Toronto Blue Jays

[Southpaw191679666239]

I don't know why, but my secondary team to loosely follow and hope they do well is the Toronto Blue Jays. Since I'm not a hardcore fan, I thought I would ask here and open it up for discussion.

 

Other than the stock answer of being in the wrong division, why is it the Blue Jays of recent years just can't seem to contend? Is it because they don't have a strong rotation? Weak bullpen? The offense seems to be alright at a quick glance, considering they have Encarnacion and Bautista. Are those the only run producers?

 

Is it because they can't sign the big-name free agent? Why can't the Blue Jays contend regularly?

[bcl412]

They've been pretty good for about half a decade now, for the most part. Most of it is their division but this year they had a lot of injuries.

[UMFan83]

When you finish at .500 or better 5 of the last 7 years and have no playoff appearances to show for it, you have to think that playing 18 games a year against each of the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays has something to do with it. In another division with weaker teams to beat up on, its possible they would have made multiple playoff appearances over that time.

 

For example, in 2010, the Jays finished 85-77, which was only good enough for 4th place in the AL East. They managed to go a combined 24-30 against the Red Sox, Yankees, and Rays. Maybe they go 30-24 against the top 3 teams if they were in the AL Central. Now they are right in the Wild Card race and not playing rookies all September.

 

There's a lot more to it I'm sure but that is the most obvious thing I can think of.

[toonsterwu]

I've always been somewhat partial to Toronto as well, having spent some time up there (although Baltimore/Washington are my secondary teams, having lived in that area for a large chunk of my life). I'm sure there are year-to-year answers that could be studied, but in general, to the best of my recollection right now, after Tim Wilken left, they had a stretch of mediocre drafts and several top guys never panned out (the one that stands out to me right now is Dustin McGowan. When you factor in the difficulty of the division, plus the difficulty in attracting top FA's to Toronto unless the price is right, it's a tough dynamic. They need to build from within.

 

I believe Anthoupoulos has them headed in the right direction, but this year shows how difficult it can be to "build the right way". He's done a lot of smart moves, but injuries, coupled with struggles by players, made it tough, particularly in a year where Baltimore surged. Right now, on paper, they need a lot to be competitive on the major league level, and I tend to think their system might be a touch over-hyped. I haven't followed closely enough to know what went wrong with Ricky Romero, but they need arms to step up.

[CubsWin]

I haven't followed closely enough to know what went wrong with Ricky Romero, but they need arms to step up.

Garza?

[bhogg]

they've won 2 world series in my lifetime. I have no sympathy for them.