Saturday, January 11, 2014

Pre-Season Outlook: Toronto Blue Jays






















Batting Order: The Blue Jays have the most ferocious 1-6 hitters in the division, featuring an abundance of power with Bautista, Encarnacion, Green, and Delgado. Even though he's an OB 8, I think Cruz will be a stellar lead-off hitter, especially with his extra base potential. If he and Fernandez get on frequently, the Blue Jays could put up A LOT of runs. However, the bottom of the order lacks serious pop and could be the victim of many 1-2-3 innings. Overall, this lineup has enough elite power to keep the Blue Jays in every game and should compete with the Yankees for the most runs scored by an AL East team.

Rotation: Toronto fields a rotation comparable to Boston, with three tier 2s giving them an elite starting three. The fact that they're all control 4 is a little disturbing, as giving up charts is a real risk, but Blue Jays fans should be happy with a staff capable of getting them into the playoffs. David Wells rounds out the rotation, a solid 7 inning guy that should really help them rest a suspect bullpen against inferior number four starters.

Bullpen: The glaring weakness of the team, although they have enough arms to stay fresh. Billy Koch and Casey Janssen are both good pitchers, but it's hard to trust Perez and Camp with significant innings. Hopefully the starting pitching can consistently go deep enough in games to allow Toronto to avoid pitching either of those guys on short rest during the season.

Overall: Toronto features the second best batting order and rotation in the AL East in my opinion. That balance gives them a legitimate chance at winning the division and reminding Toronto fans of those early 90s World Series teams.

No comments:

Post a Comment