And now your next 100 dynasty league starters, with sporadic commentary:

#126 – Bud Norris, Houston Astros

In the shocker of the year category, the player now making the most money on the Astros is now on the trade block.

#127 – Wandy Rodriguez, Pittsburgh Pirates
#128 – Johan Santana, New York Mets
#129 – Francisco Liriano, Pittsburgh Pirates

If this were 2009, these three left-handers would all be way, way higher on this list. Unfortunately, injuries and underperformance have left them as shells of their former fantasy selves. Fortunately, all three find themselves in attractive places to pitch, especially Way-Rod and Liriano, who will call PNC Park home – the place where RH power goes to die.

#130 – Rick Porcello, Detroit Tigers

It’s coming, right? Right? Guys? Seriously, he’s been improving skills-wise, but this will likely never be the pitcher we imagined when he was a top prospect.

#131 – Ross Detwiler, Washington Nationals

#132 – Tony Cingrani, Cincinnati Reds

#133 – Dan Straily, Oakland Athletics

#134 – Erasmo Ramirez, Seattle Mariners

If you’re looking for a short-ish right hander to finally break out and solidify a rotation spot for the next few years in 2013, Ramirez might just be your guy. He did have a 7.0 K/9 and 4.0 K/BB, if you’re into that sort of thing.

#135 – Ervin Santana, Kansas City Royals
#136 – Danny Duffy, Kansas City Royals

Two more Royals arms who have questions to answer. Ervin Santana was brutal last year, but at least some of that is luck-based (he’d be hard-pressed to repeat his 18.9% HR/FB rate). Duffy will fight back from Tommy John this spring and hopefully return to the rotation in the second half. However, with Duffy, it’s still not a guarantee that he’ll end up in the rotation long-term. As a prospect, he was always a guy whose ability to stick as a starter was questioned by scouts.

#137 – A.J. Cole, Washington Nationals

#138 – Lance McCullers Jr, Houston Astros

#139 – Martin Perez, Texas Rangers

#140 – Dillon Gee, New York Mets

As far as end-game guys, Gee is one of my favorites. He was the forgotten member of the 2012 holy trinity team, as his season was cut short by a blood clot in his shoulder, but should be healthy for Spring Training.

#141 – Paul Maholm, Atlanta Braves

#142 – Michael Fiers, Milwaukee Brewers

If you’re asking me whether I’m a believer in a soft-tossing righty who gives up a ton of fly balls and pitches half his games in Miller Park or not, I’m going to say no.

#143 – Pat Corbin, Arizona Diamondbacks

If the Arizona rotation wasn’t so crowded, Corbin would have a shot to break camp in it. But he’s likely seventh in line once Daniel Hudson returns from injury.

#144 – Ivan Nova, New York Yankees

#145 – Mark Buehrle, Toronto Blue Jays

#146 – Andy Pettitte, New York Yankees

#147 – Zach Lee, Los Angeles Dodgers

#148 – Vance Worley, Minnesota Twins

#149 – Clayton Blackburn, San Francisco Giants

#150 – J.R. Graham, Atlanta Braves

#151 – Tommy Hanson, Los Angeles Angels

It’s been a rough journey for Hanson from potential next big thing in Atlanta to being outside of the top-150 on a list like this. Hanson’s numbers in 2012 were bad, but his performance was even worse. If there’s anything left in his shoulder, it’s going to have to show itself in 2013.

#152 – James McDonald, Pittsburgh Pirates

#153 – Clayton Richard, San Diego Padres

I’m still banking on PETCO playing as a pretty nice pitcher’s park, where Richard will still be worth keeping around to play at home. His 3.02 ERA at PETCO is exactly why you keep Padres pitchers around.

#154 – Jose Berrios, Minnesota Twins

#155 – Jhoulys Chacin, Colorado Rockies

Chacin is the anti-Richard – with his 2.72 ERA (even in a poor overall 2012) away from Coors making him worthy of a roster spot.

#156 – Ricky Nolasco, Miami Marlins

#157 – Carlos Villanueva, Chicago Cubs

Villanueva is either going to be this year’s Marco Estrada or he’s going to bomb out in the rotation and end up back in the Cubs bullpen. He’s talented enough for the former, but if I had to bet, I’d take the latter.

#158 – Felix Doubront, Boston Red Sox

#159 – Drew Pomeranz, Colorado Rockies

Don’t forget about Pomeranz, who saw his velocity tick back up as the 2012 season went on. It’s tough as a pitcher in Colorado, but don’t be surprised if he puts himself back on the map this year.

#160 – Jeremy Guthrie, Kansas City Royals

#161 – Joe Ross, San Diego Padres

#162 – Andrew Heaney, Miami Marlins

#163 – Michael Wacha, St Louis Cardinals

#164 – Gavin Floyd, Chicago White Sox

#165 – Tommy Milone, Oakland Athletics

#166 – Chris Stratton, San Francisco Giants

#167 – Hisashi Iwakuma, Seattle Mariners

#168 – Henderson Alvarez, Miami Marlins

Another guy not to forget about. Alvarez needs to figure out how to get more swinging strikes, but he has the big fastball, the control and the ground ball tendencies to be a very good pitcher in the long run.

#169 – Garrett Richards, Los Angeles Angels

#170 – Wei-Yin Chen, Baltimore Orioles

#171 – Jesse Biddle, Philadelphia Phillies

#172 – Brandon Maurer, Seattle Mariners

#173 – Jose Campos, New York Yankees

#174 – Tyrell Jenkins, St Louis Cardinals

#175 – Joe Blanton, Los Angeles Angels

#176 – Randall Delgado, Arizona Diamondbacks

I’m not optimistic about Delgado being any more than a back-end guy for his career. The Braves also have a very long and storied history of success in knowing which young pitchers to keep and which ones to deal away.

#177 – John Lackey, Boston Red Sox

You can call me a Lackey optimist if you want, but I think he’ll be worth owning in 2013. He’s very unlikely to ever be near his former self, but could he be a league average pitcher if everything breaks right for him again? Sure.

#178 – Felipe Paulino, Kansas City Royals

#179 – Zach McAllister, Cleveland Indians

#180 – Ted Lilly, Los Angeles Dodgers

#181 – Scott Diamond, Minnesota Twins

#182 – Matthew Wisler, San Diego Padres

#183 – Blake Snell, Tampa Bay Rays

#184 – Nick Travieso, Cincinnati Reds

#185 – Victor Sanchez, Seattle Mariners

#186 – Nate Eovaldi, Miami Marlins

#187 – Juan Nicasio, Colorado Rockies

This is a reminder to always keep an eye on the players who are touted as breakout candidates only to have their “breakout season” derailed by injuries. Nicasio is still the same pitcher, just a year older.

#188 – Joe Saunders, Seattle Mariners

#189 – Drew Hutchison, Toronto Blue Jays

#190 – Mark Rogers, Milwaukee Brewers

#191 – Mitch Brown, Cleveland Indians

#192 – Tyler Matzek, Colorado Rockies

#193 – Henry Owens, Boston Red Sox

#194 – Cody Buckel, Texas Rangers

#195 – Johnny Hellweg, Milwaukee Brewers

#196 – Ryu-Hyun Jin, Los Angeles Dodgers

#197 – Bronson Arroyo, Cincinnati Reds

#198 – Travis Wood, Chicago Cubs

#199 – Lucas Harrell, Houston Astros
#200 – Jordan Lyles, Houston Astros

It’s going to be tough as an Astros starter this season (and next) since they project to have one of the league’s worst offenses, defenses and bullpens. Consequently, if they trade Bud Norris, Harrell and Lyles may be their top two starters. Fortunately, their farm system is strong..

#201 – Onelki Garcia, Los Angeles Dodgers

#202 – John Lannan, Philadelphia Phillies

#203 – J.A. Happ, Toronto Blue Jays

He may not have a job right now, but with Brandon Morrow and Josh Johnson in front of him, he’s never that far away from value. Happ has deceptively positive skills, and last year struck out nearly a batter an inning with a K/BB rate above 2.5.

#204 – Aaron Harang, Los Angeles Dodgers

#205 – Mike Leake, Cincinnati Reds

#206 – Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants

#207 – Scott Feldman, Chicago Cubs

#208 – David Holmberg, Arizona Diamondbacks

#209 – Trevor May, Minnesota Twins

#210 – Matt Smoral, Toronto Blue Jays

#211 – Zach Eflin, San Diego Padres

#212 –Sean Nolin, Toronto Blue Jays

#213 – Kyle Kendrick, Philadelphia Phillies

#214 – Miguel Gonzalez, Baltimore Orioles

#215 – Luke Hochevar, Kansas City Royals

#216 – Jake Westbrook, St Louis Cardinals

#217 – Roberto Hernandez, Tampa Bay Rays

If there’s anywhere that Hernandez (formerly known as Fausto Carmona) can resurrect his career, it’s Tampa Bay, with their excellent defense and heavy use of shifts.

#218 – Justin Masterson, Cleveland Indians

#219 – Jeff Karstens, Pittsburgh Pirates

#KarstensFace

#220 – Carlos Carrasco, Cleveland Indians

#221 – Ubaldo Jimenez, Cleveland Indians

#222 – Christian Friedrich, Colorado Rockies

#223 – Jair Jurrjens, Baltimore Orioles
#224 – Rich Harden, Minnesota Twins
#225 – Kyle Drabek, Toronto Blue Jays

These guys are the New York Lotto of pitchers. Because, hey, you never know.

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 It’s about that time again folks! With Pitchers and Catchers reporting next week that means Baseball is in good sight. It’s been a long offseason for many teams. Some were really busy making moves to better their team or make it worse. Some were quiet. Many players were on the move this offseason as well, Josh Hamilton signed with the Angels (Texas fans are mad at that) Zack Greinke made a move down the I-5 to Los Angeles, Torri Hunter went to Detroit, So much happened. The Dodgers were really busy making moves to move towards the ultimate goal. Win A World Series. As we kick off our Dodgers 2013 Season Preview we’ll start off with what the Dodgers needed, Pitching. Starting with Starting pitching.

2012 Review: At the start of last season the Dodgers starting pitching was filled with a lot of question marks. However once the season was underway the Dodgers starting pitching surprised everyone. With the exception of Kershaw the rest of the Dodgers Starting pitchers were really stepping up. Chad Billingsley was playing up to his All-Star form, Chris Capuano was pitching like a Number 2, Ted Lilly was also pitching great as well. As the season went Injuries started to come and hit the Dodgers. Ted Lilly was sidelined for the season due to Injury and Chad Billingsley went back to melting down in late innings before he was struck by injury twice in the season. Chris Capuano declined in the second half of the season and Aaron Harang couldn’t get it together. Kershaw played well but towards the end was hit with a hip injury and caused him to miss a few games towards the end. Los Angeles brought up Nathan Eovauldi and Stephen Fife to start a few games while players were injured and played well. Eovauldi was traded in the Hanley deal towards the deadline. Dodgers also traded for Joe Blanton whose time in L.A. wasn’t the best of things and made a run at Cliff Lee and also acquired Josh Beckett who was solid in L.A.. All and all the Dodgers didn’t make playoffs but you can say the Starting Pitching got them in position to make such a run but fell off as the season went. Dodgers starting pitching at the end managed to go 56-56 with a 3.41 ERA (3rd Best in MLB). As to note Clayton Kershaw finished second in the Cy Young Award voting.

