Blue Jays At The Eighth Pole

Having now reached that not-so-important eighth pole of the marathon that is the MLB regular season, the Toronto Blue Jays are one of many teams floundering around the .500 mark, their true identity and worth still undefined. That’s not to say there aren’t any early observations to be made, so fear not, dear reader. What follows are some random truths and musings from their play so far.

The Running Man

The 2011 Toronto Blue Jays will send runners in motion whenever they damn well feel like it. They don’t care about the situation- outs, count, score- these are matters that do not concern them. All they want to do is disrupt and distract, keeping pitchers and defenses perpetually on edge, to the brink of paranoia even. If they also happen to steal a ton of bases this year, then consider that a happy by-product.

It has been some time since the team had the requisite number of speed demons to pull this off. New manager John Farrell can hardly be blamed for the aggressiveness on the base-paths when he has the wheels of Rajai Davis, Corey Patterson, and Jayson Nix at his disposal. With Scott Podsednik recovering from injury, he will only be another weapon in an arsenal of fleet feet upon return.

An Unbalanced Rotation

When you lose a starting pitcher of Roy Halladay’s caliber, the ensuing hole left behind can appear to be a yawning chasm. It should be no surprise that the Jays’ rotation is experiencing such a void. The good news is that Ricky Romero, who had a solid 2010, and Kyle Drabek, the primary man for whom Roy Halladay was traded to Philadelphia, appear to be a viable 1-2 punch.

However, that is where things get a little murky. Brandow Morrow is now back from injury and his track record would suggest that he could reliably fill the third spot should he stay healthy. Youngsters Jojo Reyes and Jesse Litsch have been inconsistent and expect GM Alex Anthopoulos to tinker with those final two slots should continue to be frequent hiccups.

First Base Conversations

Ever wonder what those first basemen talk about with runners? For the curious, here is an entirely imagined conversation with Blue Jays first baseman Adam Lind and Yankees speedy outfielder Brett Gardner.

AL: Can you believe they call that garbage a hit?

BG: They all count, don’t they?

AL: Whatever helps you sleep at night, pal. I wouldn’t be proud of a little bloop single like that though. That bloop single gives bloop singles a bad name. You know what I mean?

BG: Sometimes they fall in. Better than the ones I hit hard right at someone.

AL: Listen Brett, I don’t want to scare you, but these are the Yankees. They’re not paying you for bloop singles.  You will be shipped out of there in a New York minute. You get me? Unless you can hit a bloop home run, of course. Can you hit a bloop home run, Brett?

Play Ball, Blue Jays

Article first published as Play Ball, Blue Jays on Technorati. 

The Toronto Blue Jays will not win the World Series in 2011.

As safe bets go, that one has to rank up there with Gary Busey never being elected President of the United States. Or a Michael Bay movie having explosions. These are lightweight predictions from the Obvious Nostradamus. Which, by the way, is a great rap name, for anyone interested.

The Jays are trapped in a division where the deck is perennially stacked against them. For years, it was a two-horse race; the Yankees or Red Sox could reliably be expected to take the title. Now the Rays are considered a legitimate threat and even the Orioles seem to be making strides in the right direction. Nowhere else in the league will you find this caliber of talent grouped together.

It’s not as if you could call the Jays a bad team. Even with the loss of veterans like Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay, they still appear to be an improved squad, with plenty of undetermined potential. Last year, expectations were exceeded after winning 85 games, a feat that departing manager Cito Gaston could hang his hat on in the first post-Halladay season, and that new skipper John Farrell will have a hard time duplicating.

The big discovery, of course, was Jose Bautista, who lead the league with 54 home runs and was awarded both the Hank Aaron and Silver Slugger awards. Here was a guy that had been traded in 2008 to the Blue Jays from the Pirates in exchange for a player to be named later and had never hit more than 16 home runs in a year. That kind of turnaround does not happen without the guidance of returning hitting coach Dwayne Murphy, who helped the entire team become the league’s home run champions in 2010.

Because of the success of Bautista, expectations are understandably high for the array of new acquisitions by general manager Alex Anthopoulos. Speed has not been a large part of Toronto’s arsenal in recent years, however Rajai Davis now provides them with a legitimate lead-off hitter and base stealer, having nabbed 50 with Oakland last year. Aging power threat Juan Rivera hopes to join the home run party, while reliever Frank Francisco becomes part of a bullpen badly in need of a closer.

All optimism aside, the sheer number of changes in the Jays’ roster translates to greater uncertainty. Young catcher J.P. Arencibia has shown promising signs of growth, but is now tasked with making the difficult leap to the major league level. The starting rotation is fairly young and untested across the board, especially young prospect Kyle Drabek, who has large shoes to fill, indeed, if he is to is to live up to the legacy of both his father Doug and Roy Halladay, the man for whom he was dealt to Toronto.

Ultimately, the fate of the 2011 squad may hinge on two former All-Stars both coming off underwhelming years: Aaron Hill and Adam Lind. If they are able to rebound by putting up the good numbers they have before, there could exist the remote possibility of contending for the wild card.

But I wouldn’t bet on it.