AL East: Toronto Blue Jays
Posted by: Chad Jennings - Posted in Misc on Jan 22, 2010 
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Toronto Blue Jays
2009: Fourth place, 75-87
Key additions: C John Buck, RHP Brandon Morrow, SS Alex Gonzalez, RHP Merkin Valdez, 3B/1B Brett Wallace
Key losses: RHP Roy Halladay, SS Marco Scutaro, RHP Brandon League, C Rod Barajas
• The additions and losses pretty much speak for themselves. The players acquired in the Halladay trade will probably open the season in the minors, but I did include Wallace in this list because he spent most of last season in Triple-A. I’ve always (perhaps foolishly) liked League, but the Blue Jays swapped him for another hard-thrower in Morrow, who could work out of the rotation (something League could not have done).
Youth on the way: The two keys to the Halladay deal are Wallace and right-hander Kyle Drabeck. If they don’t open in Toronto, those two will open in Triple-A and could push for big league spots by the end of the year. The Blue Jays also have right-handers Zach Stewart and Josh Roenicke (both from last year’s Scott Rolen trade) knocking on the door, with Roenicke likely to open in the big league bullpen. Catcher JP Arencibia hit 21 home runs in Triple-A last year.
Experience on the slide: Lyle Overbay is entering his mid-30s, but he seems to be holding steady as a solid offensive first baseman. He’s not leading the league in doubles any more, but he’s still productive. For the most part, the Blue Jays have shed most of their veterans in favor of a youth movement.
Possible upgrades: Getting Dustin McGowan healthy might be a good start toward helping the Toronto rotation. The Blue Jays are also reported to be one of the teams that watched Ben Sheets throw this week. I don’t remember Toronto being linked to any specific outfielders, but there is certainly room to upgrade there, and there are plenty of options on the market.
• The term “rebulding” seems a bit misleading in this case. The Blue Jays won the World Series in 1993 and haven’t finished higher than third place since. Let’s just say they’re building, and they’ve been building for the better part of two decades.
Better than the Yankees: LF Travis Snider and DH Adam Lind absolutely crushed minor league pitching. Lind had his breakout big league season last year, and Snider’s could be coming this year. 2B Aaron Hill deserved the Silver Slugger last season, but I don’t think you’d take him over Robinson Cano. They do have the Garfoose, which has to count for something.
Worse than the Yankees: In almost every way. Without Halladay, the Blue Jays might not even be as good as they were last year. And that wasn’t especially good.
Yankees connections: Quick! Which team currently has LHP Sean Henn on its roster? You guessed it, the Blue Jays.
• I’m sure the Yankees would love to have Lind, there’s a lot of upside to Snider/Wallace/Drabeck and Ricky Romero won 13 games as a rookie. Ultimately, though, there’s no way you’d swap organizations.
Prediction: Fifth place. The Orioles seem to have more talent right now. Hard to imagine any way the Blue Jays contend this season.
Is it weird to say that I’ll actually miss seeing Halladay do his thing against the Yanks?
Bronx Jeers – YES! lol
Bronx Jeers
January 22nd, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Is it weird to say that I’ll actually miss seeing Halladay do his thing against the Yanks?
*************************
Yes. Yes it is. LOL I know what you mean, but you won’t catch me complaining that he’s out of the league!
In the previous thread, Tom in NJ reports:
“According to @SI_JonHeyman: Johnny Damon still talking with #Yankees, though “more likely” to end up w/ #Braves or #Tigers”
Who knows what truth lies in the heart of a Heyman tweet?
Bronx Jeers,
I don’t think that’s weird to say. Halladay is probably the best pitcher in MLB and although he owned the Yankees it was fun watching him work – purely as a fan of baseball.
Yankee Trader
January 22nd, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Erica-
Just e-mailed Johnny to initiate talks and come back to where he belongs. Even offered that the blog would pay the difference on what he was worth-NOT! Maybe A-Rod, CC, Tex, Posada, et al would be kind enough to restructure their contracts to get a Damon fund going to bring him back?
Hope you win your bet!!!
*************
Thanks Yankee Trader-
What you all don’t know is that I have a plan. I am going to win the mega millions tonight and then use $5 million of my winnings to buy Johnny Damon
Cincinnati signed righthander Jose Arredondo to a minor league contract with a ST invite in 2010, even though he won’t be able to pitch until 2011.
The Jays lost their only true stopper in Halladay. Hill, Overbay, Snider, and Lind are good players but carry too much on their shoulders. Vernon Wells is a mystery.
5th place is correct.
Bronx Jeers January 22nd, 2010 at 6:44 pm
Is it weird to say that I’ll actually miss seeing Halladay do his thing against the Yanks?
—————————————————–
Could see him in the Series. Can’t be much better than Lee.
“What you all don’t know is that I have a plan. I am going to win the mega millions tonight and then use $5 million of my winnings to buy Johnny Damon”
Gonna create your own version of Ice Capades huh?
The only good thing to say about Toronto in 2010 is that they still serve gravy on their fries.
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/new_york_yankees/
http://bleacherreport.com/arti.....-the-bronx
Johnny is with Jeter, A-Rod and CC this week.
Those must be the Yankees he’s talking to.
Boras semantics at work.
“Halladay is probably the best pitcher in MLB and although he owned the Yankees it was fun watching him work – purely as a fan of baseball.”
Considering there’s around 70 starting pitchers in the AL at any given time I considered myself unlucky as I always seemed to catch his starts as part of the Friday night plan.
I remember 1 particularly painful game with Halladay and Randy Johnson matching zeros until Hinske ended it with 1 swing in the 7th. You just knew the game was lost. Both pitchers threw complete games which almost never happens.
Then there used to be this beer vendor in the upper deck who would just stand in the aisle before the game and scream in fear “HALLADY’S PITCHING!!” over and over.
Eventually I just learned to savor the heartache and focus on the performance.
Dearest MPB Johnny Damon and Brian Cashman-
I appreciate both of you very much. However, its time for the two of you to come together and make a deal. Enough is enough. You are both perfect for each other and can each benefit from the other, but both are too stubborn/proud to make the first move. The good people of LoHud (and Yankee fans everywhere, but especially me) would like some resolution in this neverending debate and its time we got it. So please- lets just re-sign Johnny Damon. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.
Sincerely Yours,
Erica
Erica-
Maybe you can write one of the owners, attached their names along with those who run the team.
http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com.....p?c_id=nyy
For those of you who want Josh Willingham, Olney tweeted that he’s been put on the market and plans are to move Dunn back to the outfield.
Braves already have McClouth, Diaz, Cabrera, Hinske, Shafer and want to give top prospect Jason Heyward a shot in spring training.
Royals now are set at DH. Don’t see any other teams looking for a full time DH.
Tigers have- overpayed Ordonez, young Ryan Rayburn, Clete Thomas and are set at DH with Carlos Guillen, plus are dealing with alcoholic Miguel Cabrera and still need to go to arbitration with Verlander.
If the Yankees can go to 4 million with incentives, maybe Damon can be brought back.
Nick in SF….I’m on the overs ( 204 ) Knicks / Lakers……Has CB checked in lately ????
Correction: Toronto finished in second place in 2006
“Is it weird to say that I’ll actually miss seeing Halladay do his thing against the Yanks?”
No worries. Just tune into SNY and watch him do his thing against the Mets!
Wallace has a great bat.
He’s not particularly athletic though.
Nice job previewing the AL East.
does vernon wells not count as experience on the slide? am i missing something? he’s been pretty bad of late…
Watch out for Wallace – his bat is the real deal.
In 2008, the Blue Jays were a contender. They had Halladay, Burnett, Litsch, McGowan and Marcum in their rotation and looked like they were ready to go to the next level. Burnett left for free agency and Litsch, McGowan and Marcum, all excellent young prospects, got hurt. Then Halladay was traded for Drabek and Wallace. Does anyone know the status of Litsch, McGowan and Marcum? If they were to come back full strength, with Drabek and Romero, you’re suddenly talking about a team to be reckoned with. Not a contender yet, but far from a last place team. Wallace and Snider appear to be ready to contribute. Adding them to Lind and Hill gives you a potentially outstanding middle of the lineup. With Wells, Overbay and Gonzalez, all solid, you’re talking about Toronto throwing a pretty decent team out there. It’s a lot of ifs, but there’s also a lot of talent behind those ifs