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A Critique of the Blue Jays 2020 Wall Calendar

New year, same fails

By Kate Stanwick
Tampa Bay Rays v Toronto Blue Jays Photo by Mark Blinch/Getty Images

Last year, I lamented the selection of players for the Blue Jays Official 2019 wall calendar. The players chosen were curious at best, and appear to be selected by someone who does not have any knowledge of the Toronto Blue Jays. Let’s see how that calendar shook out by the end of 2019:

To be fair, it was a rebuilding year and players were bound to get traded, but only having 3 out of 12 active players by the end of the year is something.

When I was home at Christmas, I spotted the 2020 Calendar, and I’m sad to report we are not off to a good start:

The Official Blue Jays 2020 Calendar

The players are a little hard to make out, so here’s a list:

January: Devon Travis

February: Kevin Pillar

March: Marcus Stroman

April: Randal Grichuk

May: Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

June: Brandon Drury

July: Danny Jansen

August: Ken Giles

September: Billy McKinney

October: Ryan Borucki

November: Lourdes Gurriel Jr.

December: Teoscar Hernandez

Let’s dig into these selections a bit. First of all, the players from the first three months are no longer Blue Jays, and furthermore, Kevin Pillar hasn’t been a Blue Jay since the end of March.

This year’s calendar included both Danny Jansen and Ryan Borucki, so it’s already significantly better than last year. It also includes Vlad Jr, so props awarded there as well.

Brandon Drury will likely be on the team until he retires, so that seems like a slam dunk. Similarly, Randal Grichuk has a large multi-year contract that will ensure a long tenure for him.

Evidently the final selections were made prior to the end of July, so Bo Bichette didn’t make the cut. Nor did Cavan Biggio. Trent Thornton was on the team the entire year and he didn’t make it either, but Devon Travis, who didn’t play at all, did.

Now that the Jays are (hopefully) moving out of the rebuild phase, there will surely be more than 3 out of 12 players still on the roster come December. Let’s have a poll:

Poll

How many Blue Jays in the 2020 Calendar will still be on the 40 man roster at the end of December 2020?

This poll is closed

  • 5%
    9
    (22 votes)
  • 12%
    8
    (47 votes)
  • 26%
    7
    (101 votes)
  • 31%
    6
    (122 votes)
  • 24%
    5 or fewer
    (93 votes)
385 votes total Vote Now

Poll

Who was the most notable omission from the Blue Jays 2020 calendar?

This poll is closed

  • 84%
    Bo Bichette
    (411 votes)
  • 5%
    Cavan Biggio
    (26 votes)
  • 7%
    Trent Thornton
    (35 votes)
  • 1%
    Rowdy Tellez
    (9 votes)
  • 1%
    Someone else?
    (6 votes)
487 votes total Vote Now

Which 12 players would you have picked to put on the Blue Jays 2020 Calendar?

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