2006 Toronto Blue Jays Season Preview

There's been a lot of hype surrounding the Blue Jays ever since the team acquired B.J. Ryan and A.J. Burnett for a whole lot of money (combined $102 million, if I'm not mistaken), and many prognosticators are picking the team to seriously threaten the Red Sox and Yankees for the division. I'm very cautiously optimistic that the Jays will actually be in the running for a playoff spot. However, it comes down to avoiding injuries and having every player perform to the best of their abilities, which is definitely easier said than done. Having a great won-lost record within the AL East will be the key to victory for Toronto. A quick look at their opponents: first, the Jays proved that they could beat the Red Sox, and they'll have to do the same thing in 2006. Second, the Yankees will prove to be the huge obstacle. That batting lineup is superb, top to bottom. Finally, if the Jays can't beat Tampa Bay and Baltimore, they don't deserve to make the playoffs.

Now it's time to examine the Blue Jays, position by position. :) Let's start with first base, and Lyle Overbay. Sure, the guy is a doubles hitter that will remind no one of King Carlos, but he's a solid if unspectacular defender and is an upgrade offensively over what Hinske accomplished last year. I won't miss Hinske's awful miscues last year at first base and instead I await his inevitable horrible outfield play. :) Aaron Hill must show that he can improve on his fine rookie campaign and be a satisfactory defender at second base - no easy task. In 22 games at second last year, he only made 1 error, which is encouraging. Hill will put up solid numbers offensively, so I figure there's no drop in production there. Then we have Russ Adams, our shortstop. There were many times when Jamie, Adam, Steve, and I would groan at his often terrible throws to first base, which led to his 26 errors in 2005. Ouch. His offensive production is sure to improve, given his talent, and at least I don't think he'll get worse as a fielder. Speaking of terrible defense, a quick look at the career numbers of Troy Glaus shows a guy who made the same number of errors as Rusty. Glaus, in a full season at third, has never made fewer than 19 errors. Thank goodness for those power numbers that will make Special K a distant memory. :) Bengie Molina supplants Gregg Zaun at catcher, and will be solid both at and behind the plate. As for the outfielders, Vernon Wells in centre field is a Gold Glove winner and a solid power hitter who should at the very least maintain his numbers from last year. Frank Catalanotto and Reed Johnson should continue to have success platooning in left field, but the real question for this year is whether or not Alex Rios will be able to shrug off last season and become more consistent at the plate. Eric Hinske will be desperate for playing time, and might very well push Rios out of the way in right field if he gets on a hot streak early. John McDonald will fill in well again as a reserve infielder.

Now for the pitchers, beginning with the rotation: Roy Halladay will pick up where he left off last year when the hated Kevin Mench ended his season. I think Mench is going to get some serious chin music if Doc pitches against Texas this year. I'm so glad the Jays extended Halladay's contract, we'll have a Cy Young candidate for another 3 years for sure. A.J. Burnett as a Marlin was either brilliant, horrible, or injured. I hope he's not injured (though it's not looking good early on) and if he's healthy, Brad Arnsberg might just make him a 15 game winner. Ted Lilly really needs to have a good season this year if the Jays are to contend, and since he's actually healthy for the beginning of the season (unlike the last two years), he might finally win more than 12 games. Josh Towers will throw strikes and have both some really bad outings and games where he'll throw 8 innings of shutout ball. I just hope he can replicate last year's numbers, in which case Toronto will be in good shape. Gustavo Chacin will face a real test this year in his sophomore campaign, as the opposing hitters will have adjusted. But if he can locate his pitches, he should still win 13 games like last year. If our rotation can stay healthy, it's easily the best in the division. In B.J. Ryan we finally have a dependable closer, replacing Miguel Batista, who leaves Toronto with a 15-21 record, and 36 saves in 44 opportunities. After last season's second half choke, I won't miss the guy. :) The rest of the bullpen stacks up really well with dependable relievers like Jason Frasor, Justin Speier, Scott Schoenweis, and Vinnie Chulk. Scott Downs and Pete Walker should fit in nicely as long relievers/spot starters.