Offseason Moves: Going into the Offseason the Dodgers were going to have money to spend and they spent on gaining pitching help. Los Angeles was looking for solid Number 2 behind Kershaw and everyone knew who was out there. Come winter meetings Zack Greinke had talks with the Dodgers but Los Angeles wanted to try to trade for a pitcher. That ment Chris Capuano or Aaron Harang would be in a deal to make a trade. While a trade for a number 2 pitcher didn’t happen the Dodgers did make moves to grab what they needed and more.

Hyun Jin Ryu pitching for Korea in the last WBC.

 Key Additions:

Zack Greinke-  From the start of the offseason many executives had Greinke going to the Dodgers stating that they could throw whatever money at him. This was the Number one Pitching Free Agent on the market and many thought the Dodgers and Angels would go after him. Well Anaheim made a few moves to take themselves out and in came Texas who gave the Dodgers a good bidding run until the Dodgers and Greinke both agreed on a $147 Million dollar deal. Largest for a Right Hand Pitcher. In 2012 with the Brewers/Angels Greinke went 15-5 with a 3.48 ERA and 200 Strikeouts. Zack was traded from the Brewers to the Angels before the 2012 Trade deadline.

Hyun Jin Ryu- Stan Kasten talked about wanting to have the Dodgers make an impact in the international market like they used to. We all know Yasinel Puig was the first guy the signed but Hyun Jin Ryu was a player that really stood out in my opinion. When then Dodgers won the bidding to negotiate with the Korean Left Hander they got right to it to try to sign Ryu but as time went it was looking less and less likely that the Dodgers would get him. On the last day of the 30 day deadline (Nov 9th to Dec 9th) the Dodgers signed Hyun Jin Ryu to a 6 year  $36 Million Dollar deal. Many Dodger fans will be impressed at his career stats in the KBO (Korean Dodger Baseball Organization). In his career with the Hanwah Eagles Ryu went 98-52 with a career ERA of 2.80 and 1,238. That’s very impressive no matter where you are pitching. Many scouts say his change-up is his best pitch and a legit out pitch at MLB level.

3 Questions to be answered: 1) The health of Chad Billingsley and Ted Lilly- With So many questions regardless of the moves, It’s hard to pick 3 questions but I’ll start with this Billingsley and Lilly. Chad Billingsley has issues with melting down in late innings but tend to show flashes of his All-Star form. Chad Billingsley was sent to the DL after he injured himself towards the All-Star break, When he came off Billingsley was pitching really good until going back on the DL for a partial UCL tear and sidelined him for the season. Ted Lilly on the other hand was hurt early on in the season (May 24th) and was placed on the DL. Lilly did make a rehab start but suffered a set back that sidelined him for the season.  The big question for these two is the health progressing towards the 2013 Season. We’re hearing that Chad Billingsley isn’t feeling any pain at all while throwing and that Ted Lilly is pitching some as well so that’s some good news on that but how far are they from actually pitching a full game or anything remains to be seen.

2)Will a Starting Pitcher be Traded?- This was a question in the offseason that many were asking. The speculation was that someone not named Clayton Kershaw in the rotation would be traded. Well here we are as of February 7th and we still a lot of Starting pitching. Aaron Harang and Chris Capuano are on the Trade block, That much we do know but whether they’ll remain there or not is something we won’t know. If I had to guess I do believe the Dodgers will trade either Capuano or Harang (Maybe both) during Spring training. It’s good to have a lot of starting pitchers but if you can made a deal to help the team in any way then by all means go for it.

3) Will Zack Greinke  live up to expectations?- In my opinion I believe Zack Greinke will have the most to prove this season. He was the most sought after pitcher on the market during the off-season and the Dodgers signed him to a $147 Million Dollar deal. The number 2 Ace behind 2011 Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw Greinke have some expectations this coming season and eyes will be on him. What makes things helpful for Zack is that he’s playing in a Pitchers league,  in Dodger Stadium which is a pitcher’s park, and has a Lineup that you can say is stacked. You can see in his attitude that Greinke is a guy who lets his pitching talk for him so you can say that’s a positive right there. As long as he help the Dodgers get into a position to win with his pitching then he will be alright.

Who to watch for: Josh Beckett- Out of many Starting Pitchers on the Dodgers there’s plenty to keep an eye out for, One of them being Josh Beckett. Beckett came over in the huge Dodgers/Red Sox deal over the summer and provided a solid outing through his time in Los Angeles. Josh Beckett as noted is a very solid pitcher but needed a change of scenery after things went south in Boston. This season Beckett will have a Spring Training with L.A. to really get going and I believe that is good for him to work with AJ Ellis and Rick Honeycutt as well.

Hyun Jin Ryu- I list Ryu because he is the one pitcher who I believe many have no clue about. The Dodgers pitching coaches will have all of spring training to work with the Korean Lefty and see what he is made of. While he is an Unknown he will be pitcher to watch for, Just to see where in the rotation he will be. One thing for sure is that many can’t wait to see what he can do.

Clayton Kershaw- I put Clayton on here not because he’s unknown or anything like that but because one he is coming off of hip surgery and two will that bother him? Clayton missed some games due to a hip issue and from what you could say might have hurt his Cy Young Award chances. despite all of that Clayton Kershaw STILL lead the NL in almost every pitching statistical category. Impressive huh? We will know what effects the surgery will have on Clayton but this guy continues to get better and better every single season and it shows too. Cy Young in 2013? We have to see how he does.

Overview: Over all the Dodgers have TONS of starting pitching going into Spring Training. This was an area where the Dodgers spent the most money on during the offseason. While the Dodgers tackled the needs and spent the money there’s still A lot of questions that has to be answered in this area.

On Deck in the Season Preview: Dodgers Bullpen

This was a very early attempt at a 1989 Upper Deck card for me. I took this picture in 2009 as Ted was pitching for the Cubs against the Padres. He gave up a couple of bombs to Adrian Gonzalez, but still had a solid night. We had nice seats for the game, and I was happy with several of my pictures. This picture just seemed destined for a card. 

I wish that I had the equipment that I do now back when I had some of these great seats. I would have come away with some better pictures I think. The pictures are what they are though, and I am glad that I was able to capture them no matter what the equipment.

San Francisco Giants – The Dodgers appear to have made up a ton of ground, but the defending World Champs get the benefit of the doubt. Instead of trying to revamp the roster that got them to the World Series, the Giants chose to stick with the status quo, resigning Angel Pagan, Marco Scutaro, Hunter Pence and Jeremy Affeldt to try and make another run at the title this coming season. GM Brian Sabean and manager Bruce Bochy do a great job of identifying needs in-season and addressing them at the teading deadline, so I suspect that there will be a few more changes to the roster by the time September rolls around. In the meantime, the Giants will again rely on one of the best pitching staffs in the majors. What has to be extremely concerning to the Dodgers is that two-time Cy Young  winner Tim Lincecum had a terrible season, and Madison Bumgarner got dumped out of the rotation by season’s end, so there is still room for improvement. With Matt Cain as steady as usual, and both Ryan Vogelsong and Barry Zito surprisingly effective, S.F. will be tough to beat no matter who is on the hill. The biggest casualty of the offseason appears to be closer Brian Wilson, and of course Brian Wilson’s beard. Still, it’s a good time to be a Giants’ fan.

Los Angeles Dodgers – We had to know this was coming. When Magic Johnson, Stan Kasten and others took control of Dodgers ownership less than a year ago, they made it very clear that they were going to be willing to spend whatever it took to field a highly competitive team. After taking on an unprecedented amount of salary in the deal with the Red Sox, the Dodgers dove right into the free agent market and emerged with pseudo-ace Zach Greinke, the best available player on the market. All it took to get him was a six-year, $147 million deal that made him the highest paid right handed pitcher of all time. The only thing wrong with giving Greinke that much money is it effectively sets the bar for Clayton Kershaw’s contract at around $200 million, because he is younger and better than Greinke, and is a lefty to boot. The signing of Korean sensation Ryu Hyun-jin further demonstrated just how much more money the Dodgers are willing to spend than anyone else, and also added even more depth to the pitching rotation. As it stands, there is a good chance that Aaron Harang, Ted Lilly or Chris Capuano is going to get traded before the season starts, unless Chad Billingsley has Tommy John surgery like some believe he needs. With a lineup featuring 2012 additions Hanley Ramirez, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford, as well as good health from Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier, the club should have no trouble putting a bunch of runs on the board too. Now they will just need to put all that payroll to good use, something the Yankees of the past decade were rarely able to do. Ned Colletti has got to love that book full of blank checks though.

Arizona Diamondbacks – For all the moves that the Diamondbacks did make this offseason, the one that most people have talked about is a move they DID NOT make. That’s right, mercurial OF Justin Upton remains in Arizona, despite the persistent rumors that he was gone. Instead, the team brought in even more outfield depth, signing Cody Ross to a three-year deal. With Upton, Ross, Jason Kubel, Gerardo Parra and Adam Eaton in the outfield, it remains likely that the team will trade someone from that group in the near future. The D’backs also traded OF Chris Young to Oakland for slick-fielding SS Cliff Pennington, so their infield defense should be much improved. In an unrelated, somewhat surprising move, Arizona shipped off pitching prospect Trevor Bauer to the Cleveland Indians in a three-way deal also involving the Cincinnati Reds. The biggest piece to come back to the Diamondbacks was shortstop prospect Didi Gregorius, who profiles as another impact defender with a suspect bat. The D’backs better hope that glove is fantastic, because Bauer could be a stud in the near future. Finally, the signing of 3B Eric Chavez should give the team some stability at the hot corner, as Chavez was surprisingly effective in his time with the Yankees last season. With all the noise that the Dodgers have made this offseason, Arizona has managed to fly right under the radar, and they could surprise some people.

San Diego Padres – There might not be a quieter team this entire offseason. The Padres were one of the most surprising teams of the second half, as only an abysmal start to the season kept them out of the NL West race. With all of their core players returning, SD has decided to go with the same group in 2013. The only signing this offseason is veteran starting pitcher Jason Marquis, and even he played with the ballclub for a big chunk of last season. Third baseman Chase Headley put together a breakout campaign in 2012, and some thought he could be trade bait while his value is at an all-time high, before he reaches free agency. But Headley remains with the club, and hopes to put together another standout campaign. The only player with any real potential to be moved is closer Huston Street, who had a nice season in spite of several stints on the DL. It will be hard for the Padres to break through into the playoffs in 2013, but it wouldn’t be as surprising as the next team on the list.

