What a Difference a Year Makes

What a Difference a Year Makes

 

 

At this time last year the Toronto Blue Jays were projected as World Series favorites based on a major trade with the Miami Marlins. As we all know, that didn’t play out so well for the birds from up north. Fast forward to one year later, and virtually the same team on the field and most people will tell you this team is going nowhere, and they are right.

The competition from the rest of the division is fierce no matter what, but Toronto hasn’t done anything to upgrade their team. They were hit by injuries pretty hard, but even when healthy this team showed it was not very good. Banking on good health to bring you to the Promised Land when you’re mediocre at best is laughable. Something I said last year held true and I don’t see anything changing this year. They are counting on Jose Reyes, a guy who has had countless leg problems in his career to play 91 games on artificial turf and be a spark plug at the top of the order and set the table for everyone else. Not a good recipe for success from arguably your most dynamic player. Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion are being counted on to be the power source and run producers, which is not the worst thing in the world if one can stay healthy and the other wasn’t mini Adam Dunn (HR, K,or BB). 

On the pitching side of things there’s R.A. Dickey who cannot thank the National League and Citi Field enough for his inflated Cy Young winning stats. The A.L. East knocked him around last year and this year will be no different. Then there’s Brandon Morrow who may as well be the model for the MLB version of Operation. The guy has had so many injuries his Baseball Reference page links to WebMD. The team’s only saving grace is their bullpen which is fantastic, but will wear down fairly quickly from overuse if the starters can’t get anyone out. 

Toronto is by far the worst team in the A.L. East and there’s no sign of that changing anytime soon. Like their brothers in the NBA the Blue Jays are great uniforms and a bad product. However, unlike their brothers in the NBA they won’t be lucky enough to walk into the worst division in the sport.

We will be back tomorrow with a look at the New York Mets and Generation K 2.0. Be sure to follow us on Twitter @changingspeeds for all our coverage of the national pastime.