Today’s Blue Jays birthday trio brings together a former slugger who turned into a real force, a trade case that still makes you wince, and a longtime organizational hand who found his lane as a coach.
Teoscar Hernandez turns 34 today, and his time in Toronto looks even better in hindsight. When he came over from the Astros, not many saw a future built on big-time power.
Then he spent six seasons with the Jays and put up a .263/.320/.503 line with 129 home runs. That still leaves him 13th in franchise history in homers and 24th in RBIs.
The move that sent him to Seattle caught plenty of people off guard. Erik Swanson gave the bullpen a strong 2023 before running into trouble in 2024, while Adam Macko logged 16 starts for New Hampshire and one for the Bisons this year, striking out 105 and walking 35 over 93.1 innings with a 3.63 ERA.
Hernandez has been with the Dodgers since before the 2024 season. In three years there, he’s hit .262/.320/.462 with 74 home runs and picked up two World Series rings. A third one looks a lot less likely this year unless Los Angeles can pull off a major turnaround against the Brewers.
Today is also Carlos Garcia’s 59th birthday, and his lone season in Toronto is remembered for all the wrong reasons. The Jays landed Garcia, Orlando Merced, and Dan Plasac from the Pirates in November 1996.
Brandon Cromer, Jose Pett, and Jose Silva went the other way at first, then Mike Halperin, Abraham Nunez, and Craig Wilson were added in December to finish the deal. For the record, I was never a fan of then-GM Gord Ash.
Garcia played 103 games in 1997, mostly at second base, and hit .220/.253/.309 with three home runs, 29 runs, 23 RBIs, and 11 steals. The defense didn’t help much either, and the Jays paid $2.55 million for that season. By WAR, it ranked among the worst years by a non-pitcher in team history.
His Toronto stint didn’t lead to a rebound. Afterward, Garcia signed with the Angels and hit just .143 in 40 at-bats, then struggled again in San Diego before leaving the game not long after. His best big-league season came as a rookie with Pittsburgh, when he hit .269/.316/.399, including 12 home runs and 47 RBIs in 1993.
The players Toronto sent to Pittsburgh each carved out different paths. Craig Wilson went on to play seven MLB seasons, six of them with the Pirates, and finished at .262/.353/.474 with 99 home runs.
His top year came in 2004, when he played 155 games and posted a .264/.354/.499 line with 29 homers. Abraham Nunez lasted 12 seasons in the majors and spent eight with Pittsburgh, hitting .242/.313/.314 over 1,030 games as a utility infielder.
Jose Silva pitched in seven big-league seasons and finished 25-28 with a 5.41 ERA in 154 games, 53 of them starts.
Chad Mottola turns 55 today, and his baseball story is built on persistence. As a player, he appeared in 59 MLB games across five seasons, including 13 with the Blue Jays.
Most of his career was spent in the minors, and in 2007, his final season there, he was with Triple-A for Toronto and hit .267/.324/.467. At 35, he started moving into coaching.
That transition stuck. He became the Gulf Coast League Jays’ hitting coach in 2008, moved to roving minor league hitting coach in 2009, and then coached hitters for the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s from 2010 to 2012. In 2011, he received the Bobby Mattick Award for excellence in player development.
Toronto promoted him to the major league staff in 2013, but he was let go after the season. One year he was praised as a miracle worker, the next he was out-the unpredictable life of a coach.
In Other News...
Blue Jays Fans Can Experience Rogers Centre In A Way Never Offered
Rogers Centre is getting a winter makeover in January, when the home of the Blue Jays will be turned into a temporary golf driving range. The unusual setup will give fans a chance to see the ballpark from a different angle, with golfers teeing off from the 500-level and tickets available for those who want to take part in the experience.
The event is part of Upper Deck Golf, which is bringing its concept north of the border for the first time. For Blue Jays fans, it is a rare off-season way to step inside the stadium and take swings in a setting usually reserved for baseball, with the full details of the format set for later this winter. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Fans Will Recognize How Brewers Just Got To Blake Snell
Blake Snell had barely settled in when Milwaukee made its message clear in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series. Jackson Chourio jumped on the first pitch he saw from the Dodgers left-hander and sent it out, a start that had a familiar feel for anyone in Toronto who watched Snell work in last years postseason. The Brewers kept the pressure on from there and went on to beat Los Angeles 6-2, putting the Dodgers in a deep hole in the series.
For Blue Jays fans, the striking part was not just the result but the way Milwaukee attacked Snell early and kept forcing him into uncomfortable moments. The Dodgers have now dropped three straight in the NLCS, and Snells recent playoff struggles were back in focus as the Brewers kept adding to the damage. It was the kind of October reminder Toronto followers know well: once a lineup gets a read on Snell, the first mistake can snowball fast. [Read more 🡒]
Blue Jays Still Need Vladimir Guerrero Jr. To Answer One Huge Question
Vladimir Guerrero Jr.s 2026 season ended with more questions than answers for the Blue Jays, who were left trying to pick through the wreckage of the clubs worst offensive showing of the year. Guerrero, usually the middle-order bat Toronto can build around, never found his rhythm at the plate and looked far too often like a hitter searching for timing and confidence rather than dictating at-bats.
Now the focus shifts to what comes next, and whether a postseason procedure can help clear up some of what bothered him throughout the year. Toronto has watched other clubs keep playing deep into October with stars carrying the load, while the Blue Jays are left hoping Guerrero can rediscover the force that makes their lineup work in the first place. The next answer matters because if he is not right, the lineup still has a long way to go. [Read more 🡒]