It’s The End Of The Adam Lind, Brett Lawrie, Colby Rasmus Era

There are still a lot of holes on your Toronto Blue Jays roster. At this point it’s anybody’s guess what the roster is going to look like on opening day. What we do know is that Colby Rasmus, Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie are all not going to be there.

On one hand if you say you’re not going to miss any of those guys you probably don’t have a soul. These guys once represented the future of the Blue Jays, at one time or another, and as such we invested a lot of emotional commitment to them.

On the other hand man what an inconsistent bunch!

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Anytime the Jays offense slumped in the last few years it was either because at least one of these guys was injured or slumping. More often then not, they all seemed to find a cold streak or the disabled list at the same time.

Let’s start with Adam Lind. It’s probably going to take me the entire 2015 season to get me to stop expecting to see Lind come up after Edwin Encarnacion bats. I’ll also have to find someone new to blame for leaving runners on base with 2 outs and hitting into double plays. I’m also so used to having Lind as a weapon on the bench late in games when the Jays play against a left handed starter. Lind was a Blue Jay for a rocky nine years and regardless of how you feel about him it’s going to feel weird not seeing his name in the lineup.

Then there’s Rasmus. We’ve had time to reflect on this since mid-August or whenever exactly he lost the starting center field job. I’m going to miss his catches in center field and his monster home runs. The Jays have no shortage of guys who can hit monster home runs but Rasmus has one of the most beautiful home run swings I’ve ever seen.

Of course I’m not going to miss him getting to 2 strikes and having that feeling of its just a matter of time before he strikes out. Rasmus was the definition of inconsistency in his 3 and a half seasons with Toronto but he was always a fun player to watch.

Then there’s Brett Lawrie.

First of all, let’s get rid of any narrative that the Blue Jays gave up on Lawrie. They had to include him in a trade to get one of the best players in baseball. I’d say it’s going to feel weird to not see Lawrie at 3rd base but unfortunately because he seemed to be injured all the time, I’ve had some time to get used to that feeling. The truth is, the Blue Jays never got a chance to see the real Brett Lawrie and now we get to wonder if that player will finally come out playing somewhere other than Toronto.

For me it’s just going to be weird seeing him play for the A’s.

Lawrie actually hit his first home run at Rogers Centre against the A’s. It was a grand slam that gave the Jays the lead. And Josh Donaldson had his first career hit that happened to be a home run against the Blue Jays. That’s kind of a spooky thing.

Of course seeing Lawrie’s defense was always a thrill. And whenever he was hot with the bat he was as fun to watch as anybody.

Adam Lind, Colby Rasmus, and Brett Lawrie were a big part of the Jays core from 2011 – 2014. I hope they all go on to have star careers like the Jays had been hoping they would.

2015 is definitely the start of a new era for the Toronto Blue Jays. Let’s just hope this time we have playoff appearances along with memories.