Poll Time: Best Right Fielder in Blue Jays History

Devon White won our center field poll. To me, he or Moesby or Wells all could have been the right choice.

We’ve had some very good right fielders.

• Bob Bailor played 4 seasons with the Jays. He played all over the place, mostly right field, but he played every position but catcher and first base. He was a decent player, he would go on to have an 11 year career in the majors, but not the sort of hitter you would want in a corner outfielder spot. As a Jay, he hit .264/.314/.337 in 523 games.
• Jesse Barfield played for the Jays for 9 seasons. He was a terrific outfield, lots of range and he had a great arm. Add in a power bat and we had a great player. Hit .265/.334/.483 with 179 home runs in 1032 games . His best season was 1986, hitting .289/.368/.559 with 40 home runs. He was part of the best outfield in baseball. He won 2 Gold Gloves, made 1 All-Star team, had 1 Silver Slugger, and finished 7th and 5th in MVP voting. We traded him to the Yankees for Al Leiter, who had no end of blister problems with the Jays and then left as a free agent after he figured them out.
• Junior Felix, took over in right after we traded Jesse. Likely was brought up too quickly, he was just 21. Played 2 seasons for the Jays. Hit .261/.322/.419 with 24 homers in 237 games. He was part of the trade that brought us Devon White from the Angels.
• Joe Carter played 7 seasons with the Blue Jays. Hit .252/.308/.473 with 203 homers in 1039 games. Where you place him in the list of Jays great players depends on how much weight you put on the World Series winning home run. He was a great, fun guy, always smiling. We kept him around too long, but that really wasn’t his fault. Cito was loyal to him to a fault. Actually, beyond a fault. I’ve always thought the toughest part of the front office job is knowing the right moment to trade a player.
• Shawn Green was a Blue Jay for 7 seasons, though he only played 17 games over the first two. Hit .286/.344/.505 with 119 home runs in 716 games. Also stole 76 bases. He was a good defensive player too. He and Cito didn’t get along. Cito wanted him to pull the ball more. He came into his own after Cito left the team. He hit .278/.334/.510, with 35 steals in Tim Johnson’s first (and only) season as manager. The next season he hit .309/.384/.588 with 45 home runs. The next season the Jays brought Cito back to be batting coach and Shawn asked for a trade. I was pretty irritated, at the time, because I felt that no coach could be as valuable as a star outfielder. Shawn would go on to have 5 great seasons with the Dodgers.
• Raul Mondesi was the guy we got back in trade with the Dodgers. He played 3 seasons (well, really 2 and a half) with the Jays. He hit .251/.328/.470 with 66 home runs in 320 games. He had a pretty good arm. He wasn’t bad, but he came with a large contract and he wasn’t near the player that Green was.
• Alex Rios was a Jay for 6 seasons. Hit .285/.335/.451 with 81 home runs in 809 games. He made 2 All-Star. He made the mistake of signing a big contact and then not being great in 2009. The Jays put him on waivers, the White Sox claimed him and the Jays just let him go.
• Jose Bautista. Well, you know.