Colorado Rockies – I think it’s safe to say that no pitcher in his right mind wants to play half the schedule at Coors Field. The Rockies had a historically bad rotation last year, and it doesn’t look like the club is going to be able to do too much about it. The best Colorado can hope for is that young pitchers Drew Pomeranz, Christian Friedrich and Tyler Chatwood show a lot of improvement in 2013, or that the team pulls off a big trade before the start of the season. Of course, former manager Jim Tracy mismanaged his rotation so badly that they can’t be much worse, so at least the Rockies have that going for them. But new skipper Walt Weiss is stepping into a difficult situation, and not only in terms of his pitching staff. Rockies’ management appears to be the meddling sort, as assistant GM Bill Geivett even has an office in the clubhouse. If Weiss is able to do his job without interference, he will have one of the game’s finest offenses at his disposal. The healthy return of SS Troy Tulowitzki will only help an offense that also features star OF Carlos Gonzalez, Jordan Pacheco, Wilin Rosario, Dexter Fowler, Tyler Colvin and Michael Cuddyer. In fact, with so much depth offensively, it would be no surprise to see the Rockies dangle one of their hitters in exchange for an arm, even though the club has not expressed any interest in doing so. With little hope to field even a mediocre pitching staff, the Rockies can expect to stay in the basement in 2013.

I don’t think the Dodgers were expecting to contend in 2012 (at least early on) because of where they were financially, but their one huge move was giving Matt Kemp an eight-year, $160 million deal following his MVP-caliber campaign in 2011. The Angels, however, made themselves early favorites for the World Series by signing Albert Pujols to a 10-year, $254 million deal, and C.J. Wilson to a five-year, $77.5 million deal.

Fast-forward to the 2012 offseason- following yet another season in which neither of these teams made the postseason- and a lot has changed. The Dodgers are nowhere near bankrupt; in fact, they’re the polar opposite, thanks to Magic Johnson and Co. The Angels are in the same position they were last year, but if they don’t make the postseason this time around, there’s something very wrong.

Anyway, let’s take a look at each of these teams from every angle- the lineup, the rotation, the bullpen, and so on. Both of them are considered near locks for the playoffs, but one has to be better than the other, right?

THE LINEUPS

Angels: 

1. Mike Trout, CF
2. Erick Aybar, SS
3. Albert Pujols, 1B
4. Josh Hamilton, RF
5. Mark Trumbo, LF
6. Kendrys Morales, DH
7. Howie Kendrick, 2B
8. Alberto Callaspo, 3B
9. Chris Iannetta, C

Dodgers: 

1. Mark Ellis, 2B
2. Luis Cruz, 3B
3. Matt Kemp, CF
4. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
5. Hanley Ramirez, SS
6. Andre Ethier, RF
7. Jerry Hairston Jr., LF
8. A.J. Ellis, C
9. Pitcher

OK, first off, Hairston isn’t going to start the entire season. Once Carl Crawford returns from the disabled list, he’ll take Hairston’s spot, and that’ll change the whole culture of the lineup (many project Crawford to hit second). But, until Crawford comes back- which will probably sometime in late May- that’s what I’m guessing the Dodgers’ lineup will look like.

Anyway, those are both powerhouse lineups. The each feature possibly the best 3-4-5-6 combos in their respective league in Pujols-Hamilton-Trumbo-Morales and Kemp-Gonzalez-Ramirez-Ethier. It’s hard to say which is really better than the other; both are going to be very exciting to watch. While I think the Angels’ lineup might be the more exciting with three perennial MVP candidates in Trout, Pujols, and Hamilton, I think the Dodgers have the overall better lineup. The reason I say this is because there are more experienced hitters in the Dodgers lineup, and by experienced, I mean hitters that you know what you’re going to get from them. Kemp, A-Gon, Ramirez, and Ethier aren’t necessarily “veterans” yet, but they’ve certainly been around the block a few times and have shown they can produce consistently at the big league level from year to year. The Angels definitely have that experience in Pujols and Hamilton, but they have a lot of younger, inexperienced hitters who I think we need to see more from. There’s no denying that Trout had the best offensive rookie season in quite some time, but that doesn’t mean he’s not going to be susceptible to a sophomore slump. Trumbo hit over .300 for the most of the season last year, but then flamed out for the last two months and fell to a .268 average.

I think if everyone in the Angels’ lineup performs to their ability (and that includes Kendrick, who everyone thought was going to be a batting champion one day), then they’ll have the better lineup. But until that happens, I’d put my money on the Dodgers’ lineup, especially once Crawford gets back.

THE ROTATIONS

Angels: 

1. Jered Weaver
2. C.J. Wilson
3. Tommy Hanson
4. Joe Blanton
5. Garrett Richards

Dodgers

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Zack Greinke
3. Chad Billingsley
4. Hyun-Jin Ryu
5. Josh Beckett

Coming into this offseason, both teams wanted to improve their starting rotations, and I think each did. However, I think the Angels losing Greinke really hurt them. I also wasn’t in complete agreement with them just giving up on Dan Haren and Ervin Santana; I really wonder if they’re going to get what they could have gotten from those two from Hanson and Blanton. And Richards is going to be good somewhere down the road, but I’m not so sure he’s ready for a full-time rotation spot. There are even some question marks surrounding Wilson, who had a terrible second half for the Angels in 2012. Weaver is no doubt the ace, but health is a bit of a concern with him; same goes for Hanson.

To me, the Dodgers obviously have the better rotation, even though there are a few enigmas in theirs as well. Kershaw/Greinke is one- if not the best- 1-2 punches in baseball, and they get to throw half of their games at the pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium. After Kershaw and Greinke, however, there are a few questions. Billingsley can be an All-Star caliber pitcher when he’s on, but that isn’t always the case. Perhaps not having the pressure of being a #2 starter will help him. Anyway, the 4-5 spots in the Dodgers’ rotation should go to Ryu and Beckett, in my opinion. The Dodgers also have veterans Ted Lilly, Chris Capuano, and Aaron Harang, all of whom are capable of starting, but I think Ryu and Beckett will give them better results than any of the other two.

It’s evident that both of these teams will have to back up their rotations with those huge lineups, but I think the Dodgers are better off starter-wise.

THE ‘PENS 

(NOTE: I only put the six guys who I thought were guaranteed spots. There are probably going to be a few other long relievers in each bullpen>)

Angels: 

Ryan Madson
Ernesto Frieri
Scott Downs
Sean Burnett
Kevin Jepsen
Jerome Williams

Dodgers: 

Brandon League
Kenley Jansen
Ronald Belisario
Scott Elbert
Matt Guerrier
Javy Guerra

This is actually the one category in which I think the Angels are better off. There’s only one guy that I think the Dodgers can count on to be consistent, and that’s Jansen. The rest of the guys- including League, who they named their closer and threw $22 million at- have had up-and-down careers.

The Angels, on the other hand, have a nice mix of young flamethrowers and veteran guys who know how to pitch. I loved the Madson pick-up; I expect him to have a good year even though he missed all of 2012. Frieri can also close if need be. Then they have a great tandem of lefties in Downs and Burnett. This has the makings of a great bullpen for the Angels.

These are both going to be very exciting teams to watch, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if we saw an LA vs. LA World Series (though it never seems to work out that way). I think the Dodgers have the slight edge, but that’s not to put a damper on the team the Angels are going to field.

> The Phillies signed Mike Adams to a two-year, $12 million deal (plus a vesting option for a third year), so that puts to bed any rumors that spoke of his possible return to Milwaukee. But Doug Melvin probably wouldn’t have been willing to give him $6 million a year anyway.

> The Mets are being the Mets once again, as they have a deal in place to send the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner- R.A. Dickey- to the Blue Jays in a seven-player deal. The deal also includes Josh Thole and another prospect going to the Jays along with Dickey, while the Mets are getting back Travis d’Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard, John Buck, and a prospect.

I’m starting to wonder why the Mets gave an extension to David Wright if this is what they intended to do all along, but that’s their screwed-up organization for you. But I like the deal for the Blue Jays. They may have hurt themselves in the long run, but they’re making themselves favorites for the AL East next year. They’ve assembled a pretty nice rotation in Dickey, Josh Johnson, Mark Buerhle, Brandon Morrow, and Ricky Romero, all of whom have been considered aces at some point in their careers.

> Minor moves: 

Phillies: Signed John Lannan to a one-year deal.
Marlins: Signed Jonathan Albaladejo and Ed Lucas to minor league deals.
Giants: Signed Javier Herrera to a minor league deal.
Twins: Signed Mike Pelfrey to a one-year deal.

Greinke will slide into the rotation of what should be a powerhouse Dodgers team. That rotation already features the incumbents, Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley, followed by a few veterans that LA will have to choose from, including Josh Beckett, Ted Lilly, Chris Capuano, and Aaron Harang. The Dodgers could have one more starter competing for a spot- Hyun-Jin Ryu- if they sign him by tomorrow’s deadline.

Anyway, I see two possible scenarios for Greinke’s LA tenure. The first- and more likely- is that he’ll take advantage of pitching in the NL West, where the ballparks are significantly larger, and have a ton of success on a Dodgers team that should contend for years to come. The other, however, is that his anxiety issue comes back to haunt him in the huge market of LA, and he can’t handle the stress and publicity of pitching there.

The latter is very unlikely. He did fine in Anaheim, a suburb of LA (but basically the same market), posting a 6-2 record with a 3.53 ERA during his time there. Plus, Greinke doesn’t have the pressure of being the ace of the staff; Kershaw, arguably the best pitcher in the NL, has taken that role.

I wish the best of luck to Greinke in LA; he’s a guy who’s easy to root for. I don’t want the Dodgers to do well as a team because of how they’ve set up themselves up financially, but that doesn’t mean Greinke himself can’t have a good season.

> Now that Greinke is off the market, the Brewers’ chances of signing Ryan Dempster have increased. Had Greinke signed with the Rangers, the Dodgers would have probably overpaid a second-tier pitcher like Dempster. But, now that Greinke has gone to LA, it’s unlikely the Rangers are going to bring Dempster back after what he did for them last year.

> I keep forgetting to mention this, but I saw a headline the other day that read: “Yount shoots Sveum.” My immediate first thought was that Hall-of-Famer Robin Yount took some sort of shot- figuratively- at current Cubs manager Dale Sveum.

