Your All-Time Blue Jays Roster

[s e n s i]

don't think this ol' thread has been done in quite a while.

rules: 25-man roster. players must be of their prime versions as a blue jay. so for example you can't say prime dave winfield or chris carpenter. you could use the blue jay versions of them though.

here's mine:

batting order
1. tony fernandez SS (1987)
2. roberto alomar 2B (1992)
3. jose bautista RF (2011)
4. carlos delgado 1B (2000)
5. george bell LF (1987)
6. john olerud DH (1993)
7. vernon wells CF (2007)
8. kelly gruber 3B (1990)
9. darrin fletcher C (2000)

bench
back-up C - pat borders (1990)
INF utility - edwin encarnacion (2012)
back-up OF - jesse barfield (1986)
utility - paul molitor (1993)

rotation
1. roy halladay (2009)
2. dave stieb (1985)
3. roger clemens (1997)
4. pat hentgen (1996)
5. jimmy key (1987)

bullpen (if you don't believe in labeling pitchers, then just list 7 relievers)
long-relief - mark eichhorn (1986)
long-relief - jason frasor (2009)
middle-relief - darren oliver (2012)
middle-relief - scott downs (2008)
loogy - bj ryan (2006)
set-up-man - duane ward (1992)
closer - tom henke (1987)

much more difficult to do (pitchers at least) than i thought

[Tyrone Slothrop]

I might give this a shot sometime, but tough to argue with your selections. One slight change I would make would be to have 93 Olerud (With his ridiculous .473 OBP) bat second to get on base for 2011 Bautista.

[Kaizen]

The only critique I would add is I wish you had years for the pitchers too. I think Clemens should be #1. Good list though.

[Schad]

Hard to argue with most of the order. I'd go with '93 Robbie, though, and as mentioned above, hit him leadoff with Olerud second, because that's OBP heaven.

Catcher is probably the most difficult position, as we have had a number of one-year wonders, most of them lefties. Decided to split the difference...Ernie Whitt and his .851 OPS against righties in 1983, Pat Borders and his .890 OPS against lefties in 1990. Strongly considered Bengie Molina's surreal mashing of lefties in his one season for the second half of the platoon, but it didn't feel right. Decided to go with a five-man bench with far too many 1B/DH types, because I can.

Yunel Escobar is probably going to be the most controversial choice, but I really needed someone who could cover the middle infield, and our historic production from 2B/SS beyond Alomar and Fernandez is appalling. It was either him or Tony Batista, but given that Tony would be the fourth-best bench bat, I might as well go with someone who can defend a little.

batting order
1. Roberto Alomar 2B (1993)
2. John Olerud DH (1993)
3. Jose Bautista RF (2011)
4. Carlos Delgado 1B (2000)
5. George Bell LF (1987)
6. Vernon Wells CF (2007)
7. Kelly Gruber 3B (1990)
8. Ernie Whitt C (1983) vs. righties, Pat Borders C (1990) vs. lefties.
9. Tony Fernandez SS (1987)

bench
Backup C - Whitt/Borders
Backup OF - Jesse Barfield (1986)
Backup MI - Yunel Escobar (2011)
Bench power - Paul Molitor (1993)
More bench power - Fred McGriff (1989)

Toughest decision was that #5 starter...you had Hentgen's '96 season, when he pitched every bloody inning, and Juan Guzman's '96 season*, when he miraculously discovered his control for one year only but pitched 80 IP less than Hentgen. Guzman was probably better; Hentgen did more heavy lifting, so he gets the nod.

rotation
1. Roy Halladay (2009)
2. Dave Stieb (1985)
3. Roger Clemens (1997)
4. Jimmy Key (1987)
5. Pat Hentgen (1996)

The bullpen was also a tough one. The two seasons of Ward and Henke being used pitched nearly 200 IP combined (we kinda murdered poor Duane Ward), which is three relievers' worth in the modern game. As a result, I dropped a reliever to carry an extra bat, because ****, there aren't going to be many innings going around anyway with that rotation. Then you have Eichhorn and his sublimely ridiculous 1986 season (157 IP, all in relief) and it becomes apparent that you could probably go with a four-man bullpen pretty easily, especially if you threw in another reliever from the multi-inning era, like rookie Mike Timlin, Dale Murray or Roy Lee Jackson.

bullpen
Long-relief - Mark Eichhorn (1986)
LOOGY - Darren Oliver (2012)
RHRP - Billy Koch (2000)
LHRP - BJ Ryan (2006)
Relief ace - Duane Ward (1992)
Closer - Tom Henke (1987)



*Nothing typifies the Jays like having two starting pitchers explode for one great season, a bullpen inexplicably achieve one-year greatness to back them, and the whole enterprise being utterly forgettable because the rest of the team shat the bed.

[baulderdash77]

I'm going to make a controversial decision and take George Bell's 1987 Season and put it on the bench, dropping Bar field from the team.

I'm going to replace it with Shawn Green's 1999 season. Green's season was insane and he played great defense and was a base stealing threat.

Also Aaron Hill's 2009 season is my bench IF player.

[BigLeagueChew]

Noone mentioned Quantrill yet? He would be on my list I would think.

[Schad]

Noone mentioned Quantrill yet? He would be on my list I would think.

I considered Quantrill, but the reality is that he vastly exceeded his peripherals...his stellar 1997 season (1.94 ERA over 88 IP) was in many respects a statistical aberration, as he posted a not-particularly-good WHIP, which is something that matters more when you're talking about a reliever; they often come in with runners on base, so keeping further runners off base is important. He'd likely have made it if I went with a seven-man 'pen, but I opted for Koch because he'd do marginally better at stranding runners.

[BigLeagueChew]

Noone mentioned Quantrill yet? He would be on my list I would think.

I considered Quantrill, but the reality is that he vastly exceeded his peripherals...his stellar 1997 season (1.94 ERA over 88 IP) was in many respects a statistical aberration, as he posted a not-particularly-good WHIP, which is something that matters more when you're talking about a reliever; they often come in with runners on base, so keeping further runners off base is important. He'd likely have made it if I went with a seven-man 'pen, but I opted for Koch because he'd do marginally better at stranding runners.

That's true fair enough, it's funny how the year he made the All Star team his peripherals flipped with what you're saying. A lower WHIP at 1.1 and a SO/BB of 4.83 yet his ERA wasn't better than his 1997 season.

[s e n s i]

The bullpen was also a tough one. The two seasons of Ward and Henke being used pitched nearly 200 IP combined (we kinda murdered poor Duane Ward), which is three relievers' worth in the modern game. As a result, I dropped a reliever to carry an extra bat, because ****, there aren't going to be many innings going around anyway with that rotation. Then you have Eichhorn and his sublimely ridiculous 1986 season (157 IP, all in relief) and it becomes apparent that you could probably go with a four-man bullpen pretty easily, especially if you threw in another reliever from the multi-inning era, like rookie Mike Timlin, Dale Murray or Roy Lee Jackson.

TRUTH, i didn't think of that at all. so if i were to make any alterations to my roster, i'd give frasor the boot for another position player, maybe green or hill.

i'll let a couple more people get their rosters in and then run out my 2nd team all-time, which would probably be a little less obvious, if not more controversial.

oh yeah i almost forgot, the coach for my roster will be john farrell (2012)