Happy Birthday Danny Jansen

Danny Jansen turns 25 today

I feel sorry for all that players who are (most likely) missing out on a year of their short careers. But for Danny, the hope was that he was going to show us that the less than great offensive numbers from last year were because he was learning the pitching staff, working on his defense and all the other things that go with being a rookie catcher.

We felt he was going to be a bat first catch, with an ok glove. Last year he was a good glove catcher, who didn’t hit much.

He was having a great spring training, hitting .303/.395/.606. Now spring training numbers aren’t worth the virtual paper they are written on, but still we had high hopes that he would have a good year with the bat, and continue the great glove from last year.

Danny was our number 3 prospect before last season. In the write up I mentioned that PECOTA thought Danny would hit .237/.333/.412 with 14 home runs in 409 PA. I said I’d take the over. I was wrong. This year PECOTA though he would hit .234/.313/.419 in 280 PA. I would have taken the over again.

Happy Birthday Danny.

Adeiny Hechavarria turns 31 today.

Adeiny was a free agent signing after fleeing Cuba. He got a four-year, worth $10 million back in 2010. The team figure he would get to the majors quickly, but he didn’t hit like we hoped. He did get called up August 12, 2012. He didn’t hit much, his line was .179/.214/.231 when they sent him back down August 24th. But a couple of days later Jose Bautista hurt his wrist and Hechavarria was back up for the rest of the season. He would end up hitting .254/.280/.365 with 2 home runs in 41 games.

After the season he was part of the huge trade with the Marlins, which brought us Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Emilio Bonifacio and John Buck.

He played for the Marlins for 4.5 years then was traded to the Rays. From there he’s gone to the Pirates, Yankees, Mets and Braves.

In 8 seasons he’s played 895 games, hitting .253/.290/.352 with 37 home runs. He never did hit the way we hoped but he is a very good glove at short.

Happy birthday Adeiny.

Aaron Laffey turns 35 today.

He was a Blue Jay in 2012, playing in 22 games, making 16 starts. He had a 4.56 record. He signed with the Mets in the off-season and then we picked him up again on waivers. He made 1 start for us.

Career he had a 8 year MLB career. Pitched in 156 games, made 68 starts with a 4.44 ERA.

Happy birthday Aaron.