Top 40 All-time Blue Jays: #39: Alfredo Griffin

Top Blue Jays Player #39: Alfredo Griffin

Position: Shortstop

Seasons With the Jays: 8 (1979-84, 1992-93)

MLB Awards: AL Rookie of the Year (1979)

All-Star Game Selection: 1984

Stats: Games Played 982               Batting Average .249

                                              Base Hits 844                        Runs Scored 382

                                              Home Runs 13                      RBIs  231

                                              Doubles  127                         Triples  50

                                              Stolen Bases  79                   Walks  146

                Alfredo Griffin was the first in a long line of shortstops born in the Dominican Republic that found themselves playing with the Toronto Blue Jays. He was the typical shortstop of the 1970s and 1980s in that he was all-glove and no hit.

                He was indeed a light-hitter as his stats would bear out. In his five full seasons as the Jays’ regular shortstop he only hit for an average higher than .260 once. That was in his rookie season when he managed .287. He never hit more than four home runs in a season but his speed and quickness allowed him to collect his fair share of triples and stolen bases.

                Originally signed by the Cleveland Indians in 1973, he was traded to Toronto at the conclusion of the 1978 season. Although he had played a handful games for the Indians over the previous three seasons (a total of 31 games), he qualified as a rookie in his first year for the Blue Jays. And it was the best year any rookie had in 1979 as he became the first Toronto player to win the American League Rookie of the Year Award.

                Griffin batted .287 in 153 games, collecting 22 doubles, ten triples and two home runs among his 179 hits. He also added 31 RBIs and stole 21 bases while posting a .956 fielding percentage.

                His numbers dipped a bit in 1982, particularly his batting average which fell to .254 but he did lead the American League in triples with 15. And while his numbers didn’t improve during the rest of his years with the Blue Jays, his defensive skill kept him in the line up. He played in all 162 games in 1982 and 1983. However, by the end of the 1984 season, Griffin was no longer being looked at as the team’s starting shortstop as another Dominican-born player, Tony Fernandez, had come along with even better defensive prowess and much better offensive potential.

                During the off-season, Griffin was traded to the Oakland Athletics, where he would play for three seasons. In 1985, he won his first and only Gold Glove Award while playing for Oakland. Traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 1987 season, Griffin would play four years in LA, helping the team to the World Championship in 1988.

                For the 1992 season, he would return to the Blue Jays, signing as a free agent to be the back-up shortstop to Manuel Lee. He played two more years with Toronto, and played sparingly but contributed to the back-to-back World Series Championship teams before retiring following the 1993 season.

                Griffin is currently the first base coach for the Los Angeles Angels, a position he as held since 2000.

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Top 40 All-Time Blue Jays: #40: Adam Lind

Top Blue Jays Player #40: Adam Lind

Position: First baseman/Designated Hitter

Seasons With the Jays: 9 (2006-2014)

MLB Awards: Silver Slugger (2009)

   Stats: Games Played 953               Batting Average .273

                                                Base Hits 931                        Runs Scored 429

                                                Home Runs 146                    RBIs  519

                                                Doubles  196                         Triples  12

                                                Stolen Bases  6                     Walks  273

                There was a time when it looked like Adam Lind would be an All-Star for years to come for the Toronto Blue Jays. Unfortunately, injuries and slumps plagued him throughout his time with the club. In 2009, Lind had his best year in his first full season as a regular. He had shown promise in 2007 and 2008 as a part-time player hitting 20 home runs and driving in 86 in 177 games over the two seasons.

                Lind was originally drafted in 2002 by the Minnesota Twins, who took him in the eighth round. He did not sign with the club and was eligible to be drafted again once the 2004 draft came around. This time, the Jays selected him in the third round and he signed with them with three weeks.

                As I mentioned before, his breakout season was 2009 when he batted .305 (his only full season that he hit over .300), smashed 35 home runs while adding 114 RBIs. It looked like the Jays had finally found their replacement for Carlos Delgado who had left after the 2004 season for the Florida Marlins. Lind won a Silver Slugger Award for his efforts in 2009 and great expectations awaited him the following year.

                But the numbers declined in 2010. The home runs dropped to 23 and the RBIs to 72. More alarmingly, the strike outs rose from 110 to 144. But things got a little better in 2011 with a .251 average, 26 HRs and 87 RBI, but he missed significant playing time in 2012 and his numbers dropped again. After a bit of a rejuvenation in 2013 (.288, 23 HR, 67 RBI) he was plagued by another injury-marred season in 2014. In his 96 games played, he only managed six home runs and looked nothing like the promisingly slugging first baseman he had been only five years earlier.

                After the 2014 season, Lind was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for pitcher Marco Estrada.

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Top 40 All-Time Blue Jays: Honourable Mentions

                Welcome to the first of a 41-part series that will rank the top 40 Toronto Blue Jays players of all time. While I could easily have made this a top 50 list, I will keep it to 40 as 2016 is the 40^th season for the franchise. Ranking the top 40 players was not easy and I expect there to be some disagreements, especially as we get to the top of the list. What was even harder was eliminating some of my favourite players from the list.

