We get to witness history this year.
Coming into this season, Jason Frasor had appeared in 411 major league games, all with Toronto. That put him fourth on the Jays' all-time list for pitching appearances, behind Dave Stieb (439), Tom Henke (446), and Duane Ward (452). So far this year, counting today, he's appeared in 23 games, which brings him up to 434, still fourth. But once he appears in his 42nd game of the year, he'll take over the franchise lead for games pitched. Since he typically appears in more than 50 games a season, this should be well within his reach, barring trade or injury.
Frasor, a righthanded reliever, was acquired from the Dodgers for OF-C Jayson Werth (wonder what ever happened to him) before the 2004 season. He has led the team in saves twice, in 2004 with 17 and in 2009 with 11. His best season was probably 2009, when he went 7-3 with a 2.50 ERA. Coming into today's game he had a career record of 23-28, with 36 saves and a 3.67 ERA.
It's a little odd that Frasor is in position to set this record. He's not an overpowering pitcher, although he is a good one, but as a righthanded middle reliever (which is what he's mostly used as), you'd expect him to have changed teams more than he has; you wouldn't think the Jays would have hung on to him long enough to pile up all those games. But he is, in fact, the current longest-tenured Blue Jay. More to the point, though, you tend to think of a franchise's record-holder in a major category to be a great player, which Frasor, much as I like him, is not. He's a pretty good player.
But that's pretty cool, isn't it? When a guy like that can do something historic?
I want you all to make sure you've crammed this idea into your heads. The pitchingest pitcher in the history of the Jays, as of sometime this year, will not be the great Tom Henke, or the fan-favourite Paul Quantrill, or the old-school Jim Clancy, or the famous Dave Stieb, or the much-missed Roy Halladay. Jason Frasor will exceed them all.
Let's make sure we keep track of this. I don't want this achievement to go by uncommemorated.
Coming into this season, Jason Frasor had appeared in 411 major league games, all with Toronto. That put him fourth on the Jays' all-time list for pitching appearances, behind Dave Stieb (439), Tom Henke (446), and Duane Ward (452). So far this year, counting today, he's appeared in 23 games, which brings him up to 434, still fourth. But once he appears in his 42nd game of the year, he'll take over the franchise lead for games pitched. Since he typically appears in more than 50 games a season, this should be well within his reach, barring trade or injury.
Frasor, a righthanded reliever, was acquired from the Dodgers for OF-C Jayson Werth (wonder what ever happened to him) before the 2004 season. He has led the team in saves twice, in 2004 with 17 and in 2009 with 11. His best season was probably 2009, when he went 7-3 with a 2.50 ERA. Coming into today's game he had a career record of 23-28, with 36 saves and a 3.67 ERA.
It's a little odd that Frasor is in position to set this record. He's not an overpowering pitcher, although he is a good one, but as a righthanded middle reliever (which is what he's mostly used as), you'd expect him to have changed teams more than he has; you wouldn't think the Jays would have hung on to him long enough to pile up all those games. But he is, in fact, the current longest-tenured Blue Jay. More to the point, though, you tend to think of a franchise's record-holder in a major category to be a great player, which Frasor, much as I like him, is not. He's a pretty good player.
But that's pretty cool, isn't it? When a guy like that can do something historic?
I want you all to make sure you've crammed this idea into your heads. The pitchingest pitcher in the history of the Jays, as of sometime this year, will not be the great Tom Henke, or the fan-favourite Paul Quantrill, or the old-school Jim Clancy, or the famous Dave Stieb, or the much-missed Roy Halladay. Jason Frasor will exceed them all.
Let's make sure we keep track of this. I don't want this achievement to go by uncommemorated.
