Yes and no.
No offense to Vernon Wells (or anyone from the 90’s championship teams), but Carlos Delgado is the best position player in Toronto Blue Jays’ history by a long shot. And maybe the best player as well.
Delgado’s 2000 season is drop-dead off the charts, and may be the best non-steroids-enhanced campaign ever by a batter (or at least among players not named in the Mitchell Report, I don’t want to be called naive or anything). That summer he hit .344/470/.664, while launching 41 homers and walking 19 times more than he struck out. He played all 162 games, and would do so again in 2001.
There’s no question that his skills have dropped off the table significantly since then, but he can still put up a .500 SLG and I believe would be a great bench player who occasionally could fill in at first base against lefties for Adam Lind. But it’s about more just his still-present tools. 2011 is likely his last season, and the Blue Jays should induct the Hall of Fame-hopeful into their Level of Excellence. He’s more deserved than most of the players currently on it, despite never winning a World Series or even playing in the post-season for Toronto.
Delgado wouldn’t really cost anything to start with either, it’s very likely that Minor League contracts will be all he’ll be choosing from in the first place. Alex Anthopolous has said that he still has some work to do regarding the Blue Jays bench, a Carlos Delgado signing would be a great place to start.
To continue reading this article, including why the author doesn’t believe the Blue Jays should trade for Michael Young, visit http://bttn.blogspot.com/2011/02/should-toronto-blue-jays-go-after.html. BTTN is a new Toronto sports site that contains tons of opinion and insight on the Toronto Blue Jays.
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