Tom Henke should be next Blue Jays on Level of Excellence

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Tom Henke should be next.

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In truth, he should have been part of the Blue Jays’ Level of Excellence long ago.

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His story is not unlike that of slugger Jose Bautista, who was honoured Saturday at the Rogers Centre. Henke didn’t come from nowhere, but he was tossed away by the Texas Rangers in 1985. He came to the Blue Jays almost by accident, as free-agent compensation. They didn’t know at the time they were getting a franchise-changing relief pitcher.

He upgraded the team almost immediately upon promotion from triple-A, changing the way they could play, the way they could win and finish starting in the 1985 season. The confidence from a record-breaking season in which the Blue Jays won 99 games.

Henke saved 22 games in the first half-season in Toronto. In his last season, he saved 34 games — the Jays had a 49-8 record in games in which he pitched — as Toronto won its first World Series.

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Could they have had that run of winning seasons, culminating in the first World Series without Henke? Not a chance. They didn’t have a closer like Henke before his callup in ’85. He wound up saving 217 Jays games. That’s 96 more than Duane Ward, 113 more than Roberto Osuna and 128 more than Jordan Romano has now.

He pitched eight seasons with the Jays, and made the post-season in four of them. In games in which he appeared, the Blue Jays played .755 baseball, which is the equivalent of a crazy 122-win pace.

Like Bautista, Henke altered the way the Blue Jays played. He was less about swagger and more about quiet confidence and belief. He was modest and humble and thankful for all that went his way with the Jays. He was impossible to dislike. He was an all-time Blue Jays great.

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And his name should be on the Level of Excellence, right next to Bautista, who played his first game for Toronto 16 years after Henke played his last one.

THIS AND THAT

If Fred McGriff is in the Baseball Hall of Fame, why not Carlos Delgado? Delgado, who was bumped early from the Hall of Fame writers ballot, has a higher career OPS, a higher on-base percentage and slugging percentage than McGriff managed. In the average 162-game season, according to Baseball Reference Delgado hit 38 home runs and 120 RBIs. That’s compared to McGriff at 32 homers and 102 RBIs. McGriff played two more seasons than Delgado and wound up just 20 home runs behind him … It would also be nice if the Veteran’s Committee in baseball would take a sharp second look at Dave Stieb as a Hall of Famer. The more new statistics that come out, the better Stieb’s career appears … The Jays race with Seattle for the final wild-card playoff spot in the American League is about to get tense. The Mariners have 13 games against the three worst teams in the AL over their next 17 games. The Jays, meanwhile, play their next eight games after Sunday against playoff teams or contenders … Kevin Gausman has about eight starts left and a shot at the Cy Young Award, especially now that Shane McClanahan is out for the season. If the Yankees finish last in the AL East, that should hurt Gerrit Cole’s candidacy. Gausman leads the league in strikeouts. Zach Eflin of Tampa leads in wins. Gausman is third in earned run average, behind Cole and Nathan Eovaldi of Texas … Department of Weird Statistics: The Jays play .652 baseball when Yusei Kikuchi is the starting pitcher and .526 ball when he is not … This was Hall of Fame summer for Scott Rolen, who was a huge part of the Blue Jays in a most unusual way. It was Rolen’s injury in 2008 that prompted the Jays to acquire Bautista from Pittsburgh. And one year later, Rolen was traded to Cincinnati in a deal for Edwin Encarnacion and others. Simply put, without Rolen’s injury, the Jays probably don’t wind up with Bautista or Encarnacion … The Jays don’t need a new hitting coach. They need better hitters … Is there anything more meaningless than an obviously retired ball player signing a one-day contract to officially retire with his team of choice?

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HEAR AND THERE

A piece of cold reality in this odd Maple Leafs summer. Yes, adding depth with Martin Jones to their goaltending mix is nice, but if you look at this objectively, the Leafs rank no better than seventh in the Eastern Conference in goal. The top goalies in the East begin with Russians Andrei Vasilevskiy, Ilya Sorokin and Igor Shesterskin. Leafs have the fourth-best Russian in Ilya Samsonov. And that’s only if you rank him ahead of Sergei Bobrovsky, which may, in fact, be generous… I’m not sure why San Jose Sharks GM Mike Grier agreed to this aspect of the Erik Karlsson trade: The first-round pick he got from Pittsburgh was lottery protected. I would never have made the trade under those circumstances … Karlsson at 33, playing alongside 36-year-old Sidney Crosby, 37-year-old Evgeni Malkin, and 36-year-old Kris Letang is an experiment by Kyle Dubas that has just one shot at success. And Tristan Jarry has to be great in goal in Pittsburgh. He was pretty good two seasons ago. Last year, he wasn’t. If Jarry doesn’t return to form, the Penguins will not contend … True story: The Arizona Coyotes sent out a press release calling Logan Cooley the best prospect in hockey. Apparently, they’ve never heard of Connor Bedard down Phoenix way … Not sure I’ve ever seen a live game more dominant or perfect than Pavel Bure’s performance versus Finand at the 1998 Olympic Games in Japan. He scored five goals. He was absolutely electric. Almost all of them were highlight reel material … Still no word on the futures of unsigned free agents David Krejci, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews or Phil Kessel. At least two of them — Toews and Krejci ­— are likely to retire.

