A history of Toronto’s weird missteps with first basemen

John Olerud

What Olerud lacked in power, he made up for in his contact, ability to get on base and his defense, as he produced 20.8 bWAR from 1991-'96. His .399 OBP and 457 walks in that six-year frame ranked fourth among first baseman, while his strikeout rate of 10.9% ranked seventh. In 1993, he flirted with a .400 batting average, finishing with a slash line of .363/.473/.599 while leading the league with 54 doubles and a 186 OPS+

The deal: On Dec. 20, 1996, the Blue Jays traded Olerud to the New York Mets for pitcher Robert Person.

Did it work out: It did not!

Olerud continued to be one of the best contact hitters in the league from 1997 until he retired in 2005. Not only did he average a slash line of .296/.400/.461 in that time frame, he had more walks than strikeouts every year expect for the final two of his career. Person was awful during his three years in Toronto. He had an unsightly 6.18 ERA and was worth -1.7 bWAR.

Part of the reason for that deal was to open up first base for Carlos Delgado. But, like the situation with McGriff, the Blue Jays could have had bothDelgado and Olerud in a first base / DH platoon. Instead, the Blue Jays cycled through a revolving door of full-time and part-time guys at DH, none of whom produced more than 1.6 bWAR in a single season.