Blue Bird Banter

Photo by Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images Eight Years Ago Today: The Blue Jays signed Kendrys Morales to a 3-year, $33 million contract. I remember it surprising me at the time. I didn’t think we’d be signing a DH-only guy, or at least not until after Edwin Encarnación and Jose Bautista had signed somewhere else. At the time, the Jays had decided they … [Read more...] about Today in Blue Jays History: Jays Sign Morales and Gurriel

Photo by Sam Hodde/Getty Images There isn’t much for Jays’ news (sign Vlad, please). Gosuke Katoh announced on Instagram that he has retired as a player and has joined the Jays front office. No job title has been announce. Katoh was a Blue Jay for part of the 2022 season, playing in 8 games with 11 PA. Since then he’s been playing in Japan for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham … [Read more...] about Monday Bantering: Jays Bits

Photo by Creative Touch Imaging Ltd./NurPhoto via Getty Images Yesterday, my wife and I helped put candles at each of the 3500 crosses at Calgary’s Field of Crosses. With many other volunteers, we placed candles and said a little thank you to each person represented by a cross. It was a sobering thing. The men and women listed on the crosses were mostly in their 20s, … [Read more...] about Remembrance Day

Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images And Eric Thames Shawn Green turns 52 today. Shawn was the Blue Jays’ pick in the 1st round of the 1991 amateur draft out of high school in Tustin, California. Manny Ramirez was picked up two spots before him. We got the pick from San Francisco as compensation for their signing of our free agent, Bud Black. Shawn received a $725,000 … [Read more...] about Happy Birthday Shawn Green

Photo by Sean M. Haffey/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. Number four on Law’s list and number seven on Clemens’ list is Max Fried. He’s a lefty starting pitcher who … [Read more...] about Free Agent Poll: Max Fried