Jays vet having Grand ol’ time

But outfielder aspires to win World Series

After a brilliant bigleague career, there is still one milestone that Curtis Granderson would love to experience. And that would be to win a World Series.

“I’ve been there three times, haven’t won it, so I’d love to get back there sooner than later,” the classy outfielder told Postmedia this week. “(But) that was part of my thing when I came here (to Toronto). This team was two seasons in the playoffs (2015 and 2016) and were a couple of pieces away. (I thought) if we could stay healthy, we could stay in the thick of it in the East, get into the playoffs and then from there it’s fair game for everybody.”

Nice dream, but the threetime all-star is not going to win anything with the Jays. Expectations weren’t very high in Toronto to start the season — not with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox re-arming like they did — but the results have been disappointinmouthwatering.

The Jays are six games under .500 at 40-46 heading into their tilt against the Yankees at Rogers Centre Friday night. The Jays sit 18 games behind the first-place Red Sox, who sit one game ahead of New York. Those juggernauts are running away with the AL East with playoff spots all but clinched and are two of the best teams in baseball.

The Jays? Mired in mediocrity with a GM getting ready to trade as many veteran assets as possible for as much controllable young talent as he can get. Injuries have been a major factor for the Jays’ deficiencies this season, but not the only one. The Jays simply aren’t that good compared to the elite clubs in the AL, which also includes the Astros, Mariners and Indians.

But it can be stated that Granderson has kept his end of the bargain when he signed a one-year, $5-million deal in the off-season. Heading into Wednesday’s game against the Mets, Granderson had gone 20-for-56 (.357) with five doubles, five home runs and 11 RBIS over his last 18 games and has an OBP of .356, the highest of all regular Jays position players. He also has nine home runs playing mostly against righthanded pitchers.

Even though the 37-yearold said he has no regrets signing with Toronto — in fact, the Jays did him a favour by offering him a contract after one of his worst seasons in 2017 — the front office would be doing the Blue Island, Ill., native a big favour by trading him to a contender, even if they don’t get that much in return. It would give him a chance to realize his dream of winning a World Series before he retires.

But it’s not like he’s actively pushing for a trade. Granderson has said that he’s enjoyed himself in Toronto and his bounce-back season proves that he still has some good baseball left in him.

“I remember coming here as an opponent and I always enjoyed it and was really excited to be here full time and everything has been, except for not having everybody able to compete, great,” said Granderson, who started his career with Detroit Tigers and has seen service with both the Yankees and Mets and for a bit of last season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The last two opponents for the Jays and their opponent this weekend all had Granderson in their lineup at one point.

“The guys here have been great. The front office has been great, the fans have been great and the city’s been great. If we had had everybody from Day 1 in the lineup until now, it might have been slightly different. But unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that due to injuries, which is part of the game. We’ve been missing key pieces from (Troy) Tulowitzki to (Marcus) Stroman, for part of it, to (Steve) Pearce, when he was here, to (Roberto) Osuna and (Josh) Donaldson. So these are five big pieces that when I signed here I was ready to go out on the field with them and compete.

“Injuries do happen. You try to go ahead and replace those players, but there’s nothing like replacing an MVP like Donaldson or replacing a guy of Tulowitzki’s stature or a guy who’s got 100 saves early in his career (Osuna) or a classic pitcher like Stroman.’’

The market for a 37-yearold outfielder may not be huge, but the way Granderson has bounced back this year, there may be some interest. And who knows? If the Jays do their part, maybe he can live out this final baseball dream.