Toronto Blue Jays are the favorite to win the AL East

[Stocks]

Rotation:

1) R.A. Dickey
The feel good story of 2012. Here's the thing about knuckle ball pitchers, the knuckle ball is finicky. If it isn't on, it'll get crushed.
Don't expect 20 wins again, 15 wins at best.
Know this, even though R.A. won 20, his last three starts were far from stellar.
He is 39 years old.

2) Josh Johnson
Coming off a 8-14 record, with a 3.81 ERA.
WH/IP ratio is OK at 1.28, doesn't really strike fear in most hitters.
*off topic* How does he command a 13.75 million dollar contract this season.

3) Mark Buehrle
13-13 last season, good enough ancillary numbers.
Gave up 26 homers (too many)last year in a non power hitting division.
He's facing Cano, Granderson, Adam Jones, Markakis,and the rest of the AL east this season on a regular basis.
I think he gets lit up this year.

4) Brandon Morrow.
Nice numbers last season 10-7, very nice 1.11 ratio pitching in the big boy division.
2.96 ERA equally impressive
Did miss 12 starts in 2012 with oblique injury

5) Rickey Romero
Gas can.
Enough said.

Question marks?

Jose Reyes. SS
over/under is 62.5 games into the season when he goes on the DL with a 'hammy'
If Reyes goes down with a 'hammy' (and you know he will) Jays are stuck with Izturis at SS

Emilo Bonifacio. 2B
Nice utility player off the bench, not what I want as an every day second baseman.

Brett Lawrie. 3B
Terrible power numbers for a corner infielder.
On base percentage is below league average.

Colby Rasmus CF
Terrible batting average
Terrible OBA
He'll give you 20 homers, but doesn't compensate for a .225 batting average and sub .300 OBA, which is atrocious.

Melke Cabrera. LF
Before the juice he was nothing but a .270 hitting fourth outfielder.
You will not get .300+ batting average out of him this year, or ever again.

J.P Arencebia C
Light hitting catcher (.222 lifetime) with some pop.


Bautista is a beast, like Miggy beast.
Encarncion can go deep at will
Jansen was a reliable closer last season, let me see him do it again.
Sergio Santos will no help that bull pen though.

Will the Jays compete? Hell yes.
Are they a lock? Hell no

Spot on I'm a Jays fan and I think they're overrated, they brought in a few solid/good players but no super star type players. I will say this if the Jays stay healty with Bautista hitting 40+, Encarncion hitting 30+ hommers, Romero getting his shit together again and everyone else playing half way decent like they should be then I think they have a very good shot at winning the east.

[Spedizzo]

Rickey Romero can fuk the fuk off

[Pluthero]

Spot on I'm a Jays fan and I think they're overrated, they brought in a few solid/good players but no super star type players. I will say this if the Jays stay healty with Bautista hitting 40+, Encarncion hitting 30+ hommers, Romero getting his shit together again and everyone else playing half way decent like they should be then I think they have a very good shot at winning the east.

I agree with you; it's all about health. The injuries they indured last season became almost comical after a point. IF they stay healthy that 1-4 in the rotation is good enough for any World Series team.

[keyboarding]

With the age of that rotation and its injury risk, I'm surprised how few people are poking holes in the bullpen's middle relief. I expect a lot of close games to be lost between the 6th and 8th innings.

[Marigold HD]

I can't wsit for season now.

[CappinTerp]

You never know but I got them @ 13-1 to win the WS.......prob. will not happen but at that price I made a small bet.

[stevenash]

Interesting tidbit I just stumbled on

Brandon Morrow Posted an unsustainable 81% Strand Rate, lucky .248 BABIP. Don’t buy into the 2.60 ERA/1.11 WHIP.

[Sportsbetting123]

I can't see it happening but they do have some talent. We will see where they stand in 7 1/2 months!

[stevenash]

Ricky Romero
Ricky Romero was quoted on Thursday as saying his elbow feels "100 times better" than last year. Romero's performance last year fell off more than any other starter in baseball. He continued to get GB's (53.5%) at a strong clip, but his swinging strike rate dropped from 9.6% to 8.3% and his K% (15%) and BB% (12.7%) were both way worse than the league average. Romero didn't undergo any surgery on the elbow, so questions remain over how healthy he'll be heading into this year. Given how bad he was last year, I'm inclined to take a wait-and-see approach with Romero. We're currently projecting a rebound, but I personally need to see much-improved command from Romero in the spring before I invest a draft pick in him. Indicators suggest there's plenty of room for a rebound, but with no offseason procedures done on the balky elbow, I'm a bit skeptical rest will simply bring back the 2011 version of Ricky Romero.

[EXhoosier10]

Nash, can I ask where you're getting that info from? That's some pretty good analysis.

With regards to Morrow, that whole staff changed last year and admittedly pitched more to contact that in the past. Morrow's usual 10+ k/9 rate dropped to 7.8 k/9. I honestly don't know what to expect from him (advanced stats say ~3.6 ERA), but I'll be taking a wait and see approach bettingwise, probably ignore in fantasy.

No idea what to do with Romero. Worth ignoring in my opinion

[SteelRain]

i just can't wait for the season to start
i will probably go to the skydome almost every weekend to see the jays

[stevenash]

i just can't wait for the season to start
i will probably go to the skydome almost every weekend to see the jays

They'll compete,I'll say that much.

[stevenash]

Nash, can I ask where you're getting that info from? That's some pretty good analysis.

With regards to Morrow, that whole staff changed last year and admittedly pitched more to contact that in the past. Morrow's usual 10+ k/9 rate dropped to 7.8 k/9. I honestly don't know what to expect from him (advanced stats say ~3.6 ERA), but I'll be taking a wait and see approach bettingwise, probably ignore in fantasy.

No idea what to do with Romero. Worth ignoring in my opinion

I think I got that from BP, I have like 6 'go to' sources.

[OMGRandyJackson]

1) R.A. Dickey
The feel good story of 2012. Here's the thing about knuckle ball pitchers, the knuckle ball is finicky. If it isn't on, it'll get crushed.
Don't expect 20 wins again, 15 wins at best.
Know this, even though R.A. won 20, his last three starts were far from stellar.
He is 39 years old.

Jeez cmon...for someone as knowledgeable as you, you should know age is not a factor in a knuckleball pitcher. Also you have to realize his knuckball is MUCH faster than the average knuckleball, this can make a HUGE difference when its not 100% on. A knuckleball with heat is crazy.

And his last 3 starts where actual about his average? I dont know what your talking about there...

21.2ip 4bb 25k, 3hr, 2.69era.....

Only thing that was out of the norm there was the 3 home runs..

[TankHankerous]

My friend called up that fat penetrate francesa and told him toronto was the favorite. He's such a curmudgeon.

[Slimpickens]

Now 15-1 to win the east. Any takers??

[Aussiefalconfan]

Yankees will win it all