Blue Jays: The All Former Jays All-Star team for the 2019 season

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TORONTO, CANADA – NOVEMBER 2: Mark Shapiro speaks to the media as he is introduced as president of the Toronto Blue Jays during a press conference on November 2, 2015 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images) /

The Blue Jays had an up and down season as they’ve committed to the rebuild, but how did some of their former players perform in other jerseys in 2019?

As baseball fans, most of us can’t help but get at least a little bit attached to those that play in our favourite team’s jersey, and that hasn’t made things easy for Blue Jays fans over the last couple of seasons as we’ve watched several beloved veterans move on.

As the Blue Jays have gone into full-on rebuild mode with their roster, they’ve made a lot of trades over the last two seasons, and as a result the roster looks a lot different these days in Toronto and could change even more over the winter. That said, there are still productive former Blue Jays throughout the big leagues, and personally, I can’t help but keep up with how most of them are doing.

With that in mind, I thought it might be fun to put together a 2019 All-Star team made up of former Blue Jays that are still active. This squad likely wouldn’t fare so well against a real All-Star team, but there’s some pretty legitimate talent among the group, even if it’s pretty top heavy. I decided not to include those that were traded this year, although that group may have been fairly limited in the end as well, save for a couple of pieces.

So without further adieu, what would that lineup look like?

DETROIT, MI – SEPTEMBER 12: Gio Urshela #29 of the New York Yankees celebrates after hitting a two run home run in the ninth inning of the second game of the doubleheader against the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on September 12, 2019 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Leon Halip/Getty Images) /

The Lineup

Out of all of the areas of this hypothetical team, I feel like their starting lineup would have the most potential. Again, there’s a reason that the Blue Jays moved on from a lot of these guys, but in some cases you could argue that they made an error buy not keeping them around. Then again, hindsight is always 20/20.

1 (CF)- Kevin Pillar (SF)- .259/.287/.432, 21 home runs, 37 doubles, 1.0 bWAR
2 (SS)- Gio Urshela (NYY)- .314/.355/.534, 21 home runs, 34 doubles, 3.4 bWAR
3 (3B)- Josh Donaldson (ATL)- .259/.379/.521, 37 home runs, 33 doubles, 6.1 bWAR
4 (DH)- Edwin Encarnacion (NYY)- .244/.344/.531, 34 home runs, 86 RBI, 2.7 bWAR
5 (1B)- Eric Thames (MIL)- .247/.346/.505, 25 home runs, 23 doubles, 1.6 bWAR
6 (C)- Yan Gomes (WAS)- .223/.316/.389, 12 home runs, 16 doubles, 1.3 bWAR
7 (2B)- Aledmys Diaz (HOU)- .271/.356/.467, 9 HR, 40 RBI, 12 doubles, 1.4 bWAR
8 (LF)- Dwight Smith Jr. (BAL)- .241/.297/.412, 13 home runs, 16 doubles, -0.9 bWAR
9 (RF)- Melky Cabrera (PIT)- .280/.313/.399, 7 home runs, 22 doubles. -1.2 bWAR

Now that’s a trip down a recent memory lane, isn’t it?

I didn’t include guys that had been prospects in the Blue Jays’ minor league system, and made the team only out of those who had actually played in Toronto at the highest level, otherwise guys like Travis d’Arnaud likely makes the team as well, and Noah Syndergaard won’t appear in the rotation either.

There are a few interesting things about this hypothetical lineup. First, Donaldson and Encarnacion continue to hit well into their mid-late thirties, and should continue to be productive next season as well. Kevin Pillar had a career power year despite moving to the spacious Oracle Park, and Gio Urshela came out of nowhere to become one of the more dangerous hitters in the American League this season.

Of course things drop off pretty heavily on the bottom half of the lineup. Diaz wasn’t bad in a back-up role in Houston, but with all due respect to Cabrera in particular, he made the team because of a lack of better options. Still, add it all up and this lineup isn’t terrible, although I’m glad that the Blue Jay are staring at a rebuild with the pieces they have now, rather than starting from here.

SEATTLE, WA – SEPTEMBER 28: Starter Brett Anderson #30 of the Oakland Athletics delivers a pitch during the first inning of a game Mariners at T-Mobile Park on September 28, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. The Athletics won 1-0. (Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) /

The starting rotation

Arguably the greatest area of need for the Blue Jays this season was in their starting rotation, especially after Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez were dealt before the July 31st trade deadline. That said, there were encouraging performances from guys like Trent Thornton, Jacob Waguespack, and more, and the pitching cupboards don’t look quite as bare as they did a year ago.

If you were to create a rotation out of former Blue Jays, there were certainly some veteran arms that could have helped in 2019.

