Light at the end of the tunnel
The end is near – which is good or bad, depending on which side of the fence you sit on.
If you’re an eternal optimist like myself, you are looking forward to what next year’s possibilities bring for the Toronto Blue Jays. Or if you are more of a realist, you’re anticipating to the end of the season just so it will provide six months of relief.
With just over three weeks left to play, it appears that upper management is letting Cito Gaston run wild with the lineup in hopes that some of these September callups will find success and they can start putting the pieces together for next year.
ADVERTISEMENT
Even the snaffoo about mentioning how Rod Barajas probably won’t be back next year could be an indication that Paul Beeston is giving Cito free run for this last little while before the winds of change sweep through Toronto.
The big problem is that this team lacks a vision. It’s difficult for Paul Beeston to steer this ship to victory when he doesn’t just want to hand over the Blue Jays to somebody else only to have them run it into the ground. Technically, Beeston is in charge but it’s not “his team” so why would he put in a yeoman’s work when another president will take over and provide a completely new vision?
One thing’s for sure – this offseason will be very interesting. If all the pieces remain in place and Paul Beeston, J.P. Ricciardi and Cito Gaston are still with the Blue Jays in 2010, I’m afraid the team might suffer the exact same fate they did this year. On the other hand, if new management takes over and starts rebuilding things from the ground up, the potential for that could be very interesting. At least it would give us something new to look at.
The Scott Rolen trade brought us Zach Stewart, who looks like he has a ton of potential – so that was a positive. Rolen has barely hit anything for Cincy.
We should've got something in return for Rios, but we rid ourselves of 60 million over the next little while.
JP hasn't been that bad, he has made his share of good and bad moves but all in all he hasn't been the worst GM in the game.
If we lose Barajas? Oh well. A replacement level guy at AAA will bring the same amount of value (and WAR) for half the price.
Did we really expect to compete this year?
I don't expect Barajas to be back next year, it will probably be Chavez and somebody else splitting the playing time.
Honestly, I put the Blue Jays at an 80-82 record at the beginning of the year but it's been frustrating watching them tumble from the very top of the standings almost to the very bottom.