A sharp-eyed contributor at FanHome noticed that there's some uniform-number switching going on with the Blue Jays. The official site's roster indicates the following changes:
Alexis Rios takes #15 from Tom Wilson, who adopts #9
Mike Bordick takes #16 from DeWayne Wise, who adopts #1
Jason Dubois takes #54 from Jayson Werth, who adopts #13
Interesting stuff. Generally speaking, the lower the uniform number, the more highly the front office thinks of you -- just check out all the NRI pitchers in spring training wearing linebacker numbers. There are exceptions, of course: Henry Aaron and Reggie Jackson with 44, Orel Hershiser with 55. But it's said that when Derek Jeter first showed up with the Yankees, the team knew exactly what it was doing when it gave him #2, the only non-retired single-digit Yankee number.
These may well be only temporary changes for the most part, especially since of all these guys, only Wilson and Bordick are likely to spend much time in Toronto this year. But I do find the pecking order a little odd: why would Rios, a minor-leaguer, displace a veteran with big-league time like Wilson? Why would hot prospect Werth lose his number to a Rule 5 acquisition? Maybe these guys worked out deals among themselves, like the player (was it the Rickey?) who bought the uniform number he wanted from a new teammate in exchange for a Rolex. Or maybe it's just administrative bumpf.
Anyway, the thing that really bugs me about this, and that caused me to post this in the first place, is that DeWayne Wise now wears #1. Nothing against DeWayne, but Blue Jays uniform #1 will always be and should always belong to Tony Fernandez, arguably the best player the system ever produced. Why doesn't the team retire certain numbers in recognition of the great players who made them their own? Maybe this is what that ridiculous Level of Excellence is supposed to replace, but that only makes the situation worse. I'll be having difficulty if DeWayne Wise posts his predictable .220 average wearing Cabeza's number this year.
Alexis Rios takes #15 from Tom Wilson, who adopts #9
Mike Bordick takes #16 from DeWayne Wise, who adopts #1
Jason Dubois takes #54 from Jayson Werth, who adopts #13
Interesting stuff. Generally speaking, the lower the uniform number, the more highly the front office thinks of you -- just check out all the NRI pitchers in spring training wearing linebacker numbers. There are exceptions, of course: Henry Aaron and Reggie Jackson with 44, Orel Hershiser with 55. But it's said that when Derek Jeter first showed up with the Yankees, the team knew exactly what it was doing when it gave him #2, the only non-retired single-digit Yankee number.
These may well be only temporary changes for the most part, especially since of all these guys, only Wilson and Bordick are likely to spend much time in Toronto this year. But I do find the pecking order a little odd: why would Rios, a minor-leaguer, displace a veteran with big-league time like Wilson? Why would hot prospect Werth lose his number to a Rule 5 acquisition? Maybe these guys worked out deals among themselves, like the player (was it the Rickey?) who bought the uniform number he wanted from a new teammate in exchange for a Rolex. Or maybe it's just administrative bumpf.
Anyway, the thing that really bugs me about this, and that caused me to post this in the first place, is that DeWayne Wise now wears #1. Nothing against DeWayne, but Blue Jays uniform #1 will always be and should always belong to Tony Fernandez, arguably the best player the system ever produced. Why doesn't the team retire certain numbers in recognition of the great players who made them their own? Maybe this is what that ridiculous Level of Excellence is supposed to replace, but that only makes the situation worse. I'll be having difficulty if DeWayne Wise posts his predictable .220 average wearing Cabeza's number this year.