Nope. Yount literally shot Sveum with a gun while they were on a hunting trip. It wasn’t fatal or anything- one of the pellets from Yount’s rifle grazed Sveum’s ear while he was shooting at a quail.

But this made my day: Sveum started calling Yount “Dick Cheney” after the incident.

> Minor moves: 

Phillies: Acquired Michael Young from the Rangers.
Rangers: Acquired Josh Lindblom and Lisalverto Bonilla from the Phillies.
Mariners: Designated Mauricio Robles for assignment.

Wednesday, Nov.28th, 2012

Note from Chuck Booth:  I am attempting to bring the history for each of the 30 MLB Franchises into a 5-7 part series that will focus on 1. The teams history.  2. The hitters 3. The pitchers. 4. The Teams Payroll going into 2013 and 5.The Ball Park that they play in. (The stadium articles will all be done next summer when I go to all of the parks in under a month again.)  Be sure to check my author page with a list of all of  my archived articles section here.

Today’s Part 2 Feature of the Blue Jays Franchise will be written by our Baseball Writer Alex Mednick.  To do this franchise series service, Alex has studied this club a lot more than I have in the last 20 years and will do this article better justice for you the reader!

Alex Mednick (Baseball Writer and Analyst):

Note from Alex Mednick:  Chuck Booth offered to me the opportunity to step in to his Franchise Series and cover the Blue Jays history from 1994-Present. I gladly accepted the honor.

In Part 1 of this series, Chuck covered the Blue Jays history from their humble beginnings at Exhibition Stadium in 1977, through the glory years in the late 80s and early 90s.  The story dropped off right after the Blue Jays won back-to-back World Championships in 1992 and 1993.  We closed the books with the walk-off winning home run by Joe Carter to win the World Series, and the parties and celebrations that were to follow across Ontario, Canada.  I will pick it back up at the beginning of the 1994 season, when the Blue Jays had high hopes to win a third consecutive world championship.

(Scroll Down Past the Links or Click the READ MORE OF THIS ENTRY ICON.)

Franchise Series Links:

Franchise History Part 1 1977-1993:  http://mlbreports.com/2012/11/09/jays1/

The Hitters:  The Toronto Blue Jays Franchise Hitters: Part 3 Of A 7 Part Article Series: 

The Pitchers:  The Toronto Blue Jays Franchise Pitchers Part 4 Of A 7 Part Series

Skydome:  An Interview with ‘Rogers Centre Expert’ and “MLB reports Founder” Jonathan Hacohen Part 5 of 7

2013 Team Payroll:  http://mlbreports.com/2012/09/10/tor/

Special Bonus Fan Blog Of 2013 Team Payroll:   http://mlbreports.com/2012/09/12/torfanalex/

The Blue Jays moved away from the logo they used for 20 in 1997. From 1997-2012 the team has seen a variety of different logos and uniforms.

 1994

The Blue Jays came back in 1994 riding a lot of momentum, after winning two World Series in a row and a walk-off home run by their Captain of Clutch, Joe Carter.  They intended to defend the title for a third year.  The off-season saw was relatively calm, and the majority of the Blue Jays core would return for the new season.  Joe Carter continued to produce in the middle of the lineup and a rookie call-up by the name of Carlos Delgado was showing some good wood early on in the season.  In fact, Cito Gaston, the teams Manager was extended in the middle of May to lead the team through the 1996 season.  But after May, things went downhill very quickly.  Juan Guzman, who was their opening day starter, pitched horrendously and Duane Ward’s season ended when he was required to undergo arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder.  Carlos Delgado’s production fell off and both he and rookie shortstop Alex Gonzalez were returned to AAA.  It was the first time in half a decade where the Blue Jays were not a dominant force in the AL East, and they fell back 16 games by the middle of August.  That was when the Players Union Strike occurred, and the Blue Jays season ended with a dismal 55-60 record to finish 3rd in the AL East. 

Observations: 

-The Blue Jays premiered three of rookies during the 1994 season that would play a larger role later on in the team’s history: Carlos Delgado, Alex Gonzalez and Shawn Green.
-Paul Molitor batted .341 for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1994.
-Labatt Blue (principle owner of the Toronto Blue Jays) was bought out by the Interbrew (InBev) corporation of Belgium, sending the team’s ownership group overseas.

1995

The offseason heading into 1995 lasted a little bit longer than usual due to the Players Strike.  But this allowed the Blue Jays to re-sign David Cone (who previously pitched for the team in 1992) and was coming off of a Cy Young award season.  Pat Gillick, who had formed the Blue Jays enormously successful rosters during the late 80s and early 90s, resigned as the team’s General Manager.  This effectively marked a new era in franchise history, with the beloved Gillick out of town and a new GM: Gord Ash.  The late start finally took place on April 26^th, after an agreement was made between the league and the Players Union.  The teams core that won back-to-back world championships just two season’s prior was dramatically dissolved—only pieces remained.  After the excitement of signing David Cone prior to the season, a losing record and falling out of contention caused the Blue Jays to trade him before the trade deadline.  The Blue Jays received little in return for Cone other than salary relief, and Cone went on to pitch a perfect game for the New York Yankees. The losing season saw attendance at The SkyDome fall for the first time in 4 seasons, and the Blue Jays found themselves ending the year in last place: 30 games behind the Boston Red Sox.  The shortened season only allowed for 144 games in which the Blue Jays went 56-88 and dead last in the AL East for the first time since 1981.

1996

The Blue Jays opened their season in Toronto with a tribute to two of their greatest players of all-time: George Bell and Dave Stieb.  These two were honored as the original players to make the “Level of Excellence” at The SkyDome.  Despite 1996 proving to be another mediocre season, the team at least finished in 4^th place with a 74-88 record.  It was the first year since 1993 that a full 162 game season was played in Major League Baseball.  The season, despite not being a winning one, showed glimpses of hope for the future.  Joe Carter and Juan Guzman were two of the few veterans remaining from the teams Championship days, and both returned to form after disappointing 1995 seasons. Guzman led the American League with a 2.93 ERA and Joe Carter hit 30 home runs and 100 RBI’s for the 9^th time in his career.  The year was viewed as an opportunity to let some of the teams talented prospects get some Major League “seasoning”, and Carlos Delgado was moved from the catcher position to get some time manning first base in Toronto.  Alex Gonzalez starting flashing his leather at shortstop, and future leadoff superstar, Shannon Stewart, got his speedy spikes dirty.  Of course, we cannot forget to mention that the Blue Jays had their franchises first Cy Young Award in 1996: Pat Hentgen pitched ten complete games and over 265.2 innings ended the season with a 20-10 record.

1997

Some of the things that occurred in 1996 shed some light on the promising future of the ball club.  At the start of Gord Ash’s second season as General Manager, the Blue Jays made a change that had never occurred during their now 20 year history.  The team moved away from the logo and uniforms that had been with them since their inception, and was re-branded for what Ash hoped would be a new beginning.  The other proverbial fireworks set off by Ash were the signing of Roger Clemens to a 3-year deal.  Clemens would end up winning the AL Cy Young Award in 1997, as well as the Pitchers, “Triple Crown”.  He went 21-7 with a 2.05 ERA and 292 strikeouts…one of the best seasons ever by a pitcher (later on there would be allegations that he used PEDs during his tenure in Toronto).  The Blue Jays were having their first decent season in a while and in the middle of July they made a big trade: the team sent pitchers Mike Timlin and Paul Spoljaric to Seattle in return for highly touted prospect, Jose Cruz Jr.  Jose Cruz Jr., Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado ended up becoming the teams two  big bats in the middle of the lineup (in addition to Joe Carter), but soon after the acquisition of Cruz, the season fell apart with a 76-86 record, which was good for last in the AL East.  Long-time manage, Cito Gaston, was actually fired a few games before the seasons end.

1998

The Blue Jays started out the season with a new manager, former Blue Jay player Tim Johnson.  They also boasted a new-look outfield of young future-stars.  They had speedster Shannon Stewart along with the powerful and athletic Jose Cruz Jr. and Shawn Green to cover the green.  The team also signed long-time Blue Jays, Tony Fernandez, as a free agent to re-join the team and he went on to lead the lineup with a .321 average.  The team was absolutely loaded with power, as Shawn Green joined the 30/30 club, Carlos Delgado hit 115 RBI’s, and Jose Canseco mashed 46 home runs.  Not to mention, Roger Clemens would end up winning his 2^nd consecutive Cy Young Award, and the 5^th of his career.  Despite ending the season with their first winning record since 1993, (a respectable 88-74), the Blue Jays only managed to finish in 3^rd place in the AL East.  This was the famous 1998 season when the New York Yankees won a stunning 114 games. 

1999

Tim Johnson reign as the Blue Jays manager only lasted the duration of the 1998 season.  He was replaced in 1999 by Jim Fregosi, who would lead the team to their second straight winning season, and the 13^th winning season in their 22 year history.  The Blue Jays continued their upward trend and continued to display signs of hope for a competitive future.  In fact, they were the leading for the AL Wild Card until a horrendous September changed their fortune.  Still, their 84-78 record (3rd Place in the AL East) was a far cry from the losing teams the Blue Jays fielded just a few seasons prior.    And the team did this without the ace that carried the team with 20+ wins for the past two seasons. Clemens was traded when his value was highest, to league rival the New York Yankees.  Toronto received David Wells, Graeme Lloyd, and Homer Bush in return…three players who were at the height of their careers.  David Wells had also just recently pitched a perfect game during his time in New York.

The team also saw the duo of Shawn Green and Carlos Delgado established themselves as the fiercest 3 and 4 hitters in baseball at the time.  The couple combined to hit 86 home runs in 1999.  There were a number of notable things that occurred during the 99 season that would have major implications in the future.  For starters, shortstop Alex Gonzalez would have to undergo arthroscopic surgery, which would alter his career path in Toronto tremendously.  But the team also saw their first glimpse of top prospect Vernon Wells, who would go on to become the face of the franchise and one of the team’s best players.  1999 was also the year that the Blue Jays acquired Tony Batista from the Arizona Diamondbacks.  He was the team’s beloved third baseman with the unorthodox batting stance that would go on to have some surprisingly great seasons with the team. We also saw the emergence of fireballer Billy Koch, who put together a very successful season as the teams closer with 31 saves.

Observations:

Joe Carter and Cito Gaston’s accomplishments with the franchise were celebrated and the two were added to the “Level of Excellence”.

