There's some excitement in Blue Jays land today as two players are celebrating birthdays on this fine Sunday October 19th. Superstar Jose Bautista turns 34, which means he's getting up there in years as he goes into the final guaranteed year of his contract. For his birthday he most certainly asked for a better team to play with next year and maybe a call from his General Manager, since it sure sounds like he doesn't get enough of those as he'd like.
The other birthday boy is lefty J.A. Happ who turns 32-years-old today. Maybe it's just me but....Jose Bautista is TWO years older than J.A. Happ? I'm not sure how I never realized that, but I would have certainly guessed the opposite was true. The southpaw heads into an option year for $6.7 million, which is one of the key decisions the Blue Jays brass will have to make this offseason as they try to keep a strong core together. Happ has done everything expected of him during his time in Toronto and I wouldn't be too angry to see the option picked up for the solid back of the rotation workhorse.
It also happens to be the birthdays of two former Blue Jays as well in Rajai Davis and Michael Young who turn 34 and 38 respectively. Davis has another year on his free agent contract with the Tigers for $5 million after having a solid 2014 campaign that included going 2-6 in the playoffs against Baltimore.
Another Blue Jays related birthday is Marcus Stroman's dad who turns I'm not sure how old and I'm not about to ask (justification in the photo below):
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD! That man is unbelievable. Without him, I'm not me. Forever grateful for his presence in my life! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BigEarl?src=hash">#BigEarl</a></p>— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6) <a href="https://twitter.com/MStrooo6/status/523828484091969537">October 19, 2014</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Fatherly love! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LaFamilia?src=hash">#LaFamilia</a> <a href="http://t.co/IA7jWsiAbJ">pic.twitter.com/IA7jWsiAbJ</a></p>— Marcus Stroman (@MStrooo6) <a href="https://twitter.com/MStrooo6/status/521393441864187905">October 12, 2014</a></blockquote>
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Happy birthday Jose, J.A., and Earl!