All-Time Blue Jays Team

The Toronto Blue Jays formed in 1977 as an expansion of the American League. In their 33 year history, they have won 2 World Series going back to back in 1992 and 1993. Those teams were built to win with veterans like Paul Molitor, Rickey Henderson, and Dave Winfield having swan song years to gain rings. As with our other All Time teams, we place a premium on longevity with the team. Playing for only a year or two goes against the spirit of the all time team. The somewhat limited history also makes the team a little weaker than some of the older teams. Here are the best of the Blue Jays, and some debate points are prevalent.

C - Darrin Fletcher
1B - John Olerud
2B - Roberto Alomar
SS - Tony Fernandez
3B - Kelly Gruber
OF - George Bell
OF - Joe Carter
OF - Shawn Green
DH - Carlos Delgado
SP - Roy Halladay
SP - Dave Stieb
CL - Tom Henke

Originally we had Pat Borders, but I went a little off script as Fletcher had some decent years with the Jays batting .274 with them. Dave Stieb is a very underrated pitcher, not HOF or anything, but very good. 3B is weak, and we tried to find someone better to no avail. Who did we leave off that should warrant consideration?

Jo Jo Reyes Streak Reminiscent of Anthony Young

Last night, Jo Jo Reyes finally got a win for the Toronto Blue Jays. He had previously gone 28 starts over the past three injury riddled seasons without registering a victory. Although that is a great hurdle to overcome and hopefully leads to more victories for the lefty, his streak is not quite as notorious as that of Anthony Young back in the early 1990s.

The early 90s sparked the first wave of Mets futility after their impressive late 80s finishes. In 1992, they still had the impressive pitching names (Gooden, Fernandez, Cone, Saberhagen). By this point, Doc's off field troubles were affecting his pitching, Fernandez was having his modest type season, and Saberhagen hadn't yet cured his own Brett Saberhagen disease. Side bar: Brett Saberhagen disease is characterized by having alternating good and bad seasons. For Saberhagen, until 1994, he pitched great in odd years and awful in even numbered years. Cone was having a good year, but suffered and lost potential wins due to the dreadful offense.

Blyleven and Alomar: the HOF Class of 2011

The votes are in... there will be two players enshrined in Cooperstown in 2011.  Blyleven and Alomar, who came within 5 and 8 votes, respectively, of making the cut in 2010 will both be honored in July for their historic contributions to the game of baseball.

Blyleven, who ranks 5th all-time in career strikeouts and 9th all-time in career shutouts, waited 14 years for his call.  The numbers show how consistent Blyleven was over the course of 22 major league seasons - despite never winning a Cy Young award and only making two all-star rosters, his cumulative 3.31 ERA and 1.198 WHIP tell you how dominant Bert really was.  He played for some bad teams over those 22 seasons but the few times he did make the postseason, he proved to be very effective on the big stage- a 5-1 postseason record to go along with a 2.47 ERA in 8 career postseason games (6 starts).  If Bert had played on a better team, there's no doubt that he would have retired with a better reputation.  Blyleven was a horse and one hell of a pitcher.

Alomar finished top 10 in MVP voting five times.  He was named an all-star team more than any other second baseman in history (12).  He was named to the all-time Gold Glove team in 2007 at second base during the 50th anniversary of the Gold Glove award, an award which he won 10 times.  Aside from the defensive prowess, the switch hitting Alomar also swung a decent bat; winning 4 Silver Slugger awards, maintaining a career .300 batting average and amassing 474 stolen bases.  If not for an infamous spitting incident, he would have surely been a first ballot Hall of Famer as he was one of the best to ever play his position.

Congratulations to Blyleven and Alomar!