Roster moves R Us.
Longtime Blue Jays TV announcer Buck Martinez announced his retirement this morning. Martinez joined the Jays’ booth as a colour commentator nearly 40 years ago, for the 1986 season. He moved down to the dugout to manage the 2001 and 2002 seasons. After leaving the team, he worked for seven years in the the Baltimore […]
We are going to be (trying) to ask a ‘Question of the Day’ to get a discussion going. Today’s question is “Which year permanently changed how you watch baseball?” Hmmmm that’s a tough one for me. I’ve watched baseball my whole life. I guess the change came when Bill James started publishing his ‘Baseball Abstracts’ […]
Andrés Giménez is a 27-year-old, left-handed hitting, middle infielder. The Jays picked him up in trade from the Guardians in early December 2024, along with Nick Sandlin for Spencer Horwitz and minor leaguer Nick Mitchell. Horwitz was quickly flipped to the Pirates. Horwitz hit .272/.353/.434 with 11 home runs for Pittsburgh, playing first base with […]
2025 started with nothing but optimism. The team had landed the biggest free agent on the market in Juan Soto. They were stocked with talent and even brought back fan favourite Pete Alonzo. The season opened with the Mets playing some of their best baseball in their history, storming out to a 45-25 in the […]
Kevin Gausman is entering the last year of his five-year, $110 million contract. In his first four years with the Jays, he made 125 starts, posting a 48-41 record, a 3.48 ERA, and an 11.2 bWAR. We don’t really need a ‘better know’ for him, we’ve been watching him for the last four years. By […]
We’ve hit the fun time of the off-season where there is almost nothing for news. The Jays pitchers and catchers report on the 11th, so at least we’ll start hearing about who is in the best shape of their lives soon. Actually, we don’t hear that much anymore as we’ve all made fun of it […]
Yimi García is a 35-year-old, right-handed relief pitcher. The Blue Jays signed him to a two-year contract before the 2022 season, but then traded him to the Mariners in July of 2024, getting Jacob Sharp, a minor league catcher who hit .161/.271/.206 for the Fisher Cats last year, and Jonatan Clase, who we talked about […]
Bowden Francis is a 29-year-old, right-handed pitcher. He’ll be 30 in April. He came to the Jays in trade with the Brewers, along with Trevor Richards, for Rowdy Tellez, in July 2021 (which seems a long time ago now). After getting into a few games in 2022 and 2023, he had a breakout season in […]
We have a bunch of birthdays today: First, Matthew Boyd turns 35. Boyd was a left-handed pitching prospect for the Jays and ranked #15 on our 2015 Top 40 Prospect list. He didn’t throw especially hard, but mixed in a breaking ball and a changeup. In 2015, he made a couple of spot starts for […]
Sorry about the lack of content the last couple of days. It has been busy. It should ease off soon. Mason Fluharty is a 24-year-old left-handed pitcher. The Jays picked him in the fifth round of the 2022 draft. He was #40 on our 40-man prospect list in 2022. Matt said: Listed at 6’2” and […]
Braydon Fisher is a right-handed pitcher who came to us from the Dodgers, in trade for Cavan Biggio, in June of 2024. Fisher was a fourth-round draft pick in 2018. Cavan played 30 games for the Dodgers, hitting .192.306/.329 and was released in early August. He went from there to the Giants, then the Braves, […]
We had a couple of outlets drop their farm system rankings today, so I thought it’d be a good time to see how our readers are feeling about the state of the farm. Keith Law at The Athletic ranks them 25th, noting that they’ve traded away a lot in win now moves recently and are […]
Lázaro Estrada is a 26-year-old (27 in April), right-handed pitcher, from Cuba. He made it to the majors for the first time last year, pitching in two games, 7.1 innings. He was hit pretty hard, 10 hits in 7.1 innings, but he also had 10 strikeouts. Lázaro was #36 on our Top 40 Prospect list […]
Ernie Clement is a 29 (40 in March) year-old, right-handed hitting infielder. The Guardians picked him in the fourth round of the 2017 draft. He is, to this point, the most successful player taken in that round, by a long shot (the others from that round who have played in the major have negative bWARs). […]
Former Blue Jays first baseman Lyle Overbay turns 49 today. Overbay was selected by the Diamondbacks in the 18th round of the 1999 draft. He had a couple of brief stints in the majors in 2001 and 2002 before making the team out of spring training in 2003, having been ranked Baseball America’s 65th-best prospect. […]
Jonatan Clase is a 23-year-old (24 in May), switch-hitting outfielder from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. He came to us in trade from the Mariners, along with catcher Jacob Sharp, for Yimi Garcia. Sharp played in New Hampshire in 2025, hitting .161/.271/.206 in 68 games He has played 60 major league games, and lost his rookie […]
Dylan Cease (how come I’ve been saying his name Cleese like he’s John Cleese son?) is a 30-year-old, right-handed pitcher whom the Jays signed to a 5-year, $210 million contract. It is more than possible that the last couple of years of that contract won’t go well. Cease has pitched seven seasons in the MLB […]
There are three Blue Jays on Keith Law’s Top 100 Prospect list. You can likely guess who they are: Among the things Law said: ….throwing both from a very high slot that gives the fastball more riding life and more generally makes it harder for hitters to pick the ball up out of his hand. […]
Jake Bloss is a 24-year-old (25 in June), right-handed pitcher. We picked him up (with Joey Loperfido and Will Wagner) from the Astros, at the trade deadlin in 2024, for Yusei Kikuchi. Kikuchi made 10 starts for the Astros and had a 2.70 ERA with a 5-1 record, helping them get the Wild Card spot […]
39 years ago, Major League Baseball held the final of four free-agent compensation drafts. Blue Jays picked Tom Henke from the Texas Rangers, grabbing a big piece of their future contending teams in the form of the shutdown closer. What isn’t usually mentioned is the huge stroke of good fortune involved in them landing Henke […]
Seranthony Dominguez, the long time Baltimore Orioles reliever whom the Blue Jays acquired at this past season’s trade deadline, has signed a deal with the Chicago White Sox. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports that the deal is for two years and $20 million. Dominguez has been a steady performer throughout his career, […]
We made it to another Friday. I had my birthday yesterday and didn’t really do all that much differently than a normal Thursday, which made it a nice day. I had a cardio tennis class, which is just a run-yourself-into-the-ground-for-an-hour thing, and squash last night, which, again, is run-yourself-into-the-ground. And there were calls from our […]
The Atlanta Braves had what can only be described as a woefully year. They were wracked with injuries to their rotation and lineup which led to a 76-86 record. good for 4th in the NLE. It was the first time Atlanta has missed the playoffs since 2017 and spelled the end for long time manager […]
At the trade deadline in 2025, the Jays traded for Shane Bieber, who hadn’t pitched in the majors to that point in 2025, coming off Tommy John surgery in 2024. The Guardians received Khal Stephens (who I mentioned was named by his Kryptonian parents). Shane didn’t pitch for the Jays until August 22nd (my wife’s […]
The BBWAA has released the results of their vote. Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones made the cut and will join Jeff Kent as new members of the Hall of Fame Chase Utley (59.1%), Andy Pettitte (48.5), Félix Hernández (46.1) and Álex Rodríguez (40.0) were the closest to line without getting over. Not getting 5% of […]