Former Blue Jays with a worse reputation than they deserve

Blue Jays fans are quick to embrace the players they love, but there are others who have faced the wrath of a disappointed fan base whether it was actually deserved or not.

This kind of thing can happen for a variety of reasons. Most of the time it’s because of expectations that haven’t been met, and that can come in a few different forms. Sometimes it’s because of a big-money contract, or others it’s because of the cost to acquire a player in a trade.

As an example, I often think about the fact that the Blue Jays traded away a young Jeff Kent that had only played in 65 big leagues games to that point in his career, and then went on to become a 5x All-Star and the 2000 National League MVP. You don’t hear about this trade as a major goof up on the part of the Blue Jays, simply because Kent was part of a swap that brought David Cone to Toronto, and the right-hander helped bring home a World Series title in 1992. Had the results been different, chances are Cone would have had plenty of irrational feelings thrown in his direction from Blue Jays fans.

Of course, there have been plenty of big moves that have been costly over the years, for a variety of reasons, but that doesn’t mean that the players involved deserved all of the criticism they’ve faced. Since we’re still waiting for more positive movement with the latest CBA discussions, I thought it might be fun to take a look at some of those players, and review whether the hard feelings are justified or not.

A current example

As I look at the current roster the Blue Jays, I can see at least a couple of examples of this concept we’re looking at today. While I could make the argument for a few players, I’m going to focus on Cavan Biggio.

The 26 year old had a very impressive start to his MLB career over parts of his first two seasons from 2019-20, and entered last year looking to complete his first full 162 game big league campaign. Unfortunately Biggio was held to just 79 games while he dealt with a variety of injuries. The nagging problem for Biggio was an issue with a nerve in his neck, and I really believe that it impacted his play more than most people seem to realize.

Over his first two years that covered 159 games, Biggio earned 5.0 bWAR, which is an extremely impressive number. Part of that value comes from his defensive versatility, which is something that I believe will be a greater focus going forward for him. That said, it’s entirely possible that Biggio could return to second base on a full-time basis in 2022, especially after last season’s transition to third was pretty rocky.

On top of last year’s problems staying healthy and reaching his previous levels of production, I also think we had some unfair expectations for the son of a Hall of Famer. Not only does he have to live up to the name on the back of his jersey, but he also moved through the minor league system with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, two players that are already viewed as All-Star calibre big leaguers or better. That’s an awfully high bar of expectations for Biggio to meet, and while he was able to keep pace for a long time, I don’t think he was ever that well suited to keep up over the long haul. That doesn’t mean he can’t find a way to be an important contributor though.

I truly believe that the biggest thing Biggio needs after last year’s struggles is a fresh start and a clean bill of health. On top of that, I’m sure a little more support from Blue Jays fans wouldn’t hurt either.

Mo money, mo problems

For many years, the Blue Jays weren’t a team that competed for the biggest free agent stars. One of the main reasons for that was the former club policy of not exceeding five years on any contract offer. That said, there was an exception from back in 2006 when they handed Vernon Wells the biggest contract in franchise history at the time, which was for seven years and 126 million dollars.

From that point on the expectations were absolutely massive for the centre fielder. He had just finished a 2006 campaign that saw him appear in the All-Star game, earn a Gold Glove for his work patrolling the outfield, and even receiving some down-ballot MVP support. Unfortunately that would turn out to be the best season of his big league career, and that meant that a lot of Blue Jays fans were very disappointed.

When I think back to the way that Blue Jays fans talked about Wells at the time, you’d think that he never played again. Instead, he actually earned 8.3 bWAR from 2007-2010, and even returned to the All-Star game in his final season in Toronto. Yes, it was frustrating to see him regress after committing to the Blue Jays for the long-term, but it was way more about the contract that what he was actually doing on the field.

