Former Yankee and Met Curtis Granderson is in his first season with the Blue Jays. He entered Sunday’s game hitting .236 with 11 homers. He took a few minutes with NY Sports Day to talk about sports in Canada and rumors about a return to the Yankees.
NYSD: How do you like life north of the border?
CG: I’ve always enjoyed it up there. I’ve always said it’s one of my favorite road cities, and now being there full-time it’s been really cool to just get a chance to be there for more than just three days at a time.
NYSD: What’s the biggest thing adjusting to?
CG: I don’t think there’s much adjustment considering I’ve been there quite a bit of time. From my first year in 06 to, even with the Mets we went there in interleague play, so every year I was going there at least once, and with the Yankees we were going there three times a year, so I’ve been there quite a bit. I don’t think there’s much to adjust to. It’s a good sports town. I think just if anything, I didn’t realize at the time that there is only one team in Canada, which is a good thing, so the fact that you have support from east to west and so many Blue Jay fans which is an exciting thing, not anything to adjust to, just really cool to experience and get a chance to be a part of.
NYSD: Is it new, because you’ve been in towns where football might be king, now you’re in a hockey town. Is that take some getting used to?
CG: No, not at all. I mean, like you said, I think it’s just sports in general, the fact that you have multiple sports to represent up there from MLS to hockey, basketball and baseball, I think it just gives fans an opportunity to be able to be supportive of their team. And a lot of sports that you mentioned are some where there’s only one team in that country on a side. The basketball side, the baseball side and I don’t know if there’s an MLS team in Vancouver or Montreal?
NYSD: Not sure.
CG: Yeah, not 100 percent sure, but definitely for those two it’s really cool to be a part, and obviously in hockey there’s a lot of teams in the country, but there’s a lot of people that are passionate about the sports and a lot of talking about it and definitely rocking the Blue Jays gear.
NYSD: Do you have a favorite part of Canada?
CG: I’ve only really been on the eastern side, so I’ve done Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto. So I’ve only been experienced that side. I haven’t had a chance to go to Vancouver yet, but it’s still on my list of places. I’ve heard it’s really good in the summertime, so I’m looking forward to it.
NYSD: Apparently a lot of players were sad when the Expos folded because apparently Montreal was supposed to be one of the great cities for after hours.
CG: Possibly. That I don’t know. I didn’t get a chance to experience that. But a lot of guys did, from stories I heard it’s supposed to be a good place. But at the same time I heard it’s hard to draw up there for whatever reason. Now, I have played in two spring training exhibition games up there and those games were attended very well. Now, was it because it was only two games and they knew they weren’t getting anything else for the rest of the season? I don’t know. But the two times I went, once with the Blue Jays, and once with the Mets, those were two good experiences.
NYSD: Is it tough, I know it’s part of the business, but is it tough if your name is maybe circulating and move again and the waiver wire, is that kind of tricky? I know you try to block it out.
CG: No. Not at all. I think the one thing that’s forgotten is I’ve only been moved one time throughout the course of the regular season throughout my whole 13-year career. So I don’t get worked up and start thinking about a lot of times where my name has been mentioned and nothing’s ever happened would be pointless and time consuming. So, especially looking at all the different things that were supposed to happen and done, it never happens. So until something does actually happen then I’ll talk about it then. But even yesterday a lot of people were mentioning, ‘Oh, the thoughts on coming back here.’ I go, ‘Well, I’m a Blue Jay right now.’ And ‘have you kept up with this team?’ No. Why would I keep up with a team I’m not on? I’m going to keep up with the team that I’m playing with and then there’s a team that we’re getting ready to play against and to focus on them, so right now we’re playing against the Yankees, so my attention is against them. As we get ready to go home to play Baltimore for the next three, then my attention will switch to them, but there’s no place to start looking at any of the other 29 other teams because I don’t play for them right now.
NYSD: The Yankees did get Happ. Having been a teammate of his for a little while, what makes him so good?
CG: I think he understands how he can get better each time out and the things that work for him and use those to his advantage. He does have a plus fastball. He’s able to locate it very well and I think he does a good job of reading swings, understanding, ok, I need to add or subtract, I can locate pretty well. And he does a really good job of just staying composed and staying confident, never gets too high, never gets too low. I think that’s what’s helped him, one, have a good season with the Blue Jays to become an All-Star to then become a potential trade piece that he’s ended up being able to do. I think he’s been pitching well here from what I’ve heard, and we’ll see him tomorrow.