Jim Turner - May 16, 2003
The Blue Jays have a rich history of stars. Stieb, Fernandez, Alomar, Carter, Bell; these players became inexorably linked with the franchise and helped to give a fledgling team an identity. Yet some of the greatest players to wear the Toronto uniform, Hall of Fame types and their borderline brethren, did so very briefly.
So for this exercise in all-time teams, we take the best of the barely Blue Jays; players who spent one year or less with the team.
Catcher: Lance Parrish
First Base: Ron Fairly
Second Base: Jeff Kent
Third Base: Dave Hollins
Shortstop: Tony Phillips
Left Field: Rickey Henderson
centre Field: Dave Winfield
Right Field: Dave Parker
Designated Hitter: Jose Canseco
Bench: The honourable mentions include: 1B David Segui, C/1B Mike Stanley and OF Ruben Sierra. Maybe Jorge Orta as an all-offense second baseman.
The Rotation
Phil Niekro
Frank Viola
John Candeleria
Tom Candiotti
Pete Vukovich
Closer: Randy Myers
You might have some defensive shortcomings with this club, what with Phillips at short and Winfield in centre, but the offense, with almost 3000 career homers among them, would more than make up for it. A Henderson-Phillips top of the order alone would give starting pitchers plenty of sleepless nights. Throw in a two-lefty, two-knuckler rotation with more than 900 career wins among them, and this is team is just about unbeatable. It's a shame they could notch just 14 wins as Blue Jays.
Lineup
Rickey Henderson LF
Rotation
Phil Niekro
Closer
Randy Myers
A 3-time Gold Glover and cornerstone of the 1984 World Champion Tigers, Parrish's career numbers aren't all that different from newly minted Hall-of-Famer Gary Carter. Finished his career with the Blue Jays during the forgettable 1995 campaign.
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG
Career 1988 7067 856 1782 305 27 324 1070 28 37 612 1527 .252 .313 .440
With Jays 70 178 15 36 9 0 4 22 0 0 15 52 .202 .265 .320
The Blue Jays first All-Star, Fairly had a fine season as a 38-year-old 1B/DH in 1977. An All-Star as both a Blue Jay and an Expo, Fairly posted a career high 19 homers in his only year in Toronto blue.
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG
Career 2442 7184 931 1913 307 33 215 1044 35 33 1052 877 .266 .360 .408
With Jays 132 458 60 128 24 2 19 64 0 4 58 58 .279 .362 .465
It's funny to hear revisionist historians lament the loss of Jeff Kent. Yes, Kent has gone on to become baseball's premier slugger at second base, but the trade of Kent did land David Cone in Toronto, and Cone was a key piece of the 1992 World Champions. What's more, the Jays already had a pretty decent second baseman in place. Did anyone honestly believe in 1992 that Roberto Alomar would ever play anywhere but Toronto?
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG
Career 1502 5559 866 1604 365 33 253 1007 73 47 504 1074 .289 .353 .503
With Jays 65 192 36 46 13 1 8 35 2 1 20 47 .240 .324 .443
I could've gone with Doug Rader here, but he'd already appeared on the A-Z team, and Hollins was a slightly better hitter in context. Can you believe Hollins made $1.9 million for his season with the Jays? That's the type of contract that would have J.P. Ricciardi spitting hot expresso all over his good pimpin' clothes.
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG
Career 983 3346 578 870 166 17 112 482 47 27 464 687 .260 .358 .420
With Jays 27 99 12 22 5 0 2 6 0 0 5 22 .222 .260 .333
Well, okay, he's not really considered a shortstop, and he played the outfield exclusively during his 13-game stint in Toronto. Then again, Phillips did play almost 300 career games at short, and we do need a shortstop, so here's Tony, who played great for two weeks in 1998 before being dealt to the Mets during the veteran purge of that year.