2000

Exciting news struck the organization when two new members of the Blue Jays would be announced at the beginning of the season: Mascots “Ace” and “Diamond”, a pair of fun-loving Blue Jays.  In regards to more meaningful off-season moves, the Blue Jays made two major transactions.  The team locked up their cornerstone player Carlos Delgado with a 3-year contract extension.  But his “bash brother” Shawn Green, demanded a trade after having his most successful season yet.  Toronto was able to send Green to the Los Angeles Dodgers and net another powerful right fielder, Raul Mondesi.  The Blue Jays continued to earn their reputation of being a home run hitting lineup and in 2000 became the first team in MLB history to have four players all with 30+ home runs (Delgado, Batista, Mondesi, Fullmer). Despite the monster season put up by the teams players (6 players with 20+ homers, Delgado hit 135 RBI, and David Wells won 20 games), and a winning record, the team could not land a playoff spot.  Late in the season, when it was apparent that a playoff run was out of the question, Rogers Communications Inc. went on to purchase 80% of the franchise from InBev, and soon after acquired 100% ownership.  The team finished with its 3^rd consecutive winning season, going 83-79 (good for 3rd in the AL East), and looking forward to a new ownership group that would hopefully lead the team back to into October.  Fregosi was let go as the manager and the club hired long time announcer Buck Martinez to replace him for the 2001 season.

Observations:

Just before the trade deadline, the Blue Jays traded for Texas Rangers pitcher Esteban Loaiza.  Who did they have to give up for this starting pitcher? The package included Darin Cubillan, and a young middle infielder named Michael Young.

2001

With new ownership came organizational changes.  Paul Godfrey would become the Team President and CEO, and former Blue Jay Buck Martinez would take over as manager of the team.  Major transactions included the Blue Jays trading David Wells to the Chicago White Sox in return for Mike Sirotka, who had just had a standout season the year prior.  In the middle of June, the team also reacquired Tony Fernandez, for the players 4^th stint with the Blue Jays (he would also be inducted to the “Level of Excellence” later during the season just prior to his retirement).  Fernandez retired as the teams all time leaders in games played, at-bats, hits, doubles, and triples.  He also was the ALL-Time Leader in hits from the Dominican Republic at the time of his retirement, having passed Julio Framco.

There were several good seasons put up by Blue Jays in 2001 (Jose Cruz Jr. joined the 30/30 club, Shannon Steward got 202 hits, Delgado hit 39 HR/103 RBI, and game in which Jeff Frye hit for the cycle) but the Blue Jays ended with their first losing season in several years.  After going 80-82 (good for 3rd in the AL East), GM Gord Ash was fired, and replaced by J.P. Ricciardi who would quickly make his first move by trading Billy Koch to Oakland for prospect Eric Hinske (Ricciardi was previously the Assistant GM to Billy Beane in Oakland).

Observations:

In honor of the franchises 25^th season, an All-Time Blue Jays Roster was officially released:

1B Carlos Delgado, 2B Roberto Alomar, SS Tony Fernandez, 3B Kelly Gruber, LF George Bell, CF Devon White, RF Joe Carter, C Ernie Whitt, RH starter Dave Stieb, LH starter Jimmy Key, Closer Tom Henke, DH Paul Molitor, utility player Rance Mulliniks and Manager Cito Gaston.

2002

2002 saw some more changes and new milestones for the Blue Jays organization.  Pat Gillick, the teams legendary General Manager was added to the “Level of Excellence” at The Rogers Centre (formerly The SkyDome).  The team got off to a very rocky start, which eventually cost Buck Martinez his job as skipper.  Management would hire Carlos Tosca, and sign him and his entire coaching staff to a two-year contract.  The team ended up going 58-51 under Tosca’s leadership, and ended the season with a 78-84 record for their 5th straight 3rd place finish in the AL East.  Eric Hinske, ended up as the American League Rookie of the Year, becoming the team’s second winner of this award (Alfredo Griffin). More importantly, however, a young Roy Halladay would be thrown into the position of being the team’s ace.  He fell most gracefully into this role, going 19-7 and posting a 2.93 ERA. Carlos Delgado was once again the team’s leading offensive player, but a young 23-year-old Vernon Wells showed what kind of player he could be, and hit .275 with 23 HR and 100 RBIs. Following the season, General Manager J.P. Ricciardi would be offered a five-year contract that would keep him in control of the team through 2007. He accepted the deal, and hired Tony LaCava as his Assistant GM.

2003

2003 was a year that the Blue Jays finally ended up back above .500 after several losing seasons.  They went 86-76 for their 6th straight 3rd place finish in the AL East.  Roy Halladay would end up leading the rotation with a 2207 record and a 3.25 ERA, winning the Blue Jays 4^th Cy Young Award in franchise history.  Carlos Delgado also led the major leagues in RBI’s (followed closely by teammate Vernon Wells) by hitting 42 HR and 145 RBI but finished second in AL MVP voting to Alex Rodriguez.    The Blue Jays were a real surprise to critics who never expected them to be competitive, but they caught fire in May and June. After the All-Star game, however, the Blue Jays traded Shannon Stewart for Bobby Kielty, and their performance greatly regressed.  The good news is that Bobby Kielty would later be traded to Oakland and the Blue Jays would receive Ted Lilly in return.  Other notable performances belonged to Josh Towers, who went 6-1, Frank Catalanotto who batted .299, and Josh Phelps who hit 20 HR.

2004

The team introduced new uniforms and a new logo that sported the abbreviated nickname, “Jays”.  2003 had shed light on the potential the team had for a couple of months when they played really well.  However, in 2004, The Blue Jays had their worst season since 1980.  Their 67-94 record landed them in last place in the AL East, for the first time since the Tampa Bay Devil Rays had joined the league in 1997.  The team had Pat Hentgen return to the rotation, but this proved to be a fruitless pursuit of nostalgia as he went just 2-9 with a 6.95 ERA.  Injuries to all the core players, including Delgado, Wells and “Doc” Halladay caused significant missed time.  The rotation relied on Ted Lilly and Miguel Batista to carry the team, and the two held their own.  They also resorted to a young Josh Towers, who surprised everyone by pitching way better than anyone could have expected.  Despite being one of the teams worst seasons ever, the 2004 season exposed fans to the likes of Russ Adams, Gabe Gross, Alex Rios, David Bush and Gustavo Chacin: All J.P. Ricciardi protégés who were regarded as the future of the team. With the team’s poor performance, Carlos Tosca was fired as manager in favor of first base coach John Gibbons.

2005

The Rogers Centre got a make-over during the 2005 off-season.  The hard AstroTurf that covered the field for the past 28 season, was now replaced by soft, shock-absorbing “FieldTurf”.  New displays were installed in the Rogers Centre outfield as well.  The Blue Jays themselves jumped out of the gate in full force, having a great March and April, while the Red Sox and Yankees struggled. And they did so without their franchise player, Carlos Delgado, who the team lost to free agency in the offseason. Ted Lilly was having issues on the mound, but Roy Halladay was brilliant. A young Venezuelan pitcher Gustavo Chacin and Josh Towers had really picked up the slack.  The Blue Jays fortunes changed, however, when Roy Halladay’s season was ended by a line drive that broke his tibia (he ended the season midway through with a 12-4 record, and a 2.41 ERA). The Blue Jays also lost their third baseman, Corey Koskie, with a broken finger.  They were, however, pleasantly surprised by the young Aaron Hill who replaced him.  We also saw Russ Adams have a successful first full season as the team’s shortstop, and Alex Rios emerged as a star while Orlando Hudson won his first Gold Glove.  Shea Hillenbrand performed solidly as the team’s first base/DH and Vernon Wells his 28 HRs with 97 RBI’s while winning his second consecutive Gold Glove in Centerfield.  The Blue Jays couldn’t keep their record about .500, ending the season 80-82 and back in their usual 3rd place spot in the AL East.

2006

J.P. Ricciardi had now been the GM for several years, and had seen a mix of promising seasons, horrible seasons, and mediocrity.  He had just been given an extension in the off-season to be the teams GM until 2010. Ricciardi desperately had to make his mark on the organization that would define his legacy in Toronto, and he had to create some success in return for the trust given to him by the Blue Jays organization.  The team went out and made some big splashes through both trades and free agency.  Rogers Communications opened up their wallet and allowed Ricciardi to sign free-agent starting pitcher A.J. Burnett, and closer B.J. Ryan.  Ryan had just had a breakout year in 2005 as the Baltimore Orioles closer and after one season of success, he was regarded as a top closer in baseball.  They were also able to steal first baseman and double’s hitting machine Lyle Overbay from the Milwaukee Brewers, and slugging third baseman Troy Glaus from the Arizona Diamondbacks.  The FieldTurf the team installed in 2005 was a big part of persuading Troy Glaus (who had knee problems and plantar fasciitis) to play in Toronto. The offseason transactions brought renewed excitement to the team before the season even started.  The team actually had its best season under Ricciardi with 87 wins, and finished 2^nd place behind the Yankees.  Furthermore, there were 5 All-Star representatives from Toronto that July: Roy Halladay, Vernon Wells, Troy Glaus, Alex Rios and B.J. Ryan. The Blue Jays, however, fell short of the wild card and had to be happy with merely improving from their previous season.

2007

The Blue Jays tried to build on the success they had in 2007 by adding legend Frank Thomas to a two-year deal that would add more pop to the lineup.  Frank Thomas had just had resurgence in Oakland as their DH during the 2006 season, and the aging vet was just shy of 500 career home runs.  This brought the exciting countdown to such a great milestone to Toronto along with a fan-friendly personality and good veteran presence in the clubhouse.  After several years of high production out of Vernon Wells, the team decided to lock up one of its franchise players extending him a 7-year $126 million contract.  The deal recently given to Carlos Beltran really set the market for the value of a gold glove, 5-tool centerfielder, and many people thought that Vernon Wells actually gave Toronto a “home team discount”.  The Blue Jays managed another winning season in 2007, but did not live up to their own expectations.  Alex Rios was the team’s only representative at the mid-summer classic (he actually earned second place to Vladamir Guerrero in the 2006 All-Star Home Run Derby Contest), and the team ended up with only 83 wins on the year, which was good for 3rd in the AL East. Part of this could be attributed to the fact that the Red Sox and Yankees had both made dramatic improvements to their rotations during the off-season, and the fact that the Blue Jays $50 million closer B.J. Ryan missed the entire season for Tommy John surgery. Other than Roy Halladay, the team largely relied on a smorgasbord of bargain-bin reclamation projects in John Thomson, Tomo Ohka, and Victor Zambrano to start games.  We did, however see the emergence of Shaun Marcum and Dustin McGowan, two young arms who both won 12 games apiece.  Aaron Hill also had a career season in almost all offensive categories and actually broke the record for most doubles in a season by a Blue Jays second baseman, previously held by the great Roberto Alomar.

