That’s Andy LaRoche. Andy.
Not the good LaRoche. Andy.
And according to a team release, the Jays have signed him to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.
LaRoche was last seen in the Majors in 2011 with the Athletics, playing below replacement level for 40 games, with a sub-Arencibia .293 wOBA and 93 wRC+. But hey! He hit left-handers to a .370 wOBA in 2009, and… also… y’know… uh… he’s entirely just minor league depth.
Which would be entirely warped if you’d been in a coma since 2008, when he was the “big get” in the deal that moved Jason Bay to the Red Sox and Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers (as Paul Swydan wrote about at FanGraphs in 2010, when the Pirates finally cut bait on the newest Jay Bison), but… is totally not at all warped in the slightest here in twenty-effing-thirteen, with his career wOBA and wRC+ sitting at .288 and 73.
So… yeah. Enjoy him, Buffalo! Whatever is left of him, that is. And hey, the usually-fastidious Mike Wilner tweeted that the club had signed “Andy LaRocke,” so maybe there’s still hope that it’s a different guy.
(No, really, that’s the whole post.)
Derosa’s competition for the 25th man job?
I must admit I didn’t think much of Andy first time I laid eyes on him; looked like a stiff breeze would blow him over. That was my first impression of the man.
I wish I could tell you that Andy fought the good fight, and the A’s let him be. I wish I could tell you that – but the minor leagues is no fairy-tale world.
Sometimes it makes me sad, though… Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some LaRoche’s aren’t meant to be major league baseball players. Their swings are too terrible. And when they get released, the part of you that knows it was a sin to put them on the roster DOES rejoice.
I caught Shawshank on tv the other day just flipping through channels and ended up watching the entire thing. Forgot how awesome that movie was
Andy used to be the good LaRoche when he was still a prospect. Then his minor league hitting never translated to the majors.
Fun fact: Andy LaRoche took Jose Bautista’s starting job away from him in August 2008, Bautista got mad, then got demoted, then got traded to the Blue Jays within a couple of weeks.
Every Blue Jays fan should love Andy LaRoche on that basis alone.
Better than derosa
Truth
Awesome! Thanks Andy
I remember when he was with the Dodgers and he was a very nice prospect….things change maybe he’ll platoon.
If the Jays can platoon 2009 Adam Lind with 2009 Andy Laroche look out!
+2009
Slow news day?
How many days until P and C report?
12 days till then
The sound of that is awesome. Baseball is just around the corner!
LOL RAPTORS
Clever girl.
Stop
Not a Jurassic Park fan?
Careful of EastTO, Reggie. That one… when he looks at you, you can see he’s working things out…
He only eat vegetables, but for you, I think he’d make an exception.
Apparently the Raptors did something stupid?
Remember that AA is the best
Ben Lindberg and Sam Miller break down each team on their daily podcast. Here is the Blue Jays edition, with Brendan Kennedy of the Star making an appearance:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=19529
This is not the Laroche you’re looking for…gahhh who am I kidding the shawshank joke was way better.