The intention was that he would be our fifth starter.Īnd that’s how the season started. He got an $8 million contract, with an option for a second year at $10 million and a $2 million buyout. The Jays signed Garcia before the 2018 season. He was informative and exciting and could be critical if the situation required it.Īfter 2012 he went back to working on the Astros broadcasts. Again, I thought he was very good at the position. In 1998 he became the Astros colour commentator for their radio broadcasts, and he kept the job through the 2006 season.įrom 2007 through the 2012 season, he did the same job for the Blue Jays radio broadcasts, working with Jerry Howarth.

Cerone and Ashby ended up traded, Whitt had an excellent career with the Jays.Īfter Ashby’s playing career was over, he coached and managed in the Astros’ minor league system. In the early days, we have an excess of catchers, one of the few positions where we had a few guys who would be good major leaguers: Ernie Whitt, Rick Cerone, and Ashby. He finished his career with an 11.1 bWAR. He was one of the better players on our early teams. He’d play in Houston for 11 seasons, hitting. And he wouldn’t pitch in the majors against after 1979.Īshby would play out the rest of his career with the Astros. In 83 innings, he allowed 97 hits, 14 home runs, 34 walks, and 40 strikeouts. Lemongello pitched in 18 games, making 10 starts in 1979, going 1-9 with a 6.29 ERA. He played in 11 games for the Blue Jays, 3 in 1979, and 8 in 1982, getting a total of 9 PA without getting on base. 177/.186/.208 and wouldn’t play in the majors again after 1980. 261/.333/.420 with 9 home runs.Īfter the season, The Jays traded Ashby to the Astros for Joe Cannon, Pete Hernandez, and Mark Lemongello.Ĭannon was an outfielder who would play 131 games over the next two seasons with the Jays. In 1978 he played in 81 games, splitting time with Rick Cerone at catcher. On the defensive side, he threw out 48% of base stealers. Alan would play in 124 games that year, hitting. He didn’t play in our first game, but he started game 2, batting 9th, going 1 for 4 in our franchise’s first loss. Ashby had played parts of the previous four seasons with Cleveland. We picked him up in a trade from Cleveland on November 5th, 1976, five months before our first ever game. Ashby was one of the original Blue Jays players.

Happy game rule 34