2014 Toronto Blue Jays - You got 20Mil Extra....What do you do?

Alright it's hypothetical question time....Let's say you at the Toronto Blue Jays GM and you just got out of your end f the season meeting with the suits at Rogers and they have given you the green light to spend another 20 Million over the 127 Million that they paid for Player salaries in 2013.

What do you do?  Where do you start?  How do you identify your most pressing needs?

Everything in my head tells me they already have their entire off-season laid out on paper dependent on how a number of different scenario's this off-season may play out. So roughly it looks like the Jays already have roughly 124M committed (That's with the Jays picking up options and a rough idea on where player arbitration could play out) to their payroll for 2014, which means in my make believe scenario the Jays would end up around 147 million for 2014.  Giving you 23 Million to spend.

I think the questions that are around at 2nd base and LF are able to work themselves out.  You still have viable options within your team to help fill these voids.  With a healthy infield of Encarnacion, Reyes and Lawrie you may be able to give a little away with your bat at 2nd base and allow for a defensive gem in Goins come in and shore up your infield.  In left field I see Cabrera back, with 8 Million still being owed I think the Jays are willing to see if removal of the tumor will allow him to return to the Cabrera of old.

That said I would be putting that extra $ into the starting pitching and the catching position.

My catcher wish is A.J Pierzynski.  I think you could probably get him for around 7.5M for a year or two.  Given that I think Thole is a guy who will play 2 or 3 days a week with A.J's, bringing him in would give us  a guy who can control a game still produce a little and maybe even be a good mentor for a guy like Jimenez in the future



The starting rotation is the other obvious area that needs to be re-tooled and from a FA list the one guy I think the Jays need would be Matt Garza.  His track record in the AL East and his power stuff make him a good fit for this Jays line-up.  We are probably looking at something around 5 years around 16 - 17 per year.



So there.... all my money is gone, but room for trading is open!  The depth that they team has developed in the bullpen + some of the young arms still in the minors if the Jays are looking to trade for a pitcher I think they would be able to do that.

What would you do in AA's shoes if you had the extra cash?

The 2013 Toronto Blue Jays! A year to forget....moving on.....

Back again after another long absence and if there is still anyone out there that is reading my dribble I apologize for going all Josh Johnson!



So where to begin?  I would hope that after a season like this past one that I could say it's one i'll forget, but I won't because it just had my hopes up so high..  This year sucked....I pretty much even stopped watching the Jays for the last 3 weeks of the season.  It hurt too much to even watch the prospects get a chance to prove themselves.

I only made my way down to 2 games and one of them was at the start of the season about 2 weeks into this whole debacle and looking back at it i'm glad I didn't end up opening my wallet anymore than normal for the Jays.

The questions surrounding this team are staggering for 2014!

Who are your 5 starting pitchers in April?

Who is your starting 2nd baseman?

Who is in LF?

Who is your starting catcher?

How do you fill out your bench?

Will a new Hitting Coach be able to fix problems?

Who won't be on the team come Spring Training?

Does the Minor League system have enough in it to make a splash through trades? If not does that mean some bigger pieces could move?

Will the Bullpen loose any arms thought trade?

What will happen if the team doesn't come out of the gates guns blazzin?

Will Rogers put more $ into the team if they are close come the All-Star break?

Will Anthony Gose be on the team come April?

I could go on, but now i'm depressed again! 

Rather than keep going on how depressed I was and how much of a fool I feel like for being so ridiculously wrong about the Blue Jays I'm going to turn the other cheek and try to be positive about 2014.

I would like to think that Rogers Communications saw some positive from this mess and realized that Toronto can be a real baseball town.  The attendance over the first 3/4 of the season were very impressive and showed that fans in Toronto were looking to fall in love with the Jays.  We wanted a winner and if you showed us that you were on the right track we would follow.   That being said Rogers must know that if they want fans to come back and keep watching on TV in 2014 they are going to have to keep the $$ coming.

I almost find the off-season in Baseball more exciting than the regular season.  The chess game that GM's get to play has always intrigued me!    Is there a lot of work to do?  Yes there is, but I still have confidence in AA and his team to work tirelessly to make this team better.  I like that we have a GM that isn't scared to make moves (Hopefully...Let's hope last year didn't make him skiddish going forward) and this obviously what we need since we are committed right now to making a run at it.

I do have 1 wish for the Blue Jays going forward!   I want this team to have some consistency from the top right down to the lowest A ball teams.  I want our prospects to have the same teachings, fundamentals and expectations from as soon as they enter the organization up until the time the step out on the fake grass of the Rogers Centre.  We need to know why we are Toronto Blue Jays,  Why our way is better than the rest,  how we are expected to handle baseball situations and how to handle being a Toronto Blue Jays.  This has to come from the Top and without it we don't stand a chance of having any type of lasting success in the MLB.

Here's to a fun off season!