But What Do I Know? . . . Josh Naylor, John Upham, Devon White, Kirk McCaskill

December 29, 2024

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

Some Canadian baseball news and notes from the past week:

Josh Naylor says goodbye to Cleveland

On December 21, the Cleveland Guardians traded slugger Josh Naylor (Mississauga, Ont.) to the Arizona Diamondbacks for right-hander Slade Cecconi and a Competitive Balance Round B draft pick.

Naylor played parts of five seasons with the Guardians and had grown to love the city, its fans, his teammates and his coaches. He wrote a classy goodbye note and shared it on his Instagram account on Friday. You can read it below:

Remembering John Upham

Former big leaguer John Upham (Windsor, Ont.) would’ve turned 84 today. He rose from the Windsor, Ont., minor ball ranks to become a two-way player with the Chicago Cubs in 1967 and 1968. In 1959, he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies as an outfielder, but it wasn’t until 1964 that he started pitching professionally. On November 29, 1965, he was selected by the Cubs from the Phillies in the minor league draft. Upham made his major league debut on April 16, 1967. He entered a game started by Fergie Jenkins (Chatham, Ont.). On May 19, 1967, in his first major league at bat with the Cubs, he hit a pinch-hit single off Dodgers legend Don Drysdale. After his big league career, Upham settled in Windsor and enjoyed a successful teaching career. He also become a highly respected coach locally, provincially and for the national team. He passed away on May 22.

Happy 62nd Birthday to Devon White!

Former Blue Jays centre fielder Devon White turns 62 today.

So just how good was he with the Blue Jays?

This good:

– Five seasons (1991-95)

– Five Gold Glove Awards

– 6.3 WAR in 1991 (led team)

– 6.2 WAR in 1992 (2nd on team)

– 6.2 WAR in 1993 (2nd on team)

– 3.9 dWAR (defensive WAR) in 1992 (led MLB), best single-season dWAR in Blue Jays’ history

– 22.3 WAR in five seasons from 1991 to 1995 (tied for first in that span among Blue Jays position players with Roberto Alomar).

– Two World Series rings

Bay signed with the Mets 15 years ago

It was 15 years ago today that outfielder Jason Bay (Trail, B.C.) signed a four-year, $66-million deal with the New York Mets. Unfortunately, over the next three seasons, the Canuck slugger battled injuries and the New York boo birds before completing his big league career with the Seattle Mariners in 2013. In all, Bay enjoyed an excellent 11-year big league career that also included tenures with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Boston Red Sox. He ranks in the top 10 in most of the all-time offensive statistical categories among Canadian major leaguers, including fifth in home runs (222) and sixth in slugging percentage (.481), on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) (.841) and walks (636). For his efforts, he was elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.

Martin worthy of Cooperstown consideration

As noted in last week’s column, Jay Jaffe, a frequent FanGraphs contributor and advanced statistician, believes there is a National Baseball Hall of Fame case to be made for Russell Martin (Montreal, Que.). Martin’s name is on the writers’ ballot for the first time this year. You can read more about Jaffe’s case here.

In the meantime, here’s another impressive stat that boosts Martin’s case:

*fWAR = FanGraphs WAR. Here’s an explanation of how it’s calculated.

McCaskill signed with the White Sox 33 years ago

On this date 33 years ago, right-hander Kirk McCaskill (Kapuskasing, Ont.) left the California Angels to sign a three-year, $7-million contract with the Chicago White Sox. At the time, this was the richest big league deal ever signed by a player born in Canada. McCaskill, who had registered 10 or more wins in five of his seven previous seasons with the Angels, started for the White Sox in 1992 and won 12 games and posted a 4.18 ERA before becoming a reliever for the next four seasons. He retired following the 1996 campaign with 106 career wins and was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003.

Raines remembers Rickey

Rickey Henderson was the greatest leadoff hitter of the 80s, but Tim Raines, his National League contemporary, was right behind him. For a stretch during that decade, the two were perennial all-stars and stolen base champs in their respective leagues. Both have plaques in Cooperstown. Raines remembered Henderson, who passed away from pneumonia on December 20 at age 65, in an X post (below) on December 21.

Original Expo Gary Sutherland passes away

Gary Sutherland, the starting second baseman for the Expos in their first regular season game on April 8, 1969, passed away on December 16 at the age of 80. Expos book author and Canadian Baseball Network writer Danny Gallagher was the first to report Sutherland’s passing. Sutherland died from bile duct cancer at his home in Monrovia, Calif. I will publish a more extensive obituary about Sutherland in the coming days, but he batted .234 in 368 games in three seasons with the Expos from 1969 to 1971. He also suited up for the Philadelphia Phillies, Houston Astros, Detroit Tigers, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres and St. Louis Cardinals. He later became a highly respected scout for the Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers and Angels.

With Sutherland’s death, just two players from the Expos’ first Opening Day lineup are still alive: third baseman Coco Laboy and centre fielder Don Hahn.

A good Sutherland story

Bob Elliott shared this humorous story from Sutherland’s scouting days:

“Working for the Angels, Gary Sutherland flew into Chicago’s O’Hare airport for meetings. He was staying at the Hilton which is directly across the street from arrivals. 

He jumped into the cab and said, “O’Hare Hilton please, sir.”

Cabbie said, “Roll down your window . . . that’s it on your left . . . you want me to drive over there? You could probably throw a rock and hit it.”

Sutherland apologized to the cabbie — he had always stayed downtown — tipped the driver and made a hasty exit. 

Caissie dealt to the Cubs four years ago

It was four years ago today that the Padres traded Owen Caissie to the Cubs as part of a package for right-hander Yu Darvish and catcher Victor Caratini.

Chosen by the Padres in the second round of the 2020 MLB draft, Caissie (Burlington, Ont.) never played a game in the Pads’ organization before he was dealt to the Cubs. Since then, the left-handed hitting outfielder has played four seasons in the Cubs’ organization and established himself as one of the team’s top prospects. In November, he was added to the Cubs’ 40-man roster. The Fieldhouse Pirates and Junior National Team alum spent the 2024 season with the triple-A Iowa Cubs and batted .278 with 19 home runs, 75 RBIs and 11 stolen bases, while posting an .848 OPS, in 127 games. His 19 home runs were the most by a Canadian in the affiliated minor league ranks. His performance earned him the Canadian Baseball Network’s Randy Echlin Award, as the top Canuck hitter in the affiliated minor league ranks.

Please support my nephew in the Easter Seals Toronto Maple Leafs skate

My nephew Kalin Glew is raising money to participate in the Toronto Maple Leafs Easter Seals skate that will take place on January 23. Kalin is a wonderful, thoughtful and inspirational guy who has cerebral palsy. He has benefitted greatly from the programs offered by Easter Seals. All of the money Kalin raises for the Maple Leafs skate will go to support the Easter Seals programs. You can read more about how your support will make a difference and make a donation to Kalin’s fundraising page here.

Trivia question

This week’s trivia question: According to Baseball Reference, just five Toronto Blue Jays players have had seasons with an Offensive Wins Above Replacement (oWAR) of 7.0 or better. Can you name two of them? Please provide your answer in the “Comments” section below.

Last week’s trivia answer

The answer to last week’s trivia question (Who is the last Canadian to have pitched for the Washington Nationals in a regular season game?) was Shawn Hill (Georgetown, Ont.) on June 24, 2008.