Well, well, well
The Blue Jays broke camp almost a week ago, and came north to the once again frozen tundra that 33 years ago saw them begin a journey that has seen them capture the hearts of Canadians, not to mention the two World Series Championships. This year is and especially was different than most. For more than half of the team’s existence, we as fans have had hopes and beliefs that “this year’s team could win it all”. This year the Jays left Florida with nary a soul talking about their chance at winning it all. Basically the common fan has given up on J.P. Richardi and the late Ted Rogers vision of building and re-building this team. The team’s lack of competitive ability, combined with the economic downturn, Jays ducats have never been easier to get. So it begins, 6 months of Bob McCowan telling us how lousy the team is, how crappy their G.M. is, and so on and so forth.Granted that we’re only 4 games into this season (only 157 more to go!!!), but are we owing anyone an apology just yet? I know it’s a long season, and teams get hot and cold at least twice each, but hang on. We wrote off the Jays collectively even though they have Roy Halliday, arguably the most feared pitcher in the majors, we have Vernon Wells, a Gold Glove centre fielder with a bat that at times is lethal. We’ve got the likes of Scott Rolen, Alex Rios and Lyle Overbay to name but a few of the bats. The Jays bullpen has been the darling of the American league for two seasons now, and there have been few if any major changes there. Which leaves us with a pitching staff that is obviously the bane of most fan’s existence. Gone from the starters of last season are AJ Burnett, the one season wonder and a couple of other guys – Gustavo Chacin has disappeared, oh so sad! Really this is an improved squad as I see it, this is money ball at it’s finest. Lost one 7 million dollar arm and found three 500K arms who will most likely not win 17 or 18 games, but likely will get those 12 or 13 you need. I see Roy with 20, 5 other starters through the year with 10, the bullpen with 20 and suddenly you have a team flirting with that 90 win season, which with a few lucky turns is a wild card birth. Am I dreaming? Well maybe I am, but stranger things can happen in baseball, just ask Jays manager Cito Gaston!
posted by G.M. Shier @ Thursday, April 09, 2009
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