2008

In April, General Manager J.P. Ricciardi rewarded Alex Rios for the strides he had made in the past seasons with a 7-year contract worth almost $70 million. 
The Blue Jays put up another respectable season in 2008 with 86 wins, which represented their 3^rd straight winning season.  Their record, however, was only good enough for fourth place in the American League East, as the Tampa Bay Rays had their breakout, “worst-to-first” season.  The Blue Jays really moved away from their reputation as a team with an amazing lineup, and became a team with a relatively impotent offense, but the best pitching in baseball.  Roy Halladay ended up being the teams only All-Star in 2008, having won 20 games with a 2.78 ERA, but he led a very impressive rotation and bullpen.  A.J. Burnett had a career year and won 18 games while leading the American League with 231 strikeouts.  Jesse Litsch and Shaun Marcum were two youngsters who pitched extremely well behind the 1-2 punch of Halladay/Burnett.  After losing 5 games in a row in June, the team fired manager John Gibbons and re-hired Cito Gaston, who led the team to the back-to-back championships in 1992/93.  Along with Gaston came a new coaching staff, including hitting coach Gene Tenace, who was able to extract some power out of the Blue Jays bats.  The Blue Jays ended up finishing the season 51-36 under Gaston’s leadership, but their 86-76 record left them 11 games out of first place.  At the end of 2008, longtime CEO Paul Godfrey announced he was stepping down and the club hired Paul Beeston as his interim replacement.  Cito Gaston and his coaching staff also received 2-year contracts.  Sadly, Ted Rogers of Rogers Communications—who had purchased the team in 2000—died in December at the age of 75.

2009

The Blue Jays uniforms donned two patches on either arm for the 2009 season.  One patch was to honor Ted Rogers, the team owner who died in December, and another patch to memorialize the life of long time broadcaster Tom Cheek, who had also passed during the off-season.  The Blue Jays had a hot start to the season and remained in first place until June when their season began to fall out beneath them.  Alex Rios, who had failed to continue his ascension to be a top outfielder in baseball, was put on waivers by J.P. Ricciardi and claimed by the Chicago White Sox.  The Blue Jays permitted the claim, shedding the over $60 million dollars they would have owed to Rios. Once again, Roy Halladay was a lights-out presence on the mound for Toronto and continued to be arguably the best pitcher in baseball.  Both he and Aaron Hill represented the Blue Jays as All-Stars that summer.  Aaron Hill had another huge season after a down year in 2008 and coupled with Adam Lind in the middle of the lineup.  Aaron Hill won the Silver Slugger Award for second baseman, and Adam Lind, who really broke out in 2009 to hit .305 with 35 HR and 114 RBIs, won the Silver Slugger Award for Designated Hitters.  Despite several positive notes about the season, the Blue Jays regressed in 2009 to a 75-87 record (good for 4th in the AL East).  GM J.P Ricciardi was fired at the end of the season, and replaced by his Assistant GM, Alex Anthopoulos.   

2010

Alex Anthopoulos took over as one of the youngest GM’s in baseball history and immediately was faced with a very controversial task.  Roy Halladay was revered in Toronto as a demi-god and given a large part of his career graciously to the team by signing a team-friendly extension several years ago in order to avoid free-agency.  The Blue Jays promised to make the team a contender if he stayed, and they had failed to do so.  With one year left on his contract, and the knowledge that they were unlikely to re-sign him, Anthopoulos was forced to trade one of the franchise’s all-time favorite players in order to build a future for the team.  The Blue Jays ended up trading Halladay to the defending National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies. In return they received top pitching prospect Kyle Drabek, catching prospect Travis D’Arnaud and outfielder Michael Taylor.  The Blue Jays really wanted the Phillies to include Anthony Gose in the package, but couldn’t get them to agree.  Michael Taylor was immediately shipped to Oakland by Alex Anthopoulos for hard hitting first base prospect Brett Wallace.
Alex Anthopoulos also made a shrewd move in shipping reliever Brandon League to Seattle in return for former first round pick and hard throwing Brandon Morrow.

Surprisingly enough, after just getting rid of the Blue Jays ace, the team saw a 10 game improvement during the 2010 season.  Jose Bautista, who had been acquired in the middle of the season during 2008 by J.P. Ricciardi (from the Pirates in return for catching prospect Robinson Diaz), had a breakout season in 2010.  Out of nowhere, the journeyman third baseman hit 54 home runs to lead the Majors and establish a new team record for most single season homers.  The Blue Jays really returned to their reputation as a slugging team, and established a new team record with 257 home runs.  7 players—including Aaron Hill, Adam Lind, Lyle Overbay, John Buck, Vernon Wells and Edwin Encarnacion—had 20+ home runs each.

The Blue Jays ended the season 85-77 in fourth place behind the Yankees, Red Sox and Rays.  There were highlights to the season, however, including Brandon Morrow’s one hitter, and catcher J.P. Arencibia’s MLB debut in which he went 4-5 with 2 home runs. GM Alex Anthopoulos made a number of prudent moves before the trade deadline during the 2010 season.  He sent shortstop Alex Gonzalez to Atlanta for the highly regarded young shortstop Yunel Escobar, who had fallen out of grace with the Braves brass. Anthopoulos also acquired Anthony Gose (the third player they coveted from Philadelphia in the Roy Halladay trade), in return for Brett Wallace.  Anthony Gose had been traded by the Phillies to Houston to obtain Roy Oswalt, and the Blue Jays sent Wallace, who they received in return for Michael Taylor, that they received from Philadelphia in the Halladay trade.  Effectively, by the transitive property, Anthopoulos closed the Halladay deal receiving the prospects he insisted on by making this move. Cito Gaston’s contract ended at the end of the 2010 season, and he expressed he had no desire to re-sign as a manager.

 2011

The Blue Jays elected a new manager to lead them in 2011: they signed the Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell, and signed him to a 3-year deal.  Anthopoulos was a busy man in the offseason and also signed superstar Jose Bautista to a very team friendly extension worth $64 million over 5 years.  He sent Shaun Marcum to Milwaukee after a career year and netted one of baseball’s top prospects and Canadian native, Brett Lawrie. Alex Anthopoulos also pulled off another stunt that was seemingly impossible: he shed the payroll burden associated with Vernon Wells and his giant contract.  Vernon Wells had a string of injuries and seriously under-performed since signing his $126 million back-loaded contract.  Alex Anthoupolos somehow convinced the Los Angeles Angels to assume responsibility for the remainder of this contract in return for Mike Napoli and Juan Rivera.  Juan Rivera was a salary dump for the Angels, but just a drop in the bucket compared to what Vernon Wells was owed.  Mike Napoli was traded by Toronto to Texas due to a logjam of catchers in Toronto, and he went on to have a career season.  The trade completely altered to financial future of the Blue Jays organization and earned Alex Anthopoulos the nickname “The Silent Ninja”.  Nobody saw the trade coming, and Anthopoulos instated an organization rule not to discuss any rumors of transactions with media sources.

The Blue Jays ended up finishing 2011 with an 81-81 record (good for 4th in the AL East), but there were lots of bright spots that Blue Jays fans could look forward to going forward.  Jose Bautista improved on his 2010 season by batting .302 with 43 home runs and 103 RBIs.  Ricky Romero stepped up as the team’s ace and filled the void created by Roy Halladay’s departure.  He was an All-Star representative for the Blue Jays with 15 wins and a 2.92 ERA—he finally became the pitcher people expected he could be.  J.P. Arencibia set a team record for catchers with 23 home runs in his first full season in the Major Leagues.  In August, the Blue Jays called up top prospect Brett Lawrie.  Lawrie gave Blue Jays fans a lot to look forward to with his all-out style of play and mentality.  It didn’t hurt that he hit 9 home runs during his two months in Toronto either.

GM Alex Anthopoulos remained busy towards to end of the season, doing his due diligence, checking in with other GM’s and making trades to build a new generation of Blue Jays winners.  One of the top prospects in all of baseball had fallen out of favor in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.  The Blue Jays needed a young, star centerfielder to replace Vernon Wells for the foreseeable future, and the St. Louis Cardinals were in a playoff race seeking relief pitching help.  The Blue Jays had a wealth of relief arms that they included along with outfielder Corey Patterson in a three team trade, and received top prospect Colby Rasmus in the deal.  The Blue Jays also traded Aaron Hill, who had fallen from grace, to Arizona for second baseman Kelly Johnson.

2012

Prior to the 2012 season, the Blue Jays revealed their new logo and uniforms.  Their new logo was an updated version of their classic Blue Jay logo, and created a sense that the Blue Jays were ready to return to greatness.  The Blue Jays now possessed a strong core of young and controllable players at the major league level, and arguably the top farm system in baseball.  When J.P. Ricciardi left the organization, the team had one of the worst farm systems in baseball.  Alex Anthopoulos immediately hired more scouts than any other team had, and recruited the best talent assessors in baseball.  The team also invested heavily in a state of the art training center in the Dominican Republic and has spent considerable time recruiting internationally.  But one of the things that really allowed Anthopoulos to change the farm systems destiny so quickly was that he had discovered a flaw in Major League Baseball’s policy.  He realized that he could hoard Type-A and Type-B free agents at the August trade deadline, and then offer the players arbitration in November.  If they declined the arbitration offer, Anthopoulos would receive draft picks as compensation.  Well, prior to the 2012 season the MLBPA re-drafted the leagues rules, effectively ending Anthopoulos’ party. The Blue Jays would have to focus more on winning now.

The team started out with high expectations as they had a really nice core of young talent together in Toronto.  Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow were a formidable 1-2 punch on the mound, and there was a lot of young talent to fill out the rest of the rotation.  Rasmus, Lawrie, Arencibia and Escobar were youngsters that were just waiting to become stars.  Bautista, of course, was the premier slugger in baseball.

The real surprise in 2012 was Edwin Encarnacion’s breakout to become a 40 home run threat in the middle of the lineup, while racking up doubles and batting almost .300.  But the disappointments outweighed the positives during a season that began with promise.  A huge wave of injuries hit the team, including three of the Blue Jays starters in 3 consecutive games.  Jose Bautista’s season ended half way through when he hurt his wrist on a follow through.  Brett Lawrie and Brandon Morrow missed time while Kyle Drabek and Drew Hutchinson had season ending surgeries.  Closer Sergio Santos, who the team had acquired prior to the season to strengthen their bullpen played 5 games before missing the rest of the season. 

It was evident that the team was not going to contend in 2012.  Late in the season, Anthopoulos sent fan-favorite, and former top prospect Travis Snider to Pittsburgh in a surprise move during the middle of a game.  Snider brought back another first round pick in Brad Lincoln, a starter who was converted to a relief role and had really hit his stride during the season in Pittsburgh.  Anthopoulos then went on to trade more young left fielders (in addition to Snider) to receive more young, affordable relievers.  Eric Thames was sent to Seattle for Steve Delabar, and Brandon Lyon, J.A. Happ and David Carpenter were acquired from Houston for a package of prospects.