If we’re talking about Wells’ legacy in Toronto, his departure is actually regarded as one of the better front office moves in club history. Alex Anthopoulos somehow found a way to jettison his contract to Anaheim as it was getting to its highest point, and the Blue Jays were actually off the hook for a ton of money. In fact, according to Spotrac.com, here’s how his contract broke down:

2007:   5.6 million
2008:   500,000 (+8.5 million signing bonus)
2009:  1.5 million (+8.5 million bonus)
2010:  12.5 million (+8.5 million bonus)

The Blue Jays sent five million to the Angels as part of the trade that brought them Juan Rivera and Mike Napoli, so in total they paid 50.6 million of his 126 million contract. In fact, over 10 years in the organization he made 61.9 million compared to the more than 67 million the Angels paid him for just two seasons.

All things considered, it seems kinda silly that Blue Jays fans have been so hard on Wells over the years.

Arguably more undeserved criticism than anyone

I know I said I was going to talk about players in this article, but I can’t help but briefly touch on the Blue Jays front office, and specifically the work of Ross Atkins over the last six years.

We’ve written about it many times at Jays Journal here over the years, especially over the past few months, and I hope that most Blue Jays fans have come around on the current front office. When you look at how quickly the Jays went from a rebuilding team into legitimate contenders, I don’t know how you could still dislike the front office team of Ross Atkins, Mark Shapiro and the rest of their staff.

I completely understand why it started that way, and I’ll even admit that I had mixed feelings throughout the rebuilding process. It was very hard to see the last generation of Blue Jays stars go, even if they were heading into the twilight of their careers. For Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Donaldson and more, it’ll probably always feel like there is some unfinished business from the mid-2010’s.

But in hindsight there’s no doubt that Atkins and his team made the right decision to pivot toward a rebuild, and we’re on the cusp of truly enjoying the spoils of their work. They’ve built around and drafted a young core that includes Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (inherited from Anthopoulos’ era), Bo Bichette, Alek Manoah and more, and have supplemented the roster with talented veterans like George Springer, Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Marcus Semien, and several others. The tide has clearly shifted toward a win-now phase in franchise history, and it’s a very exciting time to be a Blue Jays fan.

To be fair, the front office is always going to face criticism from the fan base even when they’re doing the right thing, and that has been no different in Toronto over the last few years. That said, I hope 99% of the fan base understands that the work that’s been done over their tenure has been very impressive.

Looking ahead and remembering this concept

Before I drop this idea altogether, I want to talk about one player that could fit the “unfair criticism” description as soon as 2022.

As high as I am on the future of Alek Manoah, I’m also trying to keep my expectations in check for the big right-hander in 2022. He had an incredible rookie season and set the bar at a level that’s probably unfair for him or most young pitchers, and he still has plenty of lessons to learn as a big league starting pitcher. That doesn’t mean that I’m anything but excited about what he’s going to do on the mound in the future, but I hope Blue Jays fans are prepared to allow for some growing pains.

That often happens for young pitchers right from the time that they arrive in the big leagues, but that wasn’t really the case for Manoah. He finished last season with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.048 WHIP over 20 starts, striking out 127 batters over 111.2 innings. On the way he set several Blue Jay records, and has cemented himself in the rotation going forward. In fact, there are even some betting sites that see him as a legitimate contender for the Cy Young award in 2022.

Do I think that’s a fair expectation for the 24 year old? Absolutely not. My hope is that he can serve as a solid mid-rotation starter for the Blue Jays in 2022, and navigate his first full season as a big leaguer while learning plenty of valuable lessons along the way. I hope he stays healthy, and that he’s in a position to be making a playoff start or two by the time the fall rolls around. Those are all lofty enough goals for a sophomore hurler, especially with three veteran starters around him in the rotation.

At some point in 2022 Manoah is going to go through a stretch of tough starts, and when he does it will be important to remember just how great he’s been to start his career. He’s set us up for unrealistic expectations for a pitcher with as little experience as he’s had so far, and while that’s absolutely a great thing, it’s not going to last forever.

Having said all of that, I couldn’t be a whole lot higher on Manoah’s future, and that includes what I think he’ll accomplish in 2022. I just don’t think it’s fair to expect him to be a Cy Young contender, or even at an All-Star level. As Blue Jays fans, sometimes it’s hard to keep our expectations in check, but let’s do our best to do just that for one the most exciting young starters we’ve seen in Toronto in a very long time.