Today in Blue Jays history: A bad trade and Clemens signing
However, in his final two seasons with Boston, he was not as good, finishing with a 3.83 ERA and a 20-18 record in 57 starts. Yes, it’s still good, but the performance has decreased. The Red Sox refused to offer him the compensation he was expecting when he became a free agent. After speaking with the Yankees, he wasn’t satisfied with their proposals.
The Blue Jays arrived with an offer of $24.75 million, which sounds like a lot less money now, over three years. He was back to the old Clemens with the Jays. In two seasons, he was 41-13 with a 2.33 ERA through 67 starts and 498.2 innings pitched. The Jays experienced their best back-to-back seasons by a pitcher in team history after he won his fourth and fifth Cy Young awards. Over the course of the two seasons, his bWAR was an astounding 20.1.
Ignore the fact that PEDs allowed him to get back to his previous form. Additionally, he produced this adorable commercial, which included a young Dan Shulman and Buck Martinez:
Roger was very good. The group as a whole wasn’t. In 1997, we would place last, and in 1998, a fair and more respectable third. Roger requested a trade after the 1998 season because he was sick of hearing two National Anthems before every start (or maybe it was all the losing). He was sent to the Yankees by the Jays. In return, we received Homer Bush, Graham Lloyd, and David Wells. Not a bad yield.
- In addition to winning two more Cy Young awards and collecting a few World Series rings, Clemens would go on to become a total flake. Although Clemens is without a doubt the greatest former Major League pitcher to be elected to the Hall of Fame without being inducted, he is the one if the Baseball Writers ever invoke the “character clause.”
Twenty-five Years Ago
Joey Hamilton was acquired by the Jays on December 13, 1998, in exchange for Woody Williams, Carlos Almarzar, and Peter Tucci. It wasn’t one of our better trades, regrettably. The men we gave up on:
- Despite having a respectable number in the minors, Tucci was never able to reach the majors. Playing in A-ball at Dunedin and Double-A Knoxville in 1998, he amassed 32 home runs and 112 RBI in 130 games while hitting.318/.376/.602. His position was outfield corner.
Almanzar relieved batters with his right hand. His 7.47 ERA in 28 games pitched in 1999 for the Padres was far worse than his 4.39 ERA in 62 games, 69 innings, 25 walks, 56 strikeouts, but 12 home runs allowed in 2000. Following that campaign, the Padres sent Carlos to the Yankees in exchange for another reliever, David Lee, who spent one season with the team and finished with a 3.70 ERA in 41 games.
Almanzar would later play for the Rangers, Yankees, and Reds. He pitched in 210 games, played in eight seasons, and had an ERA of 4.82.
Woody Williams had a successful career after that.Over the course of the following 2.5 seasons, he pitched for the Padres, going 30-28 with a 4.35 ERA in 79 starts. The Padres traded Woody to the Cardinals in August 2001 in exchange for Ray Lankford. He would play in the major leagues for fifteen seasons, finishing 132-116 in 424 games and 330 starts with a 4.19 ERA.
- We received Hamilton in return. Joey didn’t do much for us. He was really quite bad. He made 18 starts out of 22 games in 1999, going 7-8 with a 6.52 ERA in the mound. With an ERA more than six and a half, how can you get seven wins? The next season, the Jays started him in Triple-A, and he missed some time due to injuries. At the end of the season, he was finally given six MLB starts and finished with a 3.55 ERA. Joey began the 2001 season in our rotation and made 22 starts while sporting a 5.89 ERA. He was eventually released by us in the first part of August.
Why did we have to wait so long to let him go? He was given a three-year, $16.5 million contract by Gord Ash, which is a sizable sum of money considering his 14–17 record, 5.83 ERA, and 0 WAR.
Following his playing career, Dave Stewart recommended that Gord trade for him and sign him to a big contract. Stewart was later hired as our assistant general manager. After playing with Joey, Stewart assumed he would become a star because he saw something in his eyes or something foolish like that.
When it comes to the worst trades in Blue Jays history, this one would be up there. Ash was supposed to see the warnings. Prior to the trade, Joey had the most walks of any player in the National League and very few strikeouts. A pitcher who had an AL East strikeout-to-walk ratio of 1.39 did not seem like a good fit.
Five Years Ago
In the Rule 5 draft, the Blue Jays selected Elvis Luciano from the Royals. Well, it was a strange choice. As Matt clarified: Elvis Luciano was only signed two years ago and will turn 18 in February. In most cases, he wouldn’t have been eligible for Rule 5 for a few more years. In fact, some players from North America haven’t even been drafted into the professional ranks by the time they reach that age. But Major League Rule 5 states that players may be eligible earlier in certain situations, and Luciano’s contract appears to have been renegotiated, so that makes him eligible.
It looks like a strange choice. With the fact that Luciano had never even pitched in a full-season league, it almost seems absurd to think he could play for the Jays the entire season. or even higher than rookie ball.However, Luciano had promise; he had a good curve, a fastball with a 96 mph maximum, and a developing changeup.
Elvis paid the price by having to play the whole 2019 season as a member of the Jays’ 25-man roster. Through 25 games, his ERA was 5.35. He then placed himself on the disabled list due to a right elbow strain, which ironically prevented him from playing until September when rosters were expanded.
The Jays cut him loose in August 2021, but he signed again a few days later. 2022 saw him pitch in two games for the Fisher Cats. He didn’t pitch for the Yomiuri Giants despite signing with them prior to the previous campaign.