The team ended its season with an air of disgust surrounding the organization with a 73-89 Record and 5th straight 4th place finish in the AL East.  Injuries had plagued what was set to be the teams return to greatness, and clubhouse issues had become present late in the season.  Manager John Farrell, who was formerly a pitching coach in Boston, was being courted as the Red Sox future manager to replace Bobby Valentine.  Talks circulated all over baseball until the season ended, and finally the trigger was pulled.  Anthopoulos traded manager John Farrell to Boston for utility man Mike Aviles.

2013

At the point of writing this, it is the end of December and season is still far off.  But the Blue Jays have already may many monumental moves early in the offseason.

The Blue Jays traded Mike Aviles who was acquired for manager John Farrell to the Cleveland Indians along with Yan Gomes for reliever Esmil Rogers. They also signed second baseman Macier Izturis to a 3-year $9 million deal. The Blue Jays then went on to make one of the biggest blockbuster trades in the history of baseball.  They received Josh Johnson, Mark Buehrle, Jose Reyes, Emilio Bonifacio and John Buck from the Miami Marlins in return for a package that included Yunel Escobar, Adeiny Hechevarria, Jake Marisnick, Justin Nicolino and other prospects.  This move completely changed the Blue Jays rotation, adding ace Josh Johnson in front of Brandon Morrow, and work horse Mark Buehrle as the team’s new number 3, in front of Ricky Romero.  It also put arguably the game’s best leadoff hitter in a lineup in front of Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Brett Lawrie.  The deal represented a huge commitment from the team to spend the money they promised fan they would spend when the time presented itself.  But two days later, Anthopoulos went out and signed Melky Cabrera to a 2-year $16 million deal.  This put an end to the teams concerns about who would replace the platoon of prospects in left field that were recently traded.  Melky Cabrera was a controversial signing because he was the league’s best hitter in 2012, prior to being detected for PED use.  He does, however, fill in the number two hold nicely behind Reyes, with his speed and high-contact approach to hitting.  The Blue Jays announced the re-hiring of John Gibbons as the teams new manager for 2013.  As we sit now, in November, it is said that the Blue Jays are not done making moves for this offseason and would like to add more pitching help.

The Jays will be looking to take themselves off of the three remaining teams list-that have not made the playoffs since the 1994 strike (KC/PIT and TOR) next year.

TOP Blue Jays Franchise Notes:

-11 straight winning seasons from 1983-1993.

-5 division titles in 8 years from 1985-1993

-1st team North of the Border to win the Title.

-1st team to in the MLB ever to draw 4 Million Fans.

-5 Playoff Appearances, 1985, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993

(4-3 Playoffs Series Record).

-5 American League Championship Series (2-3),

-2 World Series Titles (2-0) 1992, 1993

-All-Time Record 2828-2879 (.496) after 2012 is 15th amongst the 30 MLB teams for Winning Percentage and 3rd amongst Expansion teams from 1961-1998 (LAA .499 and ARI .498)

Owners:

Labatt Breweries: 1977-1995

Interbrew: (InBev) corporation of Belgium: 1995-2000

Rogers Communications: 2001-Present

Mascots: 

BJ Birdy:  1979-1999

Ace: 2000-Present

Diamond:  2000-2003

Parks:

Exhibition Stadium: 1977-1988

Skydome.The Rogers Center: 1988-Present

General Managers:

Peter Bavasi:  1977

Pat Gillick:  1978-1994 

Gord Ash:  1995-2001

J.P Ricciardi:  2002-2009

Alex Anthopulous:  2010-Present

Best Announcers:

Tom Cheek

Jerry Howarth

Buck Martinez

Jim Hughson

Level of Excellence:

George Bell #11

Joe Carter #29

Tom Cheek

Tony Fernandez #1

Dave Stieb #37

Roberto Alomar #12  Alomar is the only one to have his number officially retired and is the first Blue Jay to enter Cooperstown as a Blue Jay.

Paul Beeston

Pat Gillick

Cito Gaston #43

Franchise Series Links:

Franchise History Part 1 1977-1993:  http://mlbreports.com/2012/11/09/jays1/

The Hitters:  The Toronto Blue Jays Franchise Hitters: Part 3 Of A 7 Part Article Series: 

The Pitchers:  The Toronto Blue Jays Franchise Pitchers Part 4 Of A 7 Part Series

Skydome  Part 5 of 7 Article Series:  An Interview with ‘Rogers Centre Expert’ and “MLB reports Founder” Jonathan Hacohen

2013 Team Payroll Part 6 of 7:  http://mlbreports.com/2012/09/10/tor/

Special Bonus Fan Blog Of 2013 Team Payroll Part 7 of 7:   http://mlbreports.com/2012/09/12/torfanalex/

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com ***

Alex Mednick is a Baseball Writer and Analyst with MLB Reports.  He has both played and followed the game extensively his entire life.  Alex grew up in New Haven, Connecticut—right in the crossroads of Red Sox Nation and The Yankee Empire.  Somehow, he dodged the bullet of joining the war between these two teams, and a love affair between the Toronto Blue Jays and Alex formed.  Growing up in Connecticut, Alex Mednick idolized Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar. When he was 19 he moved to Saint Petersburg, Florida.  Here he attended Eckerd College and continued fulfilling his love for baseball.  Tropicana Field was 5 minutes from his apartment, and there were 5 spring training camps within an hour drive.  Alex graduated from Eckerd in 2010 with a B.S. in International Business and dual minors in Spanish and Management.  Most importantly, he met his amazing wife in college, and the two now reside in Stuart, Florida.

Thursday, November 22nd, 2013

Photo Courtesy of bleacherreport.com

Alex Mednick (Baseball Writer and Analyst)

Since the Blue Jays and Marlins blockbuster trade, there has been a lot of discussion about Jose Reyes, Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle.  Jose Reyes is going to have an amazing presence at the top of the lineup, getting on base, steal bases and playing beautiful shortstop on the left side of the infield with Brett Lawrie for the Blue Jays ground ball pitchers. Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle immediately make the Blue Jays rotation a top rotation in all of baseball by being inserted in. Effectively, they got two top of the line starters to create an elite rotation that makes them serious contenders.

There have been some discussions about a man named Melky Cabrera that signed with the Blue Jays to play left field…mostly discussing his use of PEDs and whether his production will drop off without the drugs.  They don’t realize that his rate of contact was more or less the same as his career numbers, just that in 2012 his BABIP took a .30 point spike,  They don’t mention the fact that he plays stellar defense in left field, has a cannon arm, gets on base, hits for contact and can steal a lot of bags.  They don’t talk about the fact that adding him to a nucleus of Colby Rasmus and Jose Bautista, effectively, gives the Toronto Blue Jays a top 5 outfield in all of baseball.

Last year, the Blue Jays used a variety of players in left field.  Rajai Davis, who is now considered by the team as a 4th outfielder (as he should be) and an amazing pinch runner, was one of them.  Travis Snider, the 24-year-old prospect that was nicknamed “The Franchise” didn’t pan out and was traded for fellow first rounder Brad Lincoln…everybody in Toronto expected that the next coming of glory for their team would be led by one Travis Snider.  Alex Anthopoulos nixed this plan during the summer when he surprised the Toronto fan base in the midst of a disappointing season by trading their favorite player.

Alex Anthopolous made a calculated decision to trade fan favorite Travis Snider during the midst of a tragic season in 2012. Travis was promoted as the “future of the franchise” and the left fielder of the future. This brought forth a lot of animosity from Blue Jay fans and questions began to arise about the GM’s vision. Who would be their left fielder of the future? Anthopolous answered this question: Got Melk?

He had different plans, and he knew it…that is the difference between Anthopoulos and Ricciardi.  Ricciardi had a sinking ship on his hands and chose to expose Travis Snider to the big leagues early to take the attention away from the front office…he also fired John Gibbons to take heat away from the GM position as well.  Alex Anthopoulos, however, made a calculated and prudent call that would also be unpopular, when he chose to trade the former blue chip prospect for a quality reliever that was cheap and controllable for years to come.  Snider had never produced consistently at the big league level, and was out of option after the season ended.

Anyways, getting back to the Blue Jays outfield.  Melky Cabrera replaces a platoon that consisted of Rajai Davis, Travis Snider, Moises Sierra and Eric Thames.  His 2-year, $16 million contract answers the question that fans had about who was going to man left field for the near future.  It puts a quality player in the lineup for the next two years when the core of this Blue Jays team is still intact (Morrow, Romero, Buehrle, Encarnacion, Baustista, Rasmus/Gose, Lawrie, Reyes, Arencibia).  It gives the Blue Jays, a team that has clearly taken steps to demonstrate that they are intending to be a winner in the here and now…it gives them a top-tier outfield to compliment their rotation, their infield, and their re-worked bullpen.

And it does this not only on just an offensive level, but also defensively.  Looking across the outfield, from left to right, the range covered by Cabrera, Rasmus and Bautista is extremely impressive.  Just as the Blue Jays benefit from having fast runners on their turf, they also benefit from having superior range in the outfield to cut down on extra base hits from opposing teams.  These guys all field their positions really well and cover a lot of ground gracefully.  Not to mention, Bautista and Cabrera have rocket launchers attached to their arms.  Both are consistently in the top ten for most assists throughout the league.

I have assembled some statistics from what I expect (at least on paper) to be the most productive outfield trio’s in the major leagues this coming season (2013).  These numbers have been accumulated based on these players 2012 campaigns.  Several of them were hurt for significant periods of time, and several of them were part of different lineups.  Take a shot of tequila and add some salt before you go off on me about inaccuracies in the comments section.

How would you rank these outfield groups based on the production you see here? These are the top 5 outfields in baseball as rosters sit right now.  

Group E is undeniably the weakest of the 5.  

Group D has really great doubles production and put up mammoth numbers when it came to batting in runs.  

Group C also had great doubles production, miserable HR production, the worst RBI production and then lots of SB’s and a great BA at .370.  

Group B slacked on SB’s, but batted to a tune of .371 with over 200 RBI’s while putting up respectable HR/2B numbers.  

Group A demonstrated the most home run power but is relatively weak in the remaining 4 categories.

Hopefully you have now picked which groups you would pick based on these numbers.  Assume that all groups provide equal defense as this is supposed to be only evaluating outfields on these core offensive statistics.  This should help us eliminate pre-notions of star power and media bias when consider which outfield we would be happiest with out team having.  It would be great if you would enter into the comments section how you rank these outfields, and especially if you did it now, before I reveal who they are made up of.

So who are these outfield teams?  Here they are with their 2012 statistics:

Group A is the Los Angeles Angels. Group B is the Toronto Blue Jays. Group C is the Atlanta Braves. Group D is the St. Louis Cardinals. Group E is the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Which one of these outfields is truly the best and most productive is actually pretty arbitrary.  They all put up great production and are all outfields that any manager would love to have…especially if you are John Farrell and you are stuck managing a last place team!

