Troy Tulowitzki turns 40 today.
You’ll remember that we traded for Tulo back at the trade deadline in 2015. Jose Reyes had fallen out of favour (he says he’s putting it as nicely as he can), and the Jays worked out a big trade to get rid of him.
It worked out well at the time. We made the playoffs that year and the next. And none of the prospects Colorado has turned into a good player (though Miguel Castro looked much better this past season).
The 2017 and 2018 didn’t go as well. Troy was injured most of the time, missed all of 2018.
As a Jay, he hit .250/.313/.414 in 238 games, good numbers if he played good defence. And if we weren’t paying $20 million a season for it.
We released him on December 11, 2018, and the Yankees signed him a month later. When he hit a spring training home run off Marcus Stroman, my Twitter was full of people wondering how we could have released him. I suggested they wait. He played five games for the Yankees, went on the IL, and when he was healthy again, the Yankees told him to stay home. He announced his retirement soon after.
His time in Toronto would have gone a lot better if it wasn’t for the terrible ankle injury he suffered trying to beat out a ground ball when he stepped on the side of C.J. Cron’s foot on the bag on July 28, 2017. It was one of the most painful-looking injuries I’ve ever seen on the baseball field. Between that and bone spurs, the rest of 2017 and 2018.
He played ten seasons for the Rockies and hit .299/.371/.513 with 188 home runs in 1048 games. I was at the games in Denver when he played there for the first time after the Jays trade. I enjoyed seeing the love the fans in Denver had for him.
He could have made it into the Baseball Hall of Fame if he had a couple more decent, injury-free seasons.
Watching him make a throw on the run, well, it was a thing of beauty.
Happy Birthday, Troy. I hope it is a good one.
It is Lourdes Gurriel Jr’s 31st birthday.
In November of 2016, we signed Lourdes to a 7-year, $22 million contract as a free agent coming out of Cuba. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a great 2017 season, hitting .229/.268/.339 in 64 games, split between Dunedin and New Hampshire. I don’t know how much of that you can put off on homesickness.
2018 went better. Lourdes hit .301/.330/.466 in 51 games split between New Hampshire and Buffalo.
He got a call-up on April 20 and played in 20 games before being sent back down in the second week of May. He hit .206/.229/.309, with 2 home runs. He came back up for a game in June. Then up for good in July. He had a great run in July, hitting .423/.438/.648 with 4 home runs in 17 games. He had a streak of 11 multi-hit games before hurting his knee, trying to avoid a tag and missed three weeks.
He missed about half of 2019 with injuries. When he did play, he hit .277/.327/.541 with 20 home runs in 84 games. At that rate, if he could have played the entire season, he could have been close to 40 home runs. In the 2020 season, he played in 57 games, hitting .308/.348/.534 with 11 home runs.
2021 was another good year, hitting .276/.319/.466 with 21 home runs, but his power numbers dropped in 2022, putting up a .291/.343/.400 line with just 4 home runs,
After the 2022 season, he and Gabriel Moreno were traded to the Diamondbacks for Daulton Varsho. The team decided to prioritize defence, which hasn’t worked out well.
In two seasons, with the Diamondbacks, he’s hit .270/.315/.449 with 42 home runs and a 5.1 bWAR. He made it to the World Series in 2023, losing to the Rangers. But Lourdes hit .333/.350/.500 in five World Series games. He has three years left on his contract but has an opt-out after next year, and then the Diamondbacks have the option for the 2027 season.
Happy Birthday, Lourdes.
There are a couple of former Jays and one current Jay with birthdays:
Francisco Cabrera turns 58 today. We signed him as an amateur free agent back in 1985. He made it to the Jays in 1989, played 7 games, and hit .167/.231/.250. In August, he was traded to the Braves with Tony Castillo for Jim Acker. Cabrera played 193 games over five seasons with the Braves, hitting .257/.296/.460. He played in the 1992 World Series against us, getting a good view of the Blue Jays’ first World Series win.
He, famously had the game-winning hit in the 1992 NLCS against the Pirates. In the 9th inning of game 7, he hit a 2-run single, scoring David Justice and Sid Bream. It was one of those great playoff moments.
Don Gordon turns 65.
Don was a right-handed pitcher. He made 19 relief appearances in 1986 and 87, with a 6.06 ERA. He was traded to Cleveland with Darryl Landrum for old knuckleball pitcher Phil Niekro. Niekro was 48 at the time. He made three starts for us and then was released.
And Genesis Cabrera turns 28 today.
We picked up Genesis in July of 2023, from the Cardinals for Sammy Hernandez (who played in A-ball this year).
Cabrera had a nice finish to the 2023 season, putting up a 2.66 ERA in 29 games. He was one of our better relievers this past season, with a 3.59 ERA. He started slow and had a 5.48 ERA on June 4, but then had a 1.86 ERA from then until September 24. He had a rough final appearance of the season, giving up three earned in an inning of work, but he had been overworked down the stretch, being one of few relievers John could depend on.
Happy birthday, Francisco, Dee and Genesis.