Happy Birthday Danny Jansen

Danny Jansen turns 28 today.

Danny is into his sixth season with the Blue Jays (well, parts of five seasons). We thought he would be a bat-first type catcher when he came up, but his glove was surprisingly good.

Last year his bat came around. Unfortunately, he missed time with a finger fracture, but he hit .260/.339/.516 with 15 home runs in 72 games. Danny’s off to a slow start this year, but it is early yet.

Happy Birthday, Danny. I hope it is a good one.

Adeiny Hechavarria turns 34 today.

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

After the season, he was part of the massive 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 he was traded to the Rays. From there, he’s gone to the Pirates, Yankees, Mets and Braves.

In 9 seasons, he played 922 games, hitting .253/.291/.351 with 37 home runs. Unfortunately, he never hit how we hoped, but he had an excellent glove at short.

He has played in the Japan Pacific League for the last two seasons.

Happy birthday, Adeiny.

Aaron Laffey turns 38 today.

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

He had an eight-year MLB career. He pitched in 156 games and made 68 starts with a 4.44 ERA.

Happy birthday Aaron.