All time Jays: CF

[JiriHrdina]

Who is the best CF in Jays history.

[JiriHrdina]

Should be a two-horse race, just a matter of who gets 1st and who is back-up.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Should be a two-horse race, just a matter of who gets 1st and who is back-up.

Two? Surely you mean one... hard to see anyone beating out Devo.

[KelVarnsen]

[sleepEZ]

Curious as to who you thought would make it a close race!?

[tvp2003]

Vernon Wells?

Wells has appeared on three All-Star teams in his career, been awarded three Gold Glove Awards, and one Silver Slugger Award. He is second all-time for the Blue Jays in career hits, doubles, runs, RBI and total bases, and third in home runs.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by tvp2003

Vernon Wells?

Yeah, I'm a little surprised by the voting thus far. Maybe people soured on Wells because his abilities were in decline at the end of his tenure in Toronto, but he was an incredible 5 tool player in his 12 years in Toronto (9 as a regular). White was quicker and had a little better defense overall compared to Wells, but Vernon did it all for the Jays for a decade. White only played 5 seasons, but won two championships with the Jays and was a good leadoff hitter with gold glove defense. I like White a lot too, but this should easily belong to Wells.

[Strange Brew]

Devon for me. The shaker is my backup.

[Enoch Root]

Devon White was a good player on a great team , IMO.

Like Delgado, Wells was working solo

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by sleepEZ

Curious as to who you thought would make it a close race!?

Moseby.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

White only played 5 seasons, but won two championships with the Jays and was a good leadoff hitter with gold glove defense. I like White a lot too, but this should easily belong to Wells.

I won't deny that timing has something to do with it... White was part of the most storied teams in franchise history... but peak White beats out peak Wells. The only aspect of the game that I'd rate Wells above White would be power. Longevity should count for something... but in this case it's just doesn't count for enough.

[Jiggy_12]

Shocked at this voting so far. Went with Wells

[killer_carlson]

Devon White was absolutely clutch defensively and with the bat in the post season. When it mattered most he came up with huge game changing plays.

His full sprint to the wall and miraculous catch in the world series was a play many players can't make or won't make on the big stage. My favorite bat story was when the other team brought in a relief pitcher to make him switch sides of the plate, and he proceeds to hit a home run.

[SuperMatt18]

Looking at the stats really can't go wrong with any of the 3.

White- 5 seasons- 22 WAR (Best Season- 6.3)
Moseby - 10 Seasons - 25.9 WAR (Best Season - 7.2)
Wells - 12 Seasons - 28.7 WAR (Best Season- 6.2)

Pretty close all around and really due to longevity it should have been either Wells or Moseby.

[Bobblehead]

For me it was a tough call between Shaker, Devo, and Wells. And while I think Wells may have been better, White as a integral member of WHAMCO and clutch post season play gave him the slight nod.

I'd bet many people had them as 1A and 1B; if everyone could vote for 2 players on that list that you would see a MUCH tighter poll result.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Looking at the stats really can't go wrong with any of the 3.

White- 5 seasons- 22 WAR (Best Season- 6.3)
Moseby - 10 Seasons - 25.9 WAR (Best Season - 7.2)
Wells - 12 Seasons - 28.7 WAR (Best Season- 6.2)

Pretty close all around and really due to longevity it should have been either Wells or Moseby.

Good summary.
For me Moseby has the tenure and was a core part of the Jays evolving from an also-ran to a contender. Those mid 80s teams with Bell/Moseby/Barfield/McGriff/etc changed the culture of the team and paved the way for the additional champion squads.
Wells was great, but those teams underachieved and he never seemed to be a great leader to me. I admit though my view of him is clouded, at least somewhat, by that terri-bad contract.

[SuperMatt18]

Wells and White were really similar at their Peaks in terms of performance.

White benefits from only playing his prime with the Jays, and playing on the two world series teams.

Wells gets discounted because he had some poor years when he was developing, and then his really bad years at the end when he didn't live up to that contract but at his peak was a really good player.

[Sylvanfan]

Yeah, with Vernon Wells I think the contract really does cloud how I see him. Really for the first 3-4 years he was very good. But when he got that big contract, and then they didn't move him to left field when his defence started to slip.

With Devon White, he almost benefits from the short tenure because he was such a great defender at the position and was good enough offensively. He also performed in the post season too, the only off series he had was in 92 against the Braves and the entire team hit poorly in that series. But from 91 to 93 he was 6+ WAR with his defence being worthy of the gold glove.

Moseby was also a pretty solid player at the position too. Although I don't remember enough about the pre-85 Jays to know him well enough, and 83-84 are when he was at his most dominant.

The ball park factor makes a difference too. The old ex wasn't as hitter friendly as SkyDome, and the other teams in the Division didn't have little launching pad stadiums either. Fenway and Tiger Stadium were friendly parks for hitters, County Stadium in Milwaukee was somewhat of a hitters park, and Yankee stadium had a short porch in right, but the alleys there were big, Clevelands old park was big, Memorial Stadium in Baltimore wasn't as friendly as Camden Yards is. Plus they were all outdoor parks in the North...which made them brutual in April, May, and late September.

[OzSome]

Originally Posted by Parallex

Two? Surely you mean one... hard to see anyone beating out Devo.

Lloyd Moseby says hi! Then he'll show up his championship ring.

I like Moseby but I have to vote for Devon White. He was so fun to watch playing CF. So smooth and so quick.

[JiriHrdina]

Worth a run off I think for back-up.