Personally I did not think that the MLB season would start on time so I am very pleased that everything is back on schedule and the regular season will be starting up in a couple of weeks. The Free Agent rush is now all but done and teams are in the full swing of spring training and the Blue Jays are looking great!
Adding Matt Chapman shores up one of their biggest holes on the left side of the diamond. Actually, that is a major understatement because Chapman is arguably one of the best defenders in all of baseball. Add that to the signings of Gausman and Kikuchi plus the likes of Vlad and Bo having another year under their belts, optimism is at a peak here in Toronto.
From what I have seen and heard from Chapman so far he seems really happy to be in Toronto and will gel instantly with all of the personalities in the Jay's clubhouse. Lest we forget all the hilarious antics of Vlad and Lourdes and of course the home run jacket which was perhaps the greatest gimmick in baseball history. Don't @me!!!
All things considered, the Jays have a lot of things to look forward this upcoming season and the biggest thing is that they came so close to making the post season last year and knowing this team they will go out of their way to make sure they get in this year.
There are a couple of things to look at for me to make believers out of Jays fans. Firstly, the bullpen got better with the acquisition of Garcia and Romano has experience as a closer now and all signs lead to him performing well in that role. Secondly, in my opinion there is no way that Springer is as injured as he was last year. He came into spring hurt last year and that was a bad omen for things to come. He came into camp early this year and ready to play and be a vocal guy and lead this young team of superstars into the promised land. When he was healthy last year he was his Springer Dinger self and 140 games of that should mean a few more wins.
That probably means that the rest of the team probably will not be as healthy as they were last year, but let's not think about that. Another major realm for optimism is how much better our starting pitching is than last year. Even with losing Ray and Matz we added Gausman and Kikuchi who is pencilled in as the fifth starter after being a front of the rotation guy with the Mariners. Kikuchi's stuff is nasty and his problem has always been mechanics and lasting an entire season. Sort of the same problems as Nate Pearson, who hopefully finally makes a last impression on this team and sticks with the big club.
He is one guy that might be on his last legs as a Blue Jay and if some team like the Guardians want him in a package for Ramirez without giving up top tier talents like Orelvis and Moreno, then the Jays will do that in an instant. Pearson still has an electric arm and in today's MLB you need stuff. The Jays as good as their line up is right now has a. hole at second base with Biggio and Espinal as their only alternatives at that position. They are both solid major leaguers, but the biggest hole on our roster. Jays fans might be spoiled in wanting more than what they have, but when a team goes all in, you need to go all in and mortgage the future and hopefully press the right buttons.
The Jays also made a couple of smart moves and avoided arbitration with Chapman, Vlad and Teoscar. They need to deal with extensions of their core in the near future, but overcoming the hassle of the arbitration process was a nice step in the right direction.
Baseball is the one sport for me that is daily experience. Games are on t.v almost everyday and I have a group of friends that are passionate about their home teams and talking baseball on a daily basis is something I look forward to every season. GO JAYS GO!
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