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG
Career 2161 7617 1300 2023 360 50 160 819 177 114 1319 1499 .266 .374 .389
With Jays 13 48 9 17 5 0 1 7 0 0 9 6 .354 .467 .521
The 1993 trade for Henderson could really have come back to haunt the Blue Jays had Steve Karsay turned into the top-flight starter he was projected to be. Henderson didn't play well for Toronto, but he did manage to score 37 runs in just 44 games and he was on base for Carter's "touch-em-all" homer.
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG
Career 3051 10889 2288 3040 509 66 295 1110 1403 335 2179 1678 .279 .402 .419
With Jays 44 163 37 35 3 1 4 12 22 2 35 19 .215 .356 .319
Some double cheating going on here, since Winfield isn't really a centre fielder, and is hardly a "Cup-of-Coffee" Jay in spirit. Winfield packed a career full of memories into one season as a Jay, and letting him go in favour of Paul Molitor was one of the best moves in franchise history.
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG
Career 2973 11003 1669 3110 540 88 465 1833 223 96 1216 1686 .283 .353 .475
With Jays 156 583 92 169 33 3 26 108 2 3 82 89 .290 .377 .491
Picked up in the waning days of 1991 to help secure the division, Parker wasn't eligible for the '91 playoffs. Hit well, but failed to homer in his two weeks as a Blue Jay. Another borderline Hall-of-Fame guy who finished his career as a Blue Jay.
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG
Career 2466 9358 1272 2712 526 75 339 1493 154 113 683 1537 .290 .339 .471
With Jays 13 36 2 12 4 0 0 3 0 1 4 7 .333 .400 .444
Jose hit a career high 46 homers with the Jays in 1998. He also got caught up in reaching the 30-30 club, getting thrown out time and again until someone finally put the brakes on. Canseco more than negated his 29 steals by being caught 17 times. I don't know if anyone ever looked more out of place in a Blue Jays uniform than Canseco.
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG
Career 1887 7057 1186 1877 340 14 462 1407 200 88 906 1942 .266 .353 .515
With Jays 151 583 98 138 26 0 46 107 29 17 65 159 .237 .318 .518
Career: 318-274 3.35 With Jays: 0-2 8.25
The first Blue Jay in the Hall of Fame, Neikro was 76 years old when he was picked up during the stretch drive of 1987, and it showed, as he was lit up in three starts and quickly let go.
Career: 176-150 3.73 With Jays: 1-3 7.71
A good idea at the time, Viola was picked up as a low-risk gamble in 1996. Unfortunately, the 1988 Cy Young Award winner didn't fare much better than Niekro, though he did manage a win, and soon called it a career.
Career: 177-122 3.33 With Jays: 0-3 5.48
Candy Man, Part 1. Candeleria wasn't having a bad year with Minnesota (7-3, 3.39), when the Jays picked him up in mid-1990, but the big lefty allowed more than 2 base runners per inning once he arrived north of the border, and that's never a recipe for success. Did pick up a save.
Career: 151-164 3.73 With Jays: 6-7 2.98
Candy Man, Part 2. A big stretch-drive pickup in 1991, Candiotti pitched well but didn't win, and ended the year with Stieb-like numbers (13-13, 2.65). The roof fell In the ALCS against the Twins, as Candiotti got shelled in his two starts.
Career: 93-69 3.66 With Jays: 7-7 3.47
The second Cy Young winner in the rotation, Vukovich's 1982 award is one of the worst selections ever. Dave Stieb led the league in innings pitched and shutouts that year, but 17-14 pitchers just don't win Cy Young awards. Vukovich appeared in Major League as the evil Yankee slugger Haywood.
Career: 44-63 3.19 347 svs With Jays: 3-4 4.46 28 svs
Thank goodness for the San Diego Padres, who grabbed Myers, and took the Blue Jays off the hook for his ill-advised 3-year/$18 million contract. San Diego ended up paying Myers about $1 million per inning, as he managed just 14 innings pitched, got hurt and retired.
Tony Phillips SS
Dave Winfield CF
Jose Canseco DH
Dave Parker RF
Jeff Kent 2B
Lance Parrish C
Ron Fairly 1B
Dave Hollins 3B
Frank Viola
John Candelaria
Tom Candiotti
Pete Vukovich
