I fuck dudes.
In anticipation of the coming baseball season, we will be previewing all 30 teams over the next month. To see all of our team previews, please click here.
Last year the Toronto Blue Jays surprisingly won 86 games. That is not a typo. When you adjust those wins for the tough schedule the BJ’s played, they actually had the 5th best record in all of baseball in third order wins, which adjusts for strength of schedule.
Without question, the Blue Jays were one of the best teams in Major League Baseball last year. Unfortunately, they were stuck behind 3 (Boston, Rays, Yanks) better teams, meaning Toronto finished 4th in their division. So what has faggy GM J.P. Faggiardi done to improve upon Toronto’s already talented roster? In two words, very little.
Veterans: First of all, JP let AJ Burnett walk, which all things considered, might not have been a bad decision for a “small” market team. Burnett signed for a 5 years, $82 million deal, which was pretty much fair value for a talent like AJ but may have been a year longer than a “small” market team should go. No fault there.
Let’s look at who IS returning:
Roy Halladay – Legit. Awesome.
Jesse Litsch – Solid if unspectacular; good #2.
David Purcey – Pipe dream; sucks.
Casey Janssen – Inexperienced; probably blows junk.
Scott Richmond – Ditto.
The staff looks, no offense, pretty awful 3-5, and the hitting isn’t much better. The outfield (Rios, Wells, and Snider) will likely provide most of the offense. Hopefully (for Toronto’s sake) Scott Rolen can manage to stay healthy and add a few more runs to the putrid offense. All in all, Toronto will struggle to score runs. However, it’s not all bad news, as JP has realized how undervalued defense is in today’s MLB and stacked his roster with plenty of players who can pick it with the best of them. Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, John McDonald (or Marco Scutaro), Aaron Hill, Scott Rolen (when healthy), and Travis Snider (to a degree) have gloves that match up with any team in the AL. They will save plenty of runs and make up for the awfulness that is the Toronto offense.
Upside: Honestly, there is very little reason to think the Blue Jays can compete at all with either the Red Sox, Yankees, or Rays. Possibly the Jays will finish ahead of one of the preceding teams but to think they will beat two of them (what is necessary to make the playoffs) is a pipe dream comparable to Kobe thinking he can handle LeBron in a 7 game series. In an absolute best case scenario, young’un Travis Snider hits like a young Grady Sizemore and carries the Jays to an AL Wildcard. But would I bet on it? Not in eight million years.
83 wins. 4th place in AL Central.
The last BJ preview I had involved a dude in an alley off off broadway
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Mikenyc’d
I like BJ’s. I just don’t get them enough. My wife won’t recognize Steak & BJ Day, even though I celebrate Valentine’s Day for her. WTF?
I agree. No way the Blue Jays can compete with the Blue Jays
You mean Wednesday? You should trade her in. Get a newer, more efficient model.
Triston I have no idea what you’re talking about. That sentence looks okay to me.
/sly veteran move where I fix the sentence and pretend the error wasn’t there’d.
Triston, if you get steak and a bj every Wednesday, you are my hero.
Grady’s hurt.
My fiance loves my cock. Will this fade when I actually marry her?
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serious
83 wins would win the AL Central, lawya.
thank god we don’t have to worry about the blue jays, seeing as they’re in the AL East.
Must be the steroids
Was NickP drunk when he wrote this?
Don’t blame NickP, blame the copy editor.
/cthomas
Yes. He actually was.
/internal email’d
I will say that drunk NickP knows 10 times more about baseball than I do, well done!
i read that milton bradley got hurt yesterday. who had the over/under on spring training games at 1?
ark, the best part is that he hurt himself during a walk: