Long Winter Ahead

Jan. 13, 2017

Happy 2017 everyone! Good to be back after being on a hiatus for almost 4 weeks. Just because I wasn’t blogging for the past 4 weeks doesn’t mean I wasn’t reading almost every post about the Blue Jays on any website and social media account linked to the Jays that I could. It may or may not have driven my wife a little bit crazy. If anyone was going crazy though; it was me. I’ll get right to the point about it. People were still losing their mind that Edwin had left the Jays, how our season was doomed and this was all Shapiros and Atkins fault.

Even Captain Obvious knows this isn't true.

Let me touch on that last point there. Yes; Shapiro and Atkins may have misread the market for sluggers but so did Edwins agent. That’s why the Jays moved on as quick as they did and why EE said no to the offer. They were both right and at the same time they were both wrong. Do you understand? Ya, I don’t either but lets just go with it and move on.

Can you repeat that again?

Technically; you really can’t blame Shapiro and Atkins for much this offseason. Sure, they haven’t spent on big names but then again; when Dexter Fowler is the top outfielder available; that’s saying a lot about the market. People are complaining that the Jays need relievers; sure they do. But relievers come and they go. The top guys stick around for an extended period but the rest of them have their ups and downs. That’s why when Brett Cecil; who was both loved and hated by the fans within a 12 month period; got offered $32 million over 4 years he jumped at it. And it’s the same reason why management has sat out in this crazy times with the though that: “That’s far too rich for our blood.” Other fans are saying: “Well we need to be making other moves like trading for someone.” That sounds easy if you’re playing a video game but this isn’t a game. And we don’t have the trade chips in the minors to make a move for a big name. You can blame that on wonder boy Alex Anthopoulos. He knew that he had one shot in 2015 to win the World Series so he went all in and traded away pretty much all of our top prospects and left the cupboard bare for his successors. However, because he got the team to the playoffs for the first time in 20+ years he’s treated like a saint; when sometimes it needs to be remembered he may have compromised this teams future for one shot.

How all Jays fans looking at our prospect list this year compared to 2014.

I completely agree with what he did. When you have a chance you take it. We did and it didn’t work out. We came close again last year and it didn’t work out. So now most of the core is two years older and we lost some important pieces over the last two off seasons. David Price, Edwin, Cecil Dickey and Hawkins have all left on way or another. Michael Saunders is a free agent and it looks like he might be able to be resigned at a decent price because his second half last year was brutal. That brings me to Jose Bautista. He’s still available and he’s still apparently in constant contact with the Blue Jays. Makes sense. He loves it here (so did Edwin); he’s a hero in the city and really; there are no other offers out there at this time. The problem is; is that the Jays seem more than happy to move on from him and collect the draft pick compensation for him. I do believe if the market continues to collapse the Jays will try to sign him to a multi-year deal but it’s going to be in the $10-12 million range over 2 years with an option at some point. That I can get on board with. If it’s more than that; I think there’s no way they make a deal with him. They’ve come this far and it looks like they won’t be pressured by the fans or any one for that matter to make a move.

That brings me to my final point. I had a very good discussion with a family friend the other day…to the point where a few others told us we needed to stop talking about the Jays and hang out. This person said: “the Jays owe it to the fans who have been going to the games; or they are going to lose all the good will they’ve built up in the city.” Now, this person has been a passionate Jays fan since they first were founded so his words hit a little harder than anyone I’ve chatted with on Twitter. My reply was simple; I didn’t believe the Jays should overpay 2nd tier free agents in order to make fans happy. In fact; if the Jays went out and signed every free agent available and missed the playoffs would those fans who demand the Jays do something still be there? Of course they wouldn’t.

Fans are fickle. They show up when the team is winning and find better things to do when the team is losing.

The one things that puts people in the seats as Al Davis would say is “Just win baby.” The ownership owes it to the fans to be competitive; I agree with that. Management is different; they don’t owe anything to the fans. They have to project whats going to happen 5-10 years from now. Trying to win in the present while building for the future. This team has a lot of holes; so do most teams to be honest. All the Jays have to do is win and all will be forgiven about this slow offseason. I want our team to win just as much as anyone reading this or any person that calls themselves a die hard. I also want them to be competitive as long as possible. Right now with the current core; I don’t see it. They’ve got some young pieces but not enough…so if it means that the upcoming season is played as a lets see how we do and if it’s bad we trade all our older guys to get way younger; I’m ok with that. Will I be happy about it? No; but I have to be realistic and it’s been to be proactive and start rebuilding before it’s too late and our team ends up like the teams from the mid 90’s to 2013. Not good enough to make the playoffs but not bad enough to get the top pick in the draft.

Oprah gets it.

With all that being said. Pitchers and catchers report on Valentines Day. That means it's only 31 days to go! So it looks like I'll be enjoying that day more than I normally would! Wait; that came out wrong...oh well.