Originally Posted by
Panekkkk
As a Toronto fan and local, I love the Jays, but by no means are they the best team in baseball. They have a solid rotation and their guys are hitting right now. What's more, is that they're winning games while Hill and Lind, their supposed core guys, are in huge slumps to start the year. Cito and his coaching staff really know how to teach guys to hit and the Jays have a great young pitching staff.
Where they lack IMO is in the bullpen. Gregg's pitching well but they really don't have any solid set-up guys. They may start blowing leads sooner or later.
The bats probably will probably cool down too. Bautista is hitting way outside of his career #'s and will probably regress, although he said he's completely changed his batting approach by getting set in the box earlier, which is allowing him to see the ball better. Wells is a just a powerhouse right now. I'm not sure where his production is coming from. Fred Lewis was an AMAZING addition. Jays always relied on Rios (or Scutaro) but we all know how terrible of a lead-off guy he was. Getting a solid hitting shortstop in Gonzalez was also key as the Jays have always lacked power at the SS. Even if the bats do cool down, it's likely that Hill and Lind will start picking things up as well. The Jays have really learned to attack pitchers, yet they're still managing to work high pitch counts.
You really gotta hand it to GM Alex Anthopoulos who has made some incredible moves in his first year.
By being in a division with the Rays, Yanks and Red Sox, however, the Jays are doomed to perpetual mediocrity. There's almost zero chance that they'll be ahead of two of those teams at the end of the season (but I have hope!). Jays stormed out of the gate last year and completely flopped after that. What's really separating this team from years past though is their ability to comeback and win a game late. It's really boosted their confidence. Too bad nobody goes to watch their games.
But I gotta say that they are really turning heads so far. They seem to be keeping their production up and their starting pitching is solid with Marcum and Romero. Imagine they still had Halladay!?