The dude looked like a beer-league softball player: he was a balding, middle-aged, not exceptionally svelte guy. But he was a balding, middle-aged, not exceptionally svelte guy who could still crush the fastball. Unlike Frank Thomas.

I'll always have a soft spot for players who actually enjoy playing in Toronto and/or are Canadians - and Stairs qualifies on both counts. I hope he gets to strut his stuff in the postseason in Philly.

Good ol' Stairs.  Started in Montreal, hopefully plays another year and comes back in September so he can finish in Toronto. 

If it wasn't for Larry Walker he'd hold the record for Canadian born players in HR (252 vs Walker's 383 vs Heath's 194), be a close 2nd in RBI (859 vs Heath's 887 vs Walker's 1311).  He is 3rd in walks, 2nd in K's (to Walker of course), 6th in Slg%, 5th in hits (eyeshot of Puhl and Tip O'Neil - ie: under 70 hits away), 4th in runs scored, 3rd in AB's, 2nd in games.  Yup, quite possibly the 2nd best hitter out of Canada (Jeff Heath has a case but played pre-integration).

First off, I love Stairs' demeanour. He may not care about conditioning or whatnot, but he had a great attitude and still has some use and I could see him doing well in Philly's bandbox.

I know the trade is not official, but we are rumoured to be acquiring Fabio Castro, who, quite frankly, is pretty much the most redundant prospect we could have acquired. He has Davis Romero written all over him. I expect he'd be fine as a 3rd lefty out of our 'pen, but he's behind Ryan, Downs, Carlson, Tallet and D Romero. However, if we end up trading JMac/Eckstein and maybe D Romero (or even Tallet for all I care) for Brandon Wood (which I can safely assume will NEVER happen) then I suppose I'd be okay with these trades.

I've always had a soft spot for fellow Canadian and fellow New Brunswicker Matt Stairs. The guy went to my high school (Fredericton) a few years before I got there. When the Jays signed him I was overjoyed, and I enjoyed watching him the past couple of years. It's a shame his playing time dried up, and hopefully he can contribute something in Philly. Sad to see him go.

Matt was always a great hitter, but the highlight for me was the brawl against the Yankees last year where he circled the swarm on the mound looking for A-Rod. He bleeds hockey, even on the baseball field.

If it were up to me, I'd designate a special seat (similar to the Comfort Zone) right beside the Jays dugout and call it the "Matt Stairs Penalty Box".

What I remember most about Matt Stairs is how he kept surprising the skeptics and the stat-heads who dismissed him as an over-the-hill bench player.   When the Jays acquired him in 2007, and again in the early weeks of the 2007 season, he was widely dismissed by the experts who said he was a declining player, bad in the field and too old to be an adequate hitter any more.  They said he could maybe serve as a pinch-hitter or back-up DH, but that was all.  Instead he proved them all wrong, ending up as one of the best hitters on the team last season.   I like the fact that Matt Stairs showed the importance of a GM's good hunch.  Of course Ricciardi's hunches are often wrong, but he was right about Stairs.  Stairs' performance declined in 2008, but even now he is good enough to be targeted by a playoff contender, so it seems that he still has something left in the tank.   And of course I agree with everything that everyone else said about his great attitude and his perfect embodiment of the Canadian national character -- humble, down-to-earth and determined.

It's too bad Stairs never really got the chance to excel as a starter until he was 29. To be fair, it's not like his minor league numbers before that screamed top prospect, but he was a legitimately great hitter for a few years in his 30's. His 118 OPS+ is in the top-50 active, impressive for a 40-year-old. I'll miss his big hard swings most off all  - he was a welcome relief to watch earlier in the year, when it seemed he was the only one on the team willing to swing hard enough to even possibly hit a ball over the fence (even if he struck out). I hope he jacks a few more out in Philly and finds himself in the playoffs.

I'm not a Philly fan but I'm rooting for them to win the NL East and go on to win the World Series. I'd love nothing better than to see Matt park a few in the process.

Well, I'll tell you what, if Stairs really is a guy who didn't care much about conditioning, I'd like to get me some of that not-condition.  Guy is forty years old, has been essentially a regular for the last five seasons at least, and he hasn't been on the DL in four-plus years.