Jose Reyes hasn’t been a member of the Toronto Blue Jays since being traded to the Colorado Rockies in late July, but his former teammates haven’t forgotten about him.
As the Blue Jays celebrated clinching the AL East Wednesday night, several members of the team went out of their way to give a shout-out to Reyes.
On Thursday, Reyes congratulated and thanked his former teammates.
(Rough translation: “Congratulations to my brothers in blue for their division championship and thank you for always keeping me in mind. I love you all.”)
Reyes was one of the most popular Blue Jays in the clubhouse, and although the team got an upgrade at shortstop in the form of Troy Tulowitzki, it was not easy to see Reyes go to another team.
“He was more than just a part of [our identity]. I think he might have been the centrepiece of it. So, hopefully him leaving doesn’t affect us negatively when it comes to the chemistry and the energy here,” Bautista said back in July.
Manager John Gibbons added: “We’re going to miss Jose. I’m going to miss him, personally. I loved the guy. He brought a lot of energy. He showed up to play everyday. He had that big personality. He really liked it here and these are his guys. It’s never easy to be traded because now you’re uprooted again and you’re going to a new place. He’d settled in here. I think he really loved playing in Toronto.”
