Forgotten Blue Jay: Shannon Stewart Returns to the Coop

And I thought it would never happen again.

I was too shy back in 1998 to approach this man for an autograph—after all, he's a professional athlete who had already made his way through about 75 fans, and I didn't want to fall victim a profanity laden tangent about how he's signed "so many autographs already today and the line is still two f%#!n' miles long."

I was always excited for the bottom (or top—you know, that whole "home and away" thing?) of the first inning because that meant that it would be my first glimpse of one of my favorite players.

I remember cheering a little louder every time someone hit a home run with him on base. This was long before I would have included it in a statistical category, and I was just simply happy that he was a cog in my favorite team's engine.

And then, I couldn't understand why he was traded—to Minnesota no less. Hell I almost cried. Almost.

And now that he's back? Sure I'm happy, but I just can't help but ask the question why the Toronto Blue Jays went out and signed Shannon Stewart. 

(With regards to the autograph comment though: I'm not insinuating that Shannon Stewart has a pirckly personality. He very well could, but as I said before, I was WAY too shy to meet him, and I was scared by the stories that I would see on the news, or hear from my friends about athletes going berzerk on fans.

Maybe I just wanted to protect my childhood innocence and not destroy the image of Shannon I had in my head of being a good-natured team player. That and I was a big wuss as a 10-year-old.)

The press release was issued early in the morning (so if I had decided to go bar-hopping last night, I probably would have come home to good news) stating that "Shannon Stewart is back with the Toronto Blue Jays after accepting a minor league contract and an invitation to Spring Training."

Now immediately, my mind shoots to injuries—in other words, who's hurt? Is Vernon Wells' shoulder flaring up? Did Matt Stairs lose his walker and isn't able to get to work? Did Reed Johnson's back dislodge itself again? Did Alex Rios run off to Aruba with my aunt who's down in Dunedin watching the team?

Immediatly, I found the answer to be no, however with JP Ricciardi, anything is possible.

(Remember last year? BJ Ryan's "back"? JP is probably sitting in his Florida hotel room cackling like mad as he holds down Vernon Wells saying "I know it's your shoulder, but instead of telling the media and fans about it...WE WON'T TELL THEM ANYTHING!!!)

With the frequency that this team gets injured however, the reason for signing Stewart could eventually become injuries.

Logically, there's no way that Stewart makes a healthy Jays team. Reed Johnson is getting paid $3.275 million this year to split time with Matt Stairs (for $1 million per year) both of whom will split the majority of the playing time in left field.

Unless Rios runs himself through a wall, he'll be locked into right field, and unless David Eckstein gets lost in a crowd, he'll be hitting leadoff—meaning that Toronto couldn't even try a DH experiment with Stewart at leadoff (much like what happened to Jose Vidro in Seattle last season). But it's not like the DH spot is even open for Stewart to try as Frank "Big Hurt" Thomas has that locked down for at least another season.

So let's look at the roster. The25-man limit on the roster means that it will most likely look something like this:

• Four outfielders (Wells, Rios, Johnson, Stairs)
• Four infielders (Rolen, Eckstein, Hill, Overbay)
• Two catchers (Zaun, Barajas)
• Two bench players (McDonald, Scutaro)
• One DH (Thomas)
• Five starters (Halladay, Burnett, McGowan, Marcum, Litsch/Chacin/Jannsen)
• Seven relievers (Wolfe, Ryan, Tallet, Downs, Accardo, Frasor, Jannsen/League/other)

The only way that Toronto can carry Stewart on their active roster (without injury) would be if they were to drop a reliever—and you tell me who you'd drop off that list.

So for Shannon, he will probably end up in the outfield in Triple A-Syracuse with Adam Lind, and await one of two things:

1) The September roster expansion or

2) An injury to one of the outfielders

Then the question becomes: Do you call up Lind who has had success in a limited role at the Major League level and is your projected starting Left Fielder come 2009? Or do you go with the hired hand in Stewart who is a veteran of thirteen MLB seasons with a .298 career average?

As much as it pains me to say, I'd rather see Lind in the lineup over Stewart. 

It's nice to have Shannon come back, don't get me wrong, but I can't help but hope that he doesn't see Major League time until September, because that would mean that the Jays have remained healthy, and a healthy Jays team means a competitive Jays team right? 

But as it stands, all things as they are, all players healthy; I just don't see an opportunity for him to make an immediate impact with this team.

Then again, I never thought Shannon Stewart would come home.