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SCENE AND HEARD

Bautista has nothing nearing Baseball Hall of Fame career numbers but he does have the credentials to be elected to the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame … Not sure what was worse, the suspension of Baltimore Orioles’ announcer Kevin Brown for reading a statistic, or the statement by Brown made upon his return which sounded a lot like he was being held hostage but that all was well … I liked Al Michaels’ take on the Brown suspension: ”I agree that there should be a suspension here, they should suspend the doofus (Orioles owner John Angelos) that suspended Kevin Brown.” Before this great season, the Orioles had missed the playoff in 22 of the past 25 years. All of them under the ownership of Angelos and his father … The offers keep coming in for Pascal Siakam, just not enough to make Masai Ujiri happy. It is hard to understand what the Raptors’ plan happens to be, or the big picture. Or small picture for that matter. The website The Ringer, by the way, rated the top 25 players in the NBA. Siakam was not among them. Soon, Scottie Barnes should be … If Twitter is now called X, what do we call a tweet? … Vince Carter is up for the Basketball Hall of Fame this year, and considering that just about everybody with a pulse who can play gets elected, I’d be stunned if he wasn’t a first ballot choice … The hardest Hall of Fames to get into: 1. Baseball; 2. Football; 3. Hockey. 4. Basketball … Blue Jays are the worst-hitting team at home in the AL with runners in scoring position. On the road, they’re third worst … I know Roberto Alomar’s name has been removed from the Level of Excellence. And still, we’ve never been told why. But I don’t like the fact that new Blue Jays reliever Jordan Hicks is wearing No. 12. Which was also Ernie Whitt’s number. Six other players have worn 12 for the Jays, the most prominent being the gentleman Encarnacion … Eventually, the NHL will have to announce who the five players are from the 2018 sexual assault scandal in London, Ont. Word around is that legal matters of consequence have prevented the naming of the apparent predators to date. It should happen before next season begins … Sometimes the pronunciation of names baffles me. Such as Karl Pilar being Karl Pee-lash or Iga Swiatek being Iga Svee-an-tek. Or even Brett Favre being Brett Farve.

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AND ANOTHER THING

I miss great nicknames such as Catfish Hunter, Mudcat Grant, Tiger Woods, Sparky Lyle, Oil Can Boyd, Magic Johnson, Rocket Richard, Goose Gossage, Pinball Clemons and Gizmo Williams. Even Babe Ruth and Yogi Berra from earlier days. Anybody besides Tiger have a great nickname today? … Carlos Alcaraz did not look sharp at the Canadian Open. He won’t win the U.S. Open if he doesn’t return to Wimbledon level in the next two weeks … Somebody decided that having the Canadian Open men’s and women’s tennis tournaments on the same week was a good idea. Somebody was wrong … Why hasn’t an American network stolen Caroline Cameron from Rogers Sportsnet? She’s that good … Another dumb idea: The date of the Canadian Open golf tournament has been moved to May 30 next year. Memo to golfers – This is Canada. Dress accordingly … Chad Kelly had a bit of a bum ankle but will start at quarterback for the Argonauts on Sunday night. If I were Argos coach Ryan Dinwiddie, I’d sit Kelly for a couple of weeks. With him healthy, Argos can repeat as Grey Cup champions. Without him, not a chance … Not long ago, Canadian tennis at the world level seemed so far ahead of Canadian golf. Now, with the men slipping and Bianca Andreescu and Leylah Fernandez just part of draws, Brooke Henderson and the men have moved back into the country club lead … Lots of love spread around about the passing of The Big Z, Zenon Andrusyshyn, who punted for the Argos for 10 seasons some 50 years ago. Anybody know who punts for the Argos today? And no, Hank Ilesic or Noel Prefontaine are not the right answer … Every author dreams of the kind of week Roy MacGregor just had. His newest book, Paper Trails, debuted as No.1 and No. 2 on the two most prominent bestsellers lists in Canada … Happy birthday to Jay Buhner (59), Hulk Hogan (70), Bobby Clarke (74), Shayne Corson (57), Randal Grichuk (32), Mark Osborne (62), Johnny Gaudreau (30), Rafael Araujo (43), Andre Thornton (74) and David Ayres (46) … And hey, whatever became of Carson Palmer?

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MANOAH’S MAJOR-LEAGUE FORECAST IS FUZZY

The question now with Alek Manoah is more complicated than ever.

Who is he and what kind of big-league pitcher will he be — assuming he will be a big-league pitcher?

That wasn’t even a question of any kind when this season began. He was a star bordering on a superstar. He was on the rise. He was the kind of overt personality that professional sport consumes in this and every era. He was a Cy Young finalist in his first full major league season. He wasn’t just one of the faces of the Blue Jays, but one of the faces and personalities of baseball.

And now what? Who is he and when will he next be a major-league starter of consequence?

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This is Manoah’s second trip to the minors in the past few months. The first trip was all about sending him into seclusion and recreating and rediscovering his greatness. In his return to the Jays, he never once looked like the dominant forceful pitcher he was a year ago. Now he leaves again, the Jays seeing what we all saw, this time to triple-A Buffalo, not in seclusion, but there for everyone to witness as the biggest name in the minor leagues.

You cheer for Manoah because his kind doesn’t come around very often. He doesn’t just pitch. He entertains.

He’s a personality. He’s both unusual and unique. And now his future is in some kind of doubt.

Will he make it back? Will he ever be the great Manoah again? He’s only 25.

Ricky Romero was an all-star at 26. By 27, he was basically done.

There’s no way of knowing what the future holds for Manoah, a pitcher who seemed indestructible not so long ago.

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