The point being made is that not only have the Blue Jays dramatically revamped their starting rotation and infield with these two huge transactions this week, but Melky Cabrera completely changes the dynamic of their lineup and outfield.  In the late 80s the Blue Jays had a stellar outfield (Bell, Barfield, Moseby), and respectable pitching, but they were pretty ho-hum on the infield. In the early 90s, the Blue Jays had it all.  They had starting pitching, a bullpen, and infield and an outfield that had Devon White in Center, Joe Carter in Right, and a rental in the shape of either Dave Winfield or Rickey Henderson in Left (also, please note that the 92/93 Blue Jays had Candy Maldonado and a 3-way-platoon until the playoffs during those years, respectively.  Henderson and Winfield were late summer acquisitions.  If the 2013 Blue Jays are in a playoff race, maybe they will go out and pickup another elite outfield/first base/DH rental to add some pop to their lineup).

Before the Melky Cabrera trade happened every one was still enamored by the colossal trade that had taken place just two days before.  The trade that re-shaped the infield and rotation.  Well, Melky Cabrera might have been that two-year rental, much like Winfield/Henderson, that supplemented their graceful center fielder and slugging right fielder.  Melky Cabrera is by no means Dave Winfield or Rickey Henderson by and stretch of the imagination.  But he just completed the outfield for a team that is already looking pretty comfortable in all other aspects of their game.

The bottom two rows show two great Blue Jays outfields of the past. Where does the top row fit in regard to Blue Jays history? Will the trio of Cabrera-Rasmus-Bautista create a legacy as the new generation of Toronto outfielders that brought a world championship to the city?

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com ***

Alex Mednick is a Baseball Writer and Analyst with MLB Reports.  He has both played and followed the game extensively his entire life.  Alex grew up in New Haven, Connecticut—right in the crossroads of Red Sox Nation and The Yankee Empire.  Somehow, he dodged the bullet of joining the war between these two teams, and a love affair between the Toronto Blue Jays and Alex formed.  Growing up in Connecticut, Alex Mednick idolized Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar.  When he was 19 he moved to Saint Petersburg, Florida.  Here he attended Eckerd College and continued fulfilling his love for baseball.  Tropicana Field was 5 minutes from his apartment, and there were 5 spring training camps within an hour drive.  Alex graduated from Eckerd in 2010 with a B.S. in International Business and dual minors in Spanish and Management.  Most importantly, he met his amazing wife in college, and the two now reside in Stuart, Florida.

Please e-mail us at: mlbreports@gmail.com with any questions and feedback.  You can follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.  To subscribe to our website and have the Daily Reports sent directly to your inbox, click here and follow the link at the top of our homepage.

Follow @mlbreports

Tuesday November 20th, 2013

Note from Lead Writer Chuck Booth:  Just to be fair on this whole John Gibbons hire, I am posting this article written by my fellow colleague/Baseball Writer at the MLB Reports) in order to give a different vantage point.  Alex is a Blue Jays fan, so he has a passion for the team.  His thoughts are of his own and while I may not agree with his opinion, that is okay.  That is why we all have our own minds and are not all sheep!  So here is his article (based on a question he answered on my previous piece this morning.)

The Blue Jays have not qualified for the Playoffs since they won Back to Back World Series in 1992 and 1993. Only Pittsburgh and Kansas City and Toronto have not made a playoffs appearance since the 1994 strike. Will 2013 be any different with OLD/NEW MGR John Gibbons?

Alex Mednick (Baseball Writer and Analyst):

I responded to our Lead Baseball Writers Message about not liking the Gibbons hiring in this article earlier today here. 

It was, frankly, my initial reaction as well..I was not pleased when I first read this news about Gibbons.  I think AA also realizes the consequences of spending his bosses money and then making a poor decision.  If it does not pan out, it could mean his job…AA is not untouchable, even though there has been a  demi-god status applied to him.  Bosses don’t like when you squander their money…period.

But for some reason I am intrigued by this hiring.  I was absolutely fed up with the Ricciardi/Gibbons regime, and thought that they should have been fired 2 years before they were.  But Gibbons acted largely as the puppet of an egotistical, and nonsensical J.P. Ricciardi, which I can attribute to a lot the reasons he was criticized.  There is no doubt, even though managers do not take any at bats themselves, they have a large impact on the team.  Look at Bobby V and Boston.

I think that Gibbons was a stooge for JP Ricciardi and that is part of why he is so attractive to AA.  AA actually stated during the hiring process he was looking for someone who could fall in line with his and the organization’s theory.  Farrell was the opposite of that, a free thinking executive type, who also seemed disinterested in the organization as a whole.  He didn’t take the job seriously.

“At first, I was not happy with the signing, having thought about it a little more, lets give it a shot.” Alex Mednick

During the frustrations that occurred within the organization during Gibbon’s previous tenure (trust me, I was frustrated), there were well publicized incidents of player-manager altercations between Hillenbrand, Lilly and Gibbons.  I’m not all that sure, however, that Gibbons is much of a “hard-ass” or a tough guy to play for.  He definitely is hard-nosed and passionate, but I think that the Hillenbrand scenario is something that happens more often that is reported, and the Lilly incident was an unfortunate instance that happened in a very public arena.  All the while, Gibbons stayed very loyal to the organization and It is this same “hard-nosed” and “passionate” streak that the Blue Jays need.  They are a young team, and still have a lot of young players developing to play a big role in their future.  Clubhouse leader Jose Bautista (and Gibbons is a proponent of ensuring that a  teammate, and not staff, leads the clubhouse), said that he wanted someone who could keep the players in line, but also allow them do relax and play their game.  Gibbons seems like that kind of guy…It is hard to know for sure without being a part of the organization whether it is true, but I think Gibbons is a pretty good people person and those two infamous incidents have been blown out of proportion.

Brett Lawrie may clash with newly hired Manager John Gibbons, but that may not be so bad.

His easy-going side will allow the players to build their own culture and chemistry, but his passion will benefit guys like Lawrie who need to be told it’s okay to be “passionate”…For Lawrie that is truly a strength in his character and too many people are trying to give him a “labatomy”.  Colby Rasmus needs the proverbial “kick in the ass” at times but is seemingly headed in the right direction to be all that he can be.  I loved watching Gibbons argue with umpires, and the pitchers and players will feel that their skipper has their back.  These are all things that are necessary for a team to win.

I really think that Gibbons has the potential to be the right fit for this team…after reconsidering.  I think that with the raised expectations, if they fail, he will look horrible but it is unlikely to be largely due to the manager.  If the team does mesh well, I think Gibbons could be an added asset to their success.  More than anything, the coaches that AA and Gibbons hire are going to shape and have an effect on this team more so than anything Gibbons will do…it’s about the atmosphere in the clubhouse more than the occasional miscall from the dugout (all managers make them). And Gibbons is actually very good at managing a bullpen, that much has to be recognized…I will say, that I hope we don’t see too many of his crazy lineups being switched around all the time, although we do have a very versatile lineup this year with switch hitters and utility players.  Maybe he will find just the right equation and stick with it!  Hopefully he will also really put the running game into play…he is a national league guy, so he plays that kind of game (in his last term we saw lots of guys running who shouldn’t have…ahem, Bengie Molina)!

This team will be a lot of fun to watch play hit-and-run baseball.  We also had a stellar defense during his last term that he cherished, and now, we have that once again…Jose Reyes and Brett Lawrie on the left side of the infield?…that’s going to be nice for our groundball pitchers (Morrow/Romero/Happ)…and an outfield of Cabrera, Rasmus and Bautista?…we have a great defense for a manager who knows how to match up bullpen arms with opposing hitters.

More of the success of this team has to do with the direction that AA steers the ship than Gibbons, because ultimately I think we can expect Gibbons to be a puppet once again (to a certain degree).  If we hear Gibbons mumbling lots of “uh, you know, it’s a long season things will work out”…we will know that an ultimatum needs to be reached sooner than later.

Alex Anthopoulos has fixed a lot of the problems that J.P. Ricciardi left him with. Now, he has hired a man who Ricciardi fired. If Gibbons works out, he will look like a genius. If he doesn’t work out, it may cost him his job. At least AA puts all of chips into the middle of the table!

*** The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of mlbreports.com ***

Alex Mednick is a Baseball Writer and Analyst with MLB Reports.  He has both played and followed the game extensively his entire life.  Alex grew up in New Haven, Connecticut—right in the crossroads of Red Sox Nation and The Yankee Empire.  Somehow, he dodged the bullet of joining the war between these two teams, and a love affair between the Toronto Blue Jays and Alex formed.  Growing up in Connecticut, Alex Mednick idolized Joe Carter and Roberto Alomar.  When he was 19 he moved to Saint Petersburg, Florida.  Here he attended Eckerd College and continued fulfilling his love for baseball.  Tropicana Field was 5 minutes from his apartment, and there were 5 spring training camps within an hour drive.  Alex graduated from Eckerd in 2010 with a B.S. in International Business and dual minors in Spanish and Management.  Most importantly, he met his amazing wife in college, and the two now reside in Stuart, Florida.

Please e-mail us at: mlbreports@gmail.com with any questions and feedback.  You can follow us on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.  To subscribe to our website and have the Daily Reports sent directly to your inbox, click here and follow the link at the top of our homepage.

Follow @mlbreports

Tuesday, Nov.20/2012

Chuck Booth (Lead Baseball Writer): Follow @chuckbooth3024

I am in complete shock that the Jays hired John Gibbons as their recycled coach.  For a guy that has largely supported Alex Anthopoulos on many moves since he has taken over the helm, I can’t believe he pulled this guy off the scrap heap for managers.  Gibbons managed the Blue Jays from 2004-2008 and held down a mediocre 305-305 record.  While he did post back to back winning seasons in 2006 and 2007 in a tough AL East, he also had some talented players to work with.  Roy Halladay was the premier pitcher in the American League from 2005-2008 and would give a 11-13 games over .500 clip just by taking the hill every year.  In the 3 full years that Gibbons had Halladay, he was 44-16 (.733) in 72 starts, so if he had been healthy for 96 starts in this time frame, he would have won about 59 Games versus only 24 losses.  In Gibbons best year as a manager, he was 87-75 with the 2006 club.  Halladay was 16-5 (11 Games over .500).

I would never want to re-hire a manager that has 0 playoff appearances when the current club is going to be graded on exactly that.  The Jays will have a serious ‘PR’ nightmare if this hire does not work out.  No one would have faulted AA for hiring a manager with playoff experience.  If those guys aren’t available as your top choice, at least bring in someone fresh that has not tasted failure for the club.

John Gibbons being given the Managerial job came out of nowhere from Jays management. There had been no speculation at all that he was even being considered as late as yesterday. With many of the other candidates yielding playoff appearances as part of their