation was chaotic. Donaldson was injured and hadn’t played since May 28th; he wouldn’t return to action for Cleveland until September 11th.
The urgency to move him was puzzling. The front office likely knew they wouldn’t re-sign him in the winter and may have wanted to avoid the PR headache of not offering a former MVP a contract. They also wanted some return for him. Still, the process was poorly handled.
Perhaps there was no perfect solution.
In hindsight, trading him before the season would have yielded a better outcome. The team, however, hoped for a bounce-back year from Donaldson, a healthy Tulo, strong pitching from Stroman, Estrada, and Sanchez, and a number of other things to go right. Almost nothing did.
Once Donaldson returned, he performed well in September, hitting .280/.400/.520 with 3 home runs over 16 games. In the playoffs, though, he struggled—managing just one hit in Cleveland’s brief series against Houston.
Donaldson enjoyed a strong 2019 with the Braves, followed by two respectable seasons with the Twins. Ahead of the 2022 campaign, he was traded to the Yankees, but his time there went downhill, and he was released in August 2023. The Brewers picked him up for a short stint, where he hit .169 in 17 games before retiring.
19 Years Ago: The Lind Game
The Jays and Rangers squared off in a wild slugfest.
Adam Lind erupted, going 3-for-5 with two homers—including a grand slam—and eight RBI.
By the end of the fifth inning, Toronto led 11-0 and the game looked over.
Toronto’s bats exploded early: five runs in the first (capped by a Rod Barajas three-run homer), one in the third, four in the fourth on Lind’s grand slam, and another in the fifth.
Everything seemed secure. Brett Cecil had tossed four scoreless innings, but the fifth was a disaster—he surrendered seven runs.
Cito Gaston left Cecil in, hoping he’d qualify for the win, even as fatigue showed—Cecil even took a tough grounder off the thigh that inning, which didn’t help.
It was a classic old-school call—maybe even a little too old-school.
The fifth unraveled fast: three straight singles, a groundout, then an Ian Kinsler triple (11-3). After a flyout, two more singles—one from Josh Hamilton—set up a Nelson Cruz three-run homer. Suddenly it was 11-7. Mercifully, that ended the damage.
The bullpen took over, but the drama continued. Casey Janssen gave up two runs in the sixth before Jesse Carlson stopped the bleeding at 11-9. Carlson got in trouble in the seventh, exiting with two on and one out. Scott Downs allowed a sac fly (11-10), but then shut things down.
Then, in the top of the ninth, we scored 7 runs to make it a blowout again.
The inning started with Lind’s second homer, followed by doubles from Kevin Millar and Vernon Wells. Then, after Randy Ruiz and Rod Barajas made outs, the inning went: Walk (Jose Bautista), single (John McDonald), walk (Marco Scutaro), walk (Aaron Hill), and 3-run double (Adam Lind).
The game ended 18-10.
Lind drove in 8 runs (and only had a .126 WPA). Rod Barajas hit 2 homers.
Brett Cecil got the win, so all’s well that ends well.
