Blue Jays: Acquire Joe Carter, Roberto Alomar- 30 Years Later

COOPERSTOWN, NY - JULY 24: Roberto Alomar gives his speech at Clark Sports Center during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on July 24, 2011 in Cooperstown, New York. In 17 major league seasons, Alomar tallied 2,724 hits, 210 home runs, 1,134 RBI, a .984 fielding percentage and a .300 batting average. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
COOPERSTOWN, NY - JULY 24: Roberto Alomar gives his speech at Clark Sports Center during the Baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony on July 24, 2011 in Cooperstown, New York. In 17 major league seasons, Alomar tallied 2,724 hits, 210 home runs, 1,134 RBI, a .984 fielding percentage and a .300 batting average. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
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This past weekend marked 30 years since the Blue Jays made arguably their biggest deal in team history when they traded Tony Fernandez and Fred McGriff to the San Diego Padres for Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar.

By the end of 1990 the Blue Jays were in the midst of a half decade run where if they were not winning the AL East they were finishing just a couple games back.  By the end of that season the club finished 10 games above .500, but found themselves two games back of the Boston Red Sox for the pennant.  GM Pat Gillick was looking to make a splash and was looking to take advantage of a surplus the team had in one position.

Fred McGriff was coming off his third consecutive season of 30+ home runs where he averaged 35 long balls a season during that span and was one year removed from winning the Silver Slugger award as the top hitting First Baseman.  McGriff looked like an All-Star caliber middle of the order hitter, however they had a 22-year old John Olerud coming off his rookie season and pushing to take the spot.  San Diego was intrigued by the deal as they were losing their first basemen Jack Clark to free agency.  With the emergence of Olerud, the Blue Jays could use McGriff to help improve the club at other positions.  As such, the deal was struck.  In this article, we will look at how each trade piece worked out.

When McGriff went to San Diego he did not stumble at all and only got better.  He continued his streak of consecutive 30+ home runs and would lead the National League in that category in1992, while taking home the Silver Slugger that season.  Midway through the 1993 season the Padres were nowhere close to contention and the Atlanta Braves were in a hunt for another postseason, so he was traded to the Braves for Vince Moore, Donnie Elliott and Melvin Nieves.  Elliot was a good reliever for one season, while Moore would never make the major leagues and Nieves would hit .207 over two seasons with the Padres before being traded.  McGriff would take over for Sid Bream at First Base and go on an absolute run finishing the his season with 19 home runs in a Braves uniform, totalling 37 for the season that led to winning his third Silver Slugger Award.

McGriff would play almost five years in Atlanta, winning his only World Series in 1995 in a post season that saw him hit .333 with 10 extra base hits in 14 games.  He would go on to play in Tampa Bay, Chicago (Cubs) and Los Angeles (Dodgers) before his career was over.  After the trade from Toronto, McGriff played in five All-Star Games, won two Silver Sluggers and most importantly his World Series win.  He would also finish his career with 493 home runs and 1,500 RBI, which many think is enough to be considered for the Hall of Fame.

1989: Tony Fernandez of the Toronto Blue Jays leaps over first baseman Mark McGwire of the Oakland Athletics during a game of the 1989 American League Championship. Mandatory Credit: Otto Greule /Allsport
1989: Tony Fernandez of the Toronto Blue Jays leaps over first baseman Mark McGwire of the Oakland Athletics during a game of the 1989 American League Championship. Mandatory Credit: Otto Greule /Allsport /

Tony Fernandez had been with the Blue Jays organization since he was 16 years old and had already played parts of eight seasons in the major leagues by the end of the 1990 season.  Fernandez, who was 28-years old at the time of the trade, had just led the league in triples with 17 and had won four of the previous five Gold Gloves as the best defensive shortstop in the American League.  Fernandez was the type of player that I feel had he played for the New York Yankees, he would be in the Hall of Fame.

When Fernandez joined the Padres he did not disappoint in his two seasons, and was named an All-Star during the 1992 campaign when he collected 40 extra-base hits and had a slash line of .272/.337/.359.  At the end of that year, the Padres would trade him to the New York Mets for D.J. Dozier, Wally Whitehurst and Raul Casanova.  While Whitehurst would be a starter for a couple years, Dozier and Casanova were never impact players.  Fernandez would struggle to start the 1993 season with the Mets and by the time he had played just under 50 games he was hitting just .225 and New York was looking to move on from him.  The Mets sent him back to the Toronto in exchange for Darrin Jackson.

Coming home to the Blue Jays was a resurgence for him when he returned to his familiar spot as the starting shortstop in Toronto.  He would hit .306/.361/.442 for the remainder of the season and play the best defence in years since he left Toronto.  Fernandez would make just seven errors in 463 chances for the remainder of the season. Fernandez would get even better once the post season started and went 7 for 22 in the ALCS against the Chicago White.  After playing in the league for well over a decade he would make his first appearance in the World Series, which saw him hit .333 with nine RBI and had Paul Molitor not absolutely destroyed the ball in that series, there was a good chance Fernandez would have won the World Series MVP.  This was the last time we would see Fernandez in the postseason as a Blue Jay, and he would finished his October Blue Jays career with a batting average of .333 over four series, 24 games and 87 at bats.

Fernandez would bounce around the league for the next six seasons as a free agent, which included two more returns to Toronto.  In 1998 he would return to Toronto, but shift over to the hot corner at third base.  The following season he would be selected to the All-Star Game for the first time since playing in San Diego as he batted .328 with a .427 OBP.  As stated above, I believe that Fernandez should be in the Hall of Fame as he finished his 17 year career with a slash line of .288/.347/.399 while being one of the best defensive players at his position for a decade.  Fernandez ended his career with five All-Star Appearances, Four Gold Gloves and a World Series ring.

