Today in Blue Jays history: Jays trade for Marco Estrada

Four Years Ago

Alex Anthopoulos traded Adam Lind to the Brewers for Marco Estrada. I wasn’t overly thrilled about the trade, at the time. He appeared to be a kind of middling 5th starter/long reliever/swing man type. I expected a little more for Lind. I worried about Estrada’s tendency to give up home runs. The AL East seemed to be the wrong place for a guy who gives up home runs.

The next day we put up a poll and, well, most of us didn’t like the trade:

• Absolutely hate it: 21%
• Slightly unhappy, but willing to see what else we do: 49%
• Neutral: 18%
• Somewhat happy: 9%
• Very happy: 2%

As it turned out, it was a good trade.

That first season, Lind hit .277/.360/.460 in 149 games, good for a 3.1 bWAR, his best WAR number since 2009.

Marco started the season in the bullpen, then joined the rotation with the start of May. It took him a few starts to get going, (0-3 with a 5.02 ERA in May in 5 starts) but, after that, he was terrific. From June 1st on, he was 12-5 with a 2.92 ERA. In all, he had a 3.6 bWAR.

And Marco had a pretty nice postseason. He made 3 starts, went 2-1, with a 2.32 ERA. He came up big when we really needed him.

After the season he signed a 3-year, $39 million contract.

In his four seasons as a Blue Jay, Marco had a 39-40 record and a 4.25 ERA in 124 games, 118 starts. His bWAR totaled 10.4.

His first 2 seasons were great, third one was ok, with a bad stretch in the middle and this last one wasn’t good.

Of course, he was super in the playoffs. He made 6 starts, with a 2.16 ERA,

Lind has played for 3 MLB teams since the trade. He’s hit .270/.336/.462 with 54 home runs, for a 3.7 bWAR. After the Brewers in 2015, he played for the Phillies in 2016 and Nationals in 2017. Last year he played in Triple A for the Yankees and Red Sox.

I was, and will continue to be a fan of Adam’s. I wrote a goodbye post a couple of days later.

Also, four years ago:

The Jays exercised the option in J.A. Happ’s contract and then traded him to Seattle, a month later, for Michael Saunders.

Saunders played for us for parts of 3 seasons, hitting .247/.33/.451 with 24 homers in 161 games. He had the All-Star season in 2016, when he played 140 of those 161 games. That year, at the All-Star break, he was hitting .298/.372/.551 with 16 home runs. After the break he hit .172/.282/.357.

Happ had a rough time in Seattle, was traded to the Pirates, at the deadline, and he, with the help of Ray Searage, became a very good starting pitcher. After the season he signed a 3-year free agent contract with us. He was traded to the Yankees at the deadline this year. In the three seasons (including his time with the Yankees) he had a 47-21 record and a 3.44 ERA in 88 starts. He’s a free agent again this winter.

And they gave Melky Cabrera a Qualifying Offer. Melky ended up signing with the White Sox (3 years, $42 million, glad it wasn’t us). As a White Sox he hit .287/.331/.427 with 39 home runs in 407 games and was traded to the Royals at the deadline of the 2017 season. This season he played for the Indians, hitting .280/.335/.420.

40 years ago:

The Jays traded catcher Rick Cerone (with pitcher Tom Underwood and Ted Wilborn) to the Yankees for Chris Chambliss, Damaso Garcia and Paul Mirabella.

Cerone played 5 seasons for the Yankees, then went on to the Braves, Brewers, Yankees again, Red Sox, Yankees again and Expos. He had a good season in 1980, hitting .277/.321/.432, and he finished 7th in MVP voting. After that he was a part-timer for the Yankees for four more years.

Underwood had been our best starter for 2 seasons, and had a good 1980 season, for the Yankees, going 13-9 with a 3.66 ERA in 38 games, 27 starts. He had a pretty poor start to the next season and was traded to the A’s.

Ted Wilborn would play 8 games for the Yankees and never be seen in the majors again.

The big piece for the Jays was Damaso Garcia, he would go on to play second (and hit leadoff) for the next seven seasons. He hit .288/.309/.371 with 194 steals as a Jay.

Chambliss was a fan favorite for the Yankees. The Jays flipped him to the Braves for Barry Bonnell Joey McLaughlin and Pat Rockett.

In 1980 Mirabella pitched in 33 games, making 22 starts, putting up a 5-12 record and a 4.34 ERA. He had a rough start to 1981 and was traded to the Cubs.