                That is why the first installment of this series will be an honourable mention list. It will be in alphabetical order and only a brief bio of the player’s tenure with the team. Enjoy.

Toronto Blue Jays: Top 40 Players of All-time

Honourable Mentions

Garth Iorg – Iorg was one of the original Blue Jays taken in the 1976 expansion draft and played with the team briefly in 1978 and then permanently from 1980 through to the end of 1987. Primarily a utility man for the first few years of his career, he platooned with Rance Mulliniks at third base for the majority of his years in Toronto. His best season was 1985 when he batted .313 in 131 games while hitting seven home runs and adding 37 RBIS while helping the team to their first division title.

Manny Lee – One of many outstanding defensive middle infielders the Jays snatched from the baseball-rich Dominican Republic, Lee arrived in Toronto as a back-up shortstop in 1985. A few years later, he was platooning at second base with another Dominican, Nelson Liriano, before becoming the everyday shortstop in 1991. His final year in Toronto (1992) would prove to be his best offensively as he batted .263 and drove in 39 runs from the number nine sport in order while helping the Jays to their first World Championship.

Candy Maldonado – The right-handed slugger, who primarily played left field, had two stints with the Jays in his career. While the second was a blip on the radar (he played 61 games in 1995) it was his first go-around that will be remembered. Picked up in August of 1991 in a trade with Milwaukee, Maldonado was a key contributor to the 1992 Championship team. During the ’92 season, he batted .272 with 20 homers and 66 RBIs and knocked in the game-winning run in Game 2 of the World Series with a two-strike double off Braves’ closer Jeff Reardon in the bottom of the ninth.

Buck Martinez – Martinez has served various roles with the Toronto organization, first as a player (1981-86), then as a colour commentator on their television broadcasts (1987-94) then as the team’s on-field manager (2000-02) before returning to their broadcast booth as the play-by-play announcer in 2010, a position he still holds. During his playing days, he was a catcher, platooning with Ernie Whitt, and didn’t contribute much offensively.

Jack Morris – Morris was the highly sought-after free agent that the Jays landed after the 1991 season. Morris had just led the Minnesota Twins to the World Series championship and was expected to do the same for the Jays. In 1992, Morris lived up to his expectations in the regular season when he became the first Toronto hurler to win 20 games in a season (he ended up with 21.) But he struggled in the post season, losing three of his four starts (his other start was the big comeback by Toronto in Game 4 of the ALCS). In 1993, Morris was only 7-12 and his ERA ballooned to 6.19. Due to injuries, he was left off the post season roster and left the team after the season ended.

Rance Mulliniks – This was the hardest one to leave off the Top 40 list as Rance was always one of my favourite Blue Jays. He played with Toronto from 1982 until 1992, mostly as a third baseman. For the first part of his tenure with the Jays, he platooned with Garth Iorg at third. Once Kelly Gruber came along, Mulliniks was relegated to a designated hitter/utility player role. His best year offensively was 1988 when he batted .300, hit 12 home runs and had 48 RBIs while playing in 119 games.

B.J. Ryan – Oh, what might have been. Ryan could have easily been the best closer in Blue Jays history if not for injuries. He was acquired from Baltimore prior to the 2006 season and was lights-out for the Toronto bull pen. A 1.37 ERA and 38 saves was a perfect start to his career with the Jays. But injuries plagued him for his next three years with the team. He posted only three saves in 2007, and only two in 2009. In between, he managed to save 32 games but the dominant presence he had on the mound in 2006 was no longer there. He retired after the 2009 season.

Mike Timlin – Timlin was another tough one to leave off the list because of his bullpen contribution during the 1992 World Series (he saved the Series’ clinching game.) He was the Jays’ closer in 1996, saving 31 games and finished his Toronto career with 52 saves. He would rejuvenate his career with the Boston Red Sox while being a strong middle inning reliever, helping Boston win World Series Championships in 2004 and 2007.

Future Possibilities?

                There are a couple of players on the Jays’ current roster who have an opportunity to be on the top 50 players when the team’s 50^th anniversary rolls around. That is if they keep up their stellar play and stay with Toronto for a few more years. That would be Kevin Pillar and Marcus Stroman.

                Pillar was a bit player in 2013 and 2014 but finally won a starting spot last year. He played all but three games in the regular season, batting .278, hitting 12 home runs, 56 RBIs and stealing 25 bases. His defense is nothing short of spectacular and he should be a solid player for years to come. But his name kept coming up in trade rumours all throughout the off season. Hopefully, the Jays’ management won’t do anything stupid and they hang on to him. He’s a player you’re going to want for a while.

                As far as Stroman goes, he is the starting pitcher to replace David Price, as far as I’m concerned. He only pitched in four games last year after suffering a severe knee injury in Spring Training but he won all four of those games and had a 1.67 ERA. He posted an 11-6 record in his rookie season in 2014 and if his knee stays healthy and with the Jays’ booming bats on offense, he could win 20 games in 2016.

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