Blue Bird Banter

Set Number: X33614 TK2 R3 F26 Mark Eichhorn turns 64 today. The Blue Jays drafted him in the 2nd round, 30th overall, in the 1979 amateur draft, out of Cabrillo College, CA, where he played shortstop and pitched. Mark quickly rose through the Jays’ farm system and made seven starts for the Jays as a September call-up in 1982. Unfortunately, they didn’t go well. He went … [Read more...] about Happy Birthday Mark Eichhorn

Rene Johnston/Toronto Star via Getty Images Nine Years Ago We traded Liam Hendricks to the A’s for Jesse Chavez. The comment thread was mixed. Some liked it. Some didn’t. It turned out to be a terrible trade. After being a swingman, a part-time starter for the first four years of his career, the Blue Jays put Liam in the pen in 2015, and he was good. As a starter, he … [Read more...] about Today in Blue Jays History: The Return of Gibby

Photo by Ron Vesely/Getty Images Dick Allen is on the Classic Baseball Era Non-Players Committee Ballot (doesn’t that roll off the tongue so much better than Veteran’s Committee?). Allen played 15 years (from 1963 to 1977) in the MLB for the Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, White Sox, Phillies again and A’s. For 11 of those years, he was just a fantastic player. He … [Read more...] about Hall of Fame Polls: Dick Allen

Photo by Hunter Martin/Getty Images Since the Jays refuse to make news (sign Vlad, please, and a free agent or four), let’s start on some free-agent polls. I guess there is a little news, not Jays news, but Rays news. They are going to be playing in the Yankees spring training home, George M. Steinbrenner Field. It is in Tampa, and it can seat 11,026, which is about as … [Read more...] about Hall of Fame Polls: Bobby Abreu

Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images We have used this idea for the last couple of years. The idea is to go through some of the top free agents, use the contract FanGraphs suggests they will get and have a poll asking if we would like to sign him for that amount. Gleyber Torres is #12 on Ben Clemens’ list at FanGraphs and #16 on Keith Law’s list at the Athletic. is #10 on … [Read more...] about Free Agent Poll: Gleyber Torres