The Toronto Blue Jays' 42nd season – fraught with injuries, underperformance and concluding with the departure of manager John Gibbons – ends Sunday in Florida with a final game against the Tampa Bay Rays. The American League East club will finish 30-plus games back of first place, the first time since 1995 it has been that far off the pace. Several team members reflect on what they will remember about a grinding year.
Randal Grichuk, outfielder
Was hitting .079 through the first 24 games. Rebounded to hit a career high in home runs.
From a personal perspective: “That I finished strong after starting off so terribly and getting hurt. I had a couple talks with Tulo [Troy Tulowitzki] and Russ [Russell Martin]. You know, it’s tough mentally on a player that starts out as bad as I did. A lot of guys don’t come back from that, so luckily I was able to finish strong and get out of that.”
From a team perspective: “It was a frustrating year. I think a lot of our talent, including myself, underperformed. I think we had the talent here to have a successful year. I think injuries played a big part in the season as well. Obviously having [Marcus] Stroman out for a while, an MVP player like [Josh] Donaldson out for a while, and a guy who was arguably the best pitcher within the last couple of years, Aaron Sanchez, hurt for most of the year, that kind of hurts you."
Danny Jansen, rookie catcher
Made his major-league debut Aug. 3.
From a personal perspective: “For me, just coming up here and having the experience right away – experience with older players, guys like Russell Martin and Tyler Clippard, 10-plus years in the big leagues and all that stuff. And facing guys like CC Sabathia and David Price. You grew up watching them and here you are competing against them. It was a really, really cool.”
From a team perspective: “I’m going to take away a lot of things about defence and about how I’m using information around here. I’m also never going to forget the two walk-off home runs that I watched Kevin Pillar and then Smoaky [Justin Smoak] hit. It was amazing.”
Kevin Pillar, outfielder
Longest-tenured Blue Jay concluding his sixth season. Missed 14 games with a sprained sternoclavicular (SC) joint.
From a personal perspective: “I guess if I had to pick something it would have to be coming back from the collarbone/shoulder injury. Really the first time I’ve ever had any sort of significant injury that cost me some time. I think I’ll be proud of myself for the way that I was able to handle that injury and really work hard to come back and come back faster than most people anticipated.”
From a team perspective: “Obviously disappointment. Any time you don’t go to the postseason or play meaningful games down the stretch it’s always disappointing. I think I can potentially leave this season, going into the off-season, a little bit more optimistic about the future. You hear about a lot of these “names.” You see some of these young guys in spring training. You don’t have an opportunity to see them play a whole lot or play with them a whole lot. And then they come up here. You hear all this talk about what they could be or what they could do and I got to see it with a couple of these guys. It makes me excited about our possibilities for next year.”
Justin Smoak, first baseman
Coming off an all-star season in 2017, hit 20-plus home runs for the third time in his career.
From a personal perspective: “Man, it’s been a grind. I’m happy in a way but I feel like I never really got going – like hot-hot. I feel like I still had a decent, good, year.”
From a team perspective: “It changed dramatically, from a lot of older guys to a lot of younger guys. But I feel like the younger guys are getting the chance to experience the big leagues and we’ve got some really good players. So hopefully it only helps them out for next year.”
Rowdy Tellez, rookie first baseman
Made major-league debut Sept. 5, about two weeks after his mother died from brain cancer. He had seven extra-base hits in his first seven games, a Major League Baseball record.
From a personal perspective: “Probably the loss of my mom and the impact it had on me, and the way I played, the way the Blue Jays handled me, going through all that and how they did everything they could to make me feel comfortable – sending me home, letting me be with my family. Definitely that affected me as a player and as a person. Apart from losing a child, losing a parent is the most traumatic thing any person can go through. Bittersweet is probably the best way to describe this year.”
From a team perspective: “Probably how much fun I had throughout the year. In Buffalo we had a great group of guys, great core. It seems like they all came up here [to the Blue Jays] together. This is a great clubhouse here in Toronto, our veterans are really easy to talk to, great guys who will help you whenever you need help. Guys aren’t unapproachable, they’re easy to ask questions to. They accepted everybody here with open arms.”
Teoscar Hernandez, outfielder
Displayed surprising power in his first full major-league season although his defensive play often lacked.
From a personal perspective: “It’s been pretty good. Everything that I’ve tried to work on has been working and things got a lot better this year. There’s some things I have to work on and try to improve to make it great for next year, obviously my defence.”
From a team perspective: “There’s a lot of things that happened this season and it obviously it didn’t go the way we expected. There’s always next year and we’re going to battle to get better.”
John Gibbons
Managing in his final season for the Blue Jays, who won’t bring him back for the final year of his contract
From a personal perspective: “As tough as it’s been, as frustrating as it’s been, it’s still been a fun, enjoyable year for me – because I like the guys.”
From a team perspective: “I think they showed up, strapped it on every day, and gave it their best effort, hung in games. We didn’t win as many as we wanted to but we gave it our best shot. It’s a fun group. Yeah, the bottom line’s winning, there’s no doubt about that. But I got a lot of enjoyment out of this group.”