23 Oct 1993: Firrst baseman Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates after the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies at the Toronto Sky Dome in Toronto, Canada. Mandatory Credit: Rick Stewart /Allsport
23 Oct 1993: Firrst baseman Joe Carter of the Toronto Blue Jays celebrates after the World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies at the Toronto Sky Dome in Toronto, Canada. Mandatory Credit: Rick Stewart /Allsport /

In Joe Carter, the Blue Jays were acquiring a soon to be 31-year old who was a career Cleveland Indian and had been traded to the Padres just one year prior in another blockbuster trade.  In his one season in San Diego, Carter had his fifth career 20+ home run, 20+ stolen base season.  It looked as though the Blue Jays were getting a player that was a lock to finish in the 25+ home run, 100+ RBI territory.

Carter would become a fan favourite immediately as he was slotted in the clean-up position for his Blue Jays debut.  In his first at-bat he hit a line drive single to left field and finished off the game with a home run in the ninth.  Toronto would end up losing the game, but fans got a taste of what they would get for the next seven seasons.  After his first season, Carter would finish fifth in AL MVP voting when he hit 33 home runs, 108 RBI and steal 20 bases to go with a .273 average.

Carter would be selected to five All-Star Games as a Blue Jay, win two Silver Slugger Awards and hit, what I will call the greatest home run in the history of Major League Baseball with his walk-off home run.  Carter would finish off both World Series wins for the Blue Jays in recording the final out in 1992 World Series, and as said before hit the game winning walk off home run in 1993.

After the 1997 season, the Blue Jays finished 13 games below .500 and last place in the AL East. Many of the players from the glory years were gone and Carter was coming off a career worst .234 batting average.  Coupled with the Blue Jays having a youthful outfield of Shawn Green, Jose Cruz and Shannon Stewart; Carter went to free agency and signed with the Baltimore Orioles for the 1998 season.

Carter would start the season in Baltimore before being traded to San Francisco ahead of the trade deadline.  He would finish the season hitting a combined 18 home runs and 63 RBI, but would call it a career at the end of year.  Carter gets a lot of acknowledgement for his World Series winning home run, but that completely overshadows how good of a player he was in Toronto.  Over seven seasons he averaged 31 doubles, 29 home runs and 105 RBI a season while posting a very respectful .257 batting average.  Carter is still involved at times with the Blue Jays where you can see that always huge smile on his face.

TORONTO, ONTARIO – CIRCA 1992: Roberto Alomar #12 of the Toronto Blue Jays in action during a Major League Baseball game circa 1992 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario. Alomar played for the Blue Jays in 1991-95. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ONTARIO – CIRCA 1992: Roberto Alomar #12 of the Toronto Blue Jays in action during a Major League Baseball game circa 1992 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto, Ontario. Alomar played for the Blue Jays in 1991-95. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

Roberto Alomar was just two months shy of turning 23 years old when the Blue Jays acquired him, and he was already coming off his first All-Star Appearance.  Alomar’s career didn’t start quite as well as Carter’s, as Alomar was just 1 for his first 10 at bats, however he had collected five walks and two sacrifice hits during his start.  Alomar would finish that season with 61 extra base hits which included 41 doubles, and his batting average would be .295, which was the lowest of his Blue Jays tenure.

Alomar would play five seasons in Toronto and win the Gold Glove in every year, as well as taking home one Silver Slugger and being selected to the All-Star Game in each season.  His top season was 1993 when he hit 17 home runs to go with 93 RBI and 55 stolen bases with a slash line of .326/.408/.492.

The playoffs is where he elevated his game even more, in five playoff series he hit at least .423 in three of them.  In the 1992 ALCS against Athletics he took home the series MVP and helped the Blue Jays finally climbed over the hump to get to their first World Series.  In that series, Alomar went 11 for 26 and was a perfect 5 for 5 in stolen bases.  In fact, in his Blue Jays postseason career he was 18 for 20 in stolen bases.

At the end of the 1995 season, Alomar hit free agency and signed a three-year deal worth $18 million with the Baltimore Orioles.  It is hard to think that with everything Alomar did for the Toronto organization, it was all done in just five seasons.  In comparison, Jose Bautista was in Toronto for a decade, even Josh Donaldson played just one season less than Alomar and his feels like just a quick stop over.

Many forget Alomar played for almost one full decade after leaving Toronto and had some of his best seasons.  In Baltimore, Alomar would win two Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger in the three years before joining the Cleveland Indians and having arguably his best seasons.  In three years in Cleveland, Alomar averaged 21 home runs, 103 RBI and a .323 batting average, while playing in the All Star Game in each of those seasons, collecting two Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers.

After his time in Cleveland, Alomar would bounce around to the Mets, White Sox and Diamondbacks before calling it a career at the end of 2004.  Alomar would retire a 12-time All-Star, 10-time Gold Glove winner, 4-time Silver Slugger and most importantly a two-time World Series winner with the Toronto Blue Jays.  Alomar is currently the only Hall of Fame player to go into Cooperstown wearing a Blue Jays hat (although I consider Roy Halladay a Blue Jay).

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By the end of the deal, the San Diego Padres could look at it as they had Alomar, Carter, McGriff and Fernandez to which they spoiled it on a couple of replacement level players.  The Blue Jays will never complain about the trade as everything you want out of any move is what happened in this deal.

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