Blue Jays: The SS standard, and our expectations of Goins

The failed Adams experiment

2006- Adams/John McDonald

Adams was back as the starter to begin the 2006 season, but his regression started as a sophomore, and it lead to more games played by fan favourite John McDonald. Adams played in 90 games, and McDonald appeared in 104. McDonald was an outstanding defender, but hit just .223, and finished with a -0.1 WAR.

2007- Adams/McDonald/Royce Clayton

The Blue Jays brought in veteran Royce Clayton and he played in just 69 games before getting traded to Boston to finish out his career. Adams played in just 27 games in 2007, but didn’t get any playing time at shortstop.

McDonald played in a career high 123 games and hit .251/.279/.333, providing highlight reel defence and a serviceable contribution at the plate, finishing with 2.4 WAR that season.

2008- David Eckstein/McDonald

The Blue Jays went back to the well to bring in another veteran in 2008, and signed David Eckstein, a veteran of the Angels’ organization. He played in 76 games for the Blue Jays before they shipped him to the Diamondbacks. He was very serviceable (0.2 WAR) with the Blue Jays and spent a fair amount of time at the top of the lineup, but wasn’t in town for very long.

McDonald played in 84 games in 2008, but hit just .210 and struggled to reproduce the numbers he had the year before. Marco Scutaro more or less moved to short on a full time basis after Eckstein’s departure.

2009- Marco Scutaro

Scutaro was back as the shortstop and leadoff hitter of the team, and was .282/.379/.409 with 12 home runs and 60 RBI. Unfortunately he signed with the Red Sox at the end of the season, and eventually had more great years with the Giants before retiring in 2014. His 2009 season was arguably the best the Blue Jays have received from the position in the last twenty years, as he earned 5.4 bWAR after posting a mark of 4.5 the previous year. .