1- Matthew Boyd (DET)- 9-12, 4.56 ERA, 1.230 WHIP, 238 K’s in 185.1 IP, 3.5 bWAR
2- David Price (BOS)- 7-5, 4.28 ERA, 1.314 WHIP, 128 K’s in 107.1 IP, 1.9 bWAR
3- Brett Anderson (OAK)- 13-9, 3.89 ERA, 1.307 WHIP, 176 IP, 2.7bWAR
4- J.A. Happ (NYY)- 12-8, 4.91 ERA, 1.295 WHIP, 161.1 IP, 1.2bWAR
5- Daniel Norris (DET)- 3-13, 4.49 ERA, 1.330 WHIP, 29 starts, 144.1, 2.9 bWAR

Oddly enough the entire group is made up of southpaws, and there are some decent ones among the lot. Matt Boyd was one of the hotter trade commodities on the market in July before he tanked a bit in the second half, but he’s a solid place to start.

From there things move into a veteran group of Price, Anderson, and Happ, who would all help you get by. Price was a little bit better than the stats would indicate while he dealt with some injuries, and Anderson was an excellent value signing for the Oakland A’s, something they do better than almost anyone.

Happ struggled a bit in New York after re-signing this past off-season, but he at least managed to stay healthy when the rest of the Yankee roster was decimated by injuries. Norris’ numbers are much better than his record would indicate, and also further proof of why that stat is pretty irrelevant these days.

So the group of former Blue Jays may be a little left-hand heavy, but they wouldn’t make for a bad rotation at all these days.

SEATTLE, WA – SEPTEMBER 26: Liam Hendriks #16 of the Oakland Athletics gets the ball back after the final out against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on September 26, 2019 in Seattle, Washington. The Oakland Athletics beat the Seattle Mariners 3-1. (Photo by Lindsey Wasson/Getty Images) /

The bench and the bullpen

I went with a 4-man bench, and the options started to dwindle on me pretty quickly. That said, it’s still a reasonably talented veteran group.

Bench- Curtis Granderson (MIA)- .183/.281/.356, 12 HR, 17 doubles, 34 RBI, -0.6 bWAR
Bench- Ryan Goins (CHI)- .250/.333/.347, 52 games played, 0.2 bWAR
Bench- Adeiny Hechavarria (ATL)- .241/.299/.443, 9 HR, 12 doubles, 0.9 bWAR
Bench- Russell Martin (LAD)- 220/.337/.330, 6 HR, 20 RBI, 0.8 bWAR

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I could have given the back-up catching job to Jeff Mathis, but his -1.6 bWAR was enough to scare me off, and seemingly should be enough for the Rangers as well you would think. Martin didn’t do a whole lot in L.A. this season, but he’ll get a chance to pursue a World Series ring with the Dodgers this fall, as will Hechavarria in Atlanta. Goins ended up playing in 52 games for the White Sox and wasn’t all that bad.

Bullpen

RP- Roberto Osuna (HOU)- 2.63 ERA, 0.877 WHIP, 38 saves, 2.0 bWAR
RP- Liam Hendriks (OAK)- 1.80 ERA, 0.965 WHIP, 25 saves, 3.5 bWAR
RP- Miguel Castro (BAL)- 4.66 ERA, 1.418 WHIP, 73.1 IP, 0.6 bWAR
RP- Tyler Clippard (CLE)- 2.90 ERA, 0.855 WHIP, 62.0 IP, 1.4 bWAR
RP- Jesse Chavez (TEX)- 4.85 ERA, 1.333 WHIP, 78.1 IP, 0.8 bWAR
RP- Jeremy Jeffress (MIL)- 5.02 ERA, 1.365 WHIP, 52.0 IP, -0.4 bWAR
RP- Sam Dyson (SF)- 3.32 ERA, 1.059 WHIP, 62.1 IP, 0.9 bWAR

The opposite of this hypothetical starting rotation, the bullpen is made up of all right-handed pitchers. Lead by Osuna and Hendricks, this group wouldn’t be too bad at all. They could use a lefty and a more dedicated long-man, but they would have a lockdown back end of the bullpen, and enough veteran experience to be formidable in the middle innings.

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Add it up and the 25 man roster made up of former Blue Jays was worth 37.7 wins above replacement. According to sportsreference.com, a replacement level team would be worth 52 wins, so therefore this fictional team would win approximately 89.7 games, or rounded up we can call it 90. That would have put them six games back of the Tampa Bay Rays for the second Wild Card spot in the AL, and three games behind Cleveland, who was just on the outside of the picture. To be honest, that’s actually much better than I would have expected.

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The Blue Jays had an up and down season as they’ve committed to the rebuild, but how did some of their former players perform in other jerseys in 2019?

The Lineup

The starting rotation

The bench and the bullpen

More from Jays Journal

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