You could argue that the foundations of this were laid much earlier in 2009 when then-new General Manager Alex Anthopoulos began the team's rebuilding phase by trading Roy Halladay for prospects, but I'm not here to give you a history of Blue Jays player transactions, I'm here to talk about the team right now.
So, the Blue Jays are getting more popular. People are wearing Jays caps way more. There's more people at the games. The atmosphere, while still maddening, is inching towards "baseball atmosphere". Being a Blue Jays is fun. In fact, I find it one of the most fun things about my day-to-day life. Not just fretting over a player's performance and wins or losses and the team's place in the standings, but loving the team. Loving the interactions between players. The more you watch, the more you get exposed to the team as a collection of individuals and you start to experience this weird ethereal attraction to the players, some more than others, but everyone in some way.
This is when being a fan truly starts to give back to you. For all of the time, effort and money you put into being a fan of a team, this is what you get back. Sports fans know what I'm talking about. If this sounds weird to you and seems like a shitty deal for the fans, then you just don't get it. The only way I can convince you is by having you sit down and watch a month of baseball with me and that ain't gonna happen, is it?
The Jays might have a chance to contend this year. They're right on the brink of contention right now, so if you're planning on being a bandwagon fa when they surge to win the division and he comes back to pitch, now would be a good time to get in.
I thought it would be fun for me to try to explain why I like the players on the team and why should like them too. To do this all in one post would be impossible, so this will come in small increments.
Reasons to Love the 2015 Toronto Blue Jays:
#1: Danny Valencia
Valencia was picked up on waivers from Kansas City last year as a depth move that didn't really shock or awe most Jays fans when it happened. He's a reserve infielder, which for the unwashed means that he only plays when one of the regular players needs a day off. The club kept him around this past winter as a depth piece and most Jays fans' reactions were "Mmm, yeah. Probably the right move." Nothing too revolutionary.
Now for some background, this past off-season a lot was made of the Toronto Blue Jays "team chemistry" with the manager and some players saying that the team was lacking this always incalculable and intangible quality. This was one of the elements that management wanted to change most this off-season. Teams play better as a team (derrrr), but making that happen is always a lot harder than it sounds. Bringing in Russell Martin and sending away Adam Lind and Brett Lawrie was apparently going to help all of this
Fast-forward to this season and it appears that this experiment worked. The team is play okay, 2 games above .500 and two back of the Wild Card (if you do not know what this means, they are "pretty close!"), but they definitely pass the eye-test on the field in terms of playing well as a team and enjoying being on the team and it seems that Danny Valencia is instrumental in all of this.
On every World Series-winning team, there seems to always be one bench player who boosts everyone's morale, is everyone's favourite guy and fills in in big spots when he has to. During the Blue Jays' early 90's heyday there was a group called "The Trenches" who filled this role. I would argue that Danny fills this role for the current Blue Jays team.
Example 1: God damn I love it!
First Jose Bautista got a pitch thrown behind him. That's an insult. Then he hit a pitch over the fence. That's awesome. Want to know what Danny Valencia thought about it?
Awesome.
He seems to be the first guy out of the dugout whenever anything awesome happens and is always the main guy doing something on the bench when ever anything happens.
Earlier this year the Jays adopted the "stirring" celebration that James Harden had been using this season. Whenever a player would get a timely hit or start a rally, he would stir at his teammates on the bench to get them pumped, show them that he's pumped, get the crowd pumped, etc. Guess who the guy to start it was?
Him trying to get Mark Buehrle to do it after the pitcher picked up a rare hit? Fucking amazing:
Who even cares what they're doing?
In terms of hard, tangible evidence of what he adds to the team, he can play at three positions, 3B, 1B and corner OF, and mashes left-handed pitching like few other players in the league. A .357 batting average! Or, if you're of the SABR nerd variety, a 152 wRC+, which is "I spend too much time analyzing baseball statistics" for "really good!".
And hey, he has an adorable french bulldog pupy that he constantly instagrams to boot!
Ever since Colby Rasmus left the team this past year, I've wondered who is going to be my new "guy", by which I mean a favourite player who isn't everybody else's favourite.
I think Danny Valencia might be that guy.
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