Sorry, we’ve had a couple of days away from the world in the lovely town of Canmore, Alberta. But then the Jays haven’t done much in the last few days, too.
They did make the Yimi Garcia signing official and announced that Nick Raposo, a catcher, was DFAed to make room.
They also signed Eric Lauer to a minor league contract. If he makes the Jays, he will receive $2.2 million. He is a lefty reliever, who has pitched parts of six seasons in the MLB with the Padres and Brewers. In 120 games and 112 starts, he has a 4.30 ERA. All teams make this type of signing in the offseason.
Francisco Rodriguez is next on the list. He is number 4 all-time in saves and had a terrific career. The three guys ahead of him in saves are all in the Hall. So maybe he should be there, too?
Rodriguez has a 16-year MLB career. He played in 948 games (all in relief, 21st all-time in games pitched), had a 2.86 ERA, 437 saves (and 88 holds), and 1142 strikeouts and 389 walks in 976 innings.
He made six All-Star teams, got Cy Young votes three times (finishing third once and fourth twice) and had MVP votes once (sixth).
Rodriguez was on playoff teams six times and owns one World Series ring.
Career he held batters to a .207/.287/.341 line, which is pretty impressive.
He threw a mid-90s fastball (that lost a little as he aged) and a 12-to-6 curve.
Francisco got into trouble with opponents and, sometimes, teammates with his on-the-mound displays of emotions. It seems that, when he played, Spanish-speaking players got that type of complaint.
And he had he was charged with assault and domestic abuse a couple of times. Unusually, he was arrested for a fight with his girlfriend’s father, reportedly over things the father said about Rodriguez’s mom. And later, he was charged with domestic violence for hitting and kicking ‘the mother of his child.’ Charges were dropped when the woman went to Venezuela and stopped talking to prosecutors.
This is his third time on the ballot. Last year, 7.8% of the writers voted for him, a drop from 10.8% the first year.
You can see his stats here.