As we all know the Toronto Blue Jays made a few splashes this off-season signing free agent catcher Russell Martin, and trading for third baseman Josh Donaldson. They have also made some other pickups such as pitcher Marco Estrada, first baseman Justin Smoak, and left fielder Michael Saunders. These all look like great moves, but the team is still missing some key personnel. Right now, the Jays have a decent looking team on paper, but they still have some sizable holes to fill and general manager Alex Anthopoulos will need to fill them before the start of the MLB season.
The Blue Jays are have question marks in center field, the bullpen including the closer spot, and second base. Now remember this is the Toronto Blue Jays we are talking about, the team owned by a multi-billion dollar corporation that has put a bunch of restrictions on money, which causes many eye rolls when it is mentioned. Seeing as how Rogers just spent billions of dollars on hockey television rights its easy to understand why Blue Jays fans get upset with the budgetary restrictions on the baseball team. Overall though, the budget is what it is and it means that Alex Anthopoulos won’t be spending a lot more money this off-season, and cheap deals and trades will be key to filling the holes
Currently the Jays do have some options with second base. If spring training opened today, Maicer Izturis, Steve Tolleson, Ryan Goins, and youngster Devon Travis would all be competing for the spot. It remains to be seen if any of the first three have the talent to play every day, or whether Travis is ready for the big leagues in 2015. Moves for another infielder have been rumored though, and we’ll have to see if something materializes here.
Meanwhile, it seems that the Jays are content to go with two youngsters, Kevin Pillar and Dalton Pompey, battling for the job of starting center fielder. The Blue Jays would be placing a lot of faith in one of these players to play in 130 or more games. There is the possibility that someone could rise to the occasion and turn out to be a top notch player, but its a major question mark right now. From his public comments Anthopoulos doesn’t seem to be looking for another center fielder, but as always with Alex, you never know.
A bigger concern for the Jays is the fact that they haven’t really made the bullpen any better than last year and they have no official closer. In fact, with Cassey Janssen still sitting out there in free agency the Bullpen may be worse than the one which cost the Jays so many times in 2014. There have been rumors circulating that Toronto is interested in Canadian right handed reliever and former closer John Axford. Signing Axford could temporarily fill in the closer position, or he could be solid set up man.
Another free agent who is still available is Francisco Rodriguez. K-Rod would fill the hole at the bottom of the Jays bullpen, but the question is how much he would cost.
There is also Marco Estrada who could be set as the long relief guy who starts occasionally and of course there are two other Canadian pitchers who signed minor league deals with a spring training invite, they are veteran Jeff Francis and Andrew Albers. Both of these guys could turn into decent relievers and in Albers case he could potentially take the fifth spot in the rotation. There is also Steve Delabar who made it to the 2013 All-Star game, but struggled in 2014 and was sent down to triple-A for the rest of the summer, if he’s back to All-Star form that would be a great boost to the Jays bullpen.
The Jays used Aaron Sanchez in relief, and he closed games late in the season last year. All indications though are that the team sees him as a starter and will be coming to spring training looking for a spot in the rotation.
And so there is the possibility of trade. The Blue Jays biggest tradeable asset is catcher Dioner Navarro, and with Anthopolous declaring that he’d like to trade for a reliever, many assume that last year’s starting catcher is the bait. There are never any guarantees, but quite simply the Jays must add at least two, and maybe three bullpen arms if they want to give themselves the best chance of competing for a playoff spot this season.
Luckily for Toronto there are a handful of starters, relievers and position players still looking to sign with a team. It is possible that the price tags on these players could drop the closer we get to Spring Training, making them more affordable for the Blue Jays. They still have a few months and even during spring training they could make a splash that helps this team in the long run. The lineup has a ton of power, and the young pitchers like Marcus Stroman, Drew Hutchinson and Sanchez showed potential to win games last year. They will need to make sure they fix the question marks though, as a shaky area can derail a post season push quickly.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @NVincelli. Also please support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