Well, after writing all this stuff, I'm excited for the games to begin. We've got a shot at contending! :) Given my work schedule, the only game in the first homestand I'll get to see is the Saturday, April 8th game against Tampa Bay. Oh well, I've got the Lord of the Rings on the 1st to keep me distracted. :)

This One's For Paul, and perhaps others...

This has been some impressive procrastinating, even for me. At least I rid myself of a cover letter that never should have been posted on my blog. :) Anyway, I've had a couple requests for my thoughts about the Toronto Blue Jays' 2005 season, since the start of 2006 regular season is just over a week away (can't wait until my Toronto Star season pass arrives!). I'll get to my thoughts on the season that was in just a bit. [Non sequitur - as I write this entry, I'm listening to Max Trax Rock on Rogers Digital Cable, and Control by Puddle of Mudd starts playing. This brings back fond memories of Steve Johns and Paul Hatcher mercilessly mocking the video when it was brand new some years ago.] I'm not sure about the request from Paul to do a full review of the Revenge of the Sith special features disc. I mean, it's awesome, but to review every part of it would be exhausting. Here's the brief synopsis - the web documentaries I'd seen when they were originally posted since I'm a member of Hyperspace, so that was nothing new, but now I can watch the Becoming Sidious one over and over. Superb. :) The deleted scenes were very good, but they always seem to leave me wanting more. The Padme story arc was decent, but I like the movie without it - except for the guy playing Fang Zar - cool voice, indeed. And it would have been nice to see Mon Mothma in the actual film, but when I think about it, she has almost no screen time in Return of the Jedi, either. :) The DVD documentaries are great, but they're too long to review. :)

The Toronto Blue Jays' 2005 campaign was a welcome return to competitive baseball after the 67-94 disappointment that was 2004 (At least it wasn't as bad as 1995, a horrible 56-88 record). The Jays' 2005 record of 80-82 would definitely have been improved if not for one Kevin Mench injuring our ace pitcher. I'm so ready to rain insults on Mench this year when the Rangers come to town in July. :) I was really happy with Shea Hillenbrand's season, since he came in and performed exactly as expected - solid batting average and similar power numbers to his previous seasons. Vernon Wells had a solid season, but we all know he's capable of more, and I think this season he will build on 2005's return to form. The team pitching in 2005 was so much better than it's been in recent years, with a great half-season from Halladay, and solid seasons from Chacin and Towers (despite that long slump). And then there was Miguel Boo-tista. :) The man had a great first half, but suffered a total collapse in the second half, and contending teams can't have closers do that. I won't miss the guy this year, I've got to say. I will miss Orlando Hudson, who was spectacular defensively again (Gold Glove, even) and had a solid season offensively. Aaron Hill is going to be great offensively, but he can't ever fill Hudson's shoes on defense. Much has been said about Zaunbie Nation's career year offensively, but he did a great job with the pitchers, which helped allow us to have a solid bullpen, with both Vinnie Chulk and Jason Frasor continuing to improve. The transition from Zaun to Bengie Molina should prove very interesting this year. My player reviews can't be finished without mentioning the Scotty Doesn't Know (pressure) pitching duo of Schoenweis and Downs. We got a steady lefty out of the bullpen all year plus a guy who filled in well as a starter and got a couple great 2-1 victories at the Rogers Centre in August. :)

2005 was so great since I got to go to so many games (37 in all, many of them thanks to Jamie) and got to be a part of so many great moments. The 18 inning game against the Angels was fantastic, and I can't forget the feeling of elation I had after that game. I got to see Aaron Hill's first major league HR against Baltimore, my first Opening Day, and Roy Halladay completely dominate the St. Louis Cardinals (as well as a couple other great performances from him). Getting to hang out with some true baseball fans (and they know who they are) and share some unforgettable times at Rogers Centre as well as the Overdraught Pub will be my enduring memories of the 2005 MLB season. I'll always smile when I think of things like those two women from Milwaukee who knew their baseball, the taunting of Ken Huckaby, and some shameful rocking out to Duality every time the often hapless Eric Hinske stepped to the plate. There are many more, of course, but this entry would continue, and I think I want to wrap it up. Perhaps next entry will include my musings about the 2006 Jays. Until later, thanks for reading. :)