Posted by Andy Spear on Wednesday, January 14, 2009 at 4:35 pm

Good for Rickey Henderson. He deserves to be a first time entrant in the Baseball Hall of Fame. I remember fearing him more than any other player, more than McGwire or Canseco when the Okland A’s faced off against the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1992 AL Championship Series. Though he was 33 years old and tens years removed from when he was casually swiping 100 bases a year, he was someone you didn’t want to come up because if he did he might get on and if he did he would wind up on second or third in a matter of pitches. That is what speed can do for a team. So with that having said where have all those speedsters gone? The Rickey Hendersons, the Tim Raines, the Vince Colemans, the Ron LeFlores, the Lou Brocks, the Maury Wills’? Players that considered first base a preparation, a pit stop as he prepared to start moving closer to home ninety feet at a time. Last year only two players stole more than 50 bases. Are there no more speed burners that are taking up the grand old game or is it something that scouts don’t look for anymore? I can’t believe that after all it is one of the five basic tools: hit, hit for power, field, throw and RUN! In fact presuming the so-called Steroid Era is indeed over Home Run will be down and is there anything more exciting to watch than a running baseball team? And can’t you more quickly develop a Punch and Judy hitting infielder or outfielder that runs like the wind? Remember Herb Washington never played baseball and yet stole 29 bases one year for Oakland and scored 29 runs.

And if ever a team could use that kind of player(s) it is the Toronto Blue Jays. The pitching is there, forget about the loss of A.J. Burnett, look how this pitching staff ranks in the AL:

Lowest ERA – #1
Runs Allowed – #1
Batting Average Allowed – #1
Hits Allowed – #1
HR’s Allowed – #1
WHIP – #1
K/BB – #1
K/9 – #1 (tie)
Shutouts – #2 (tie)
Save Percentage – #2

The Blue Jays need a team that can STEAL a run when they need it most, when their pitching staff is doing their job but the bats aren’t.

A couple of years ago before J.P. Riccardi locked up Vernon Wells I wanted him sent to the LA Angels (who ended up signing Gary Matthews Jr.) in a package that would have included Chone Figgins. That would have been my first move to transforming that team.

I’d love to see a track team wearing Blue Jay uniforms and have the manager hang a big green light from the roof of the Rogers Centre. If they did that I would definitely be purchasing my Flex Pack