TORONTO – Checking his cell phone Wednesday morning, Jason Frasor noticed that he had missed a call from Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos.
Immediately, the club’s longest-tenured player he knew he had been traded.
"My phone was on silent or vibrate and I didn’t hear it," he recalled on his way out of the Blue Jays clubhouse for the final time. "I looked at it and then I showed my wife. I said, ‘Look at this.’ And she was kind of aloof, she was like, ‘Oh what does he want?’ I said, ‘We’re out of here. That’s it. We’re gone.’"
The right-handed reliever called his boss back and Anthopoulos told him, "I’ve got bad news for you."
"Where am I going?" Frasor asked.
He’s going home to Chicago, sent to the White Sox along with prospect Zach Stewart for Edwin Jackson, who was part of a package flipped to St. Louis for outfielder Colby Rasmus. The Jays also get infielder Mark Teahen, who has Canadian citizenship through his father.
The 33-year-old Frasor came to the Blue Jays from the Dodgers in a trade for Jayson Werth during the spring of 2004 as a timid rookie unsure of his place in the game.
He leaves as the franchise record holder with 455 appearances, surpassing Duane Ward with his 453rd game on July 17.
"I’m glad I got a chance to set that record," he said. "It’s something they can never take away from me, and I’m really proud of that record. I think it would be tough (to break) because relievers just don’t stick, you know? For selfish reasons I hope (the record) sticks forever."
Anthopoulos praised Frasor as one of the more real people he’s encountered in baseball and his pleasant demeanour will be missed around the clubhouse.
During his nearly eight years with the Blue Jays, he closed, set up, and mopped up, as a reliable late-inning arm. He married a Torontonian and his son Jackson was born in the city, too.
"It’s probably bittersweet," he said of his sense of the trade and his excitement at going to a pennant race. "Eight years man, that’s a long time. It’s hard to leave this locker-room, I made a lot of friends here, got a new coaching staff that I love. I really think Alex has this thing on the right track.
"I hope he stays this course, and I don’t blame him for making this trade."
Asked what he liked about Rasmus, Frasor said: "He’s 1-for-1 with a homer off me, so I really like him."
"It’s strange, I can’t believe it actually happened" he added. "It’s going to be alright I think. I can’t believe it is Chicago of all teams and all cities.
"It’s going to be hard to leave here. Of all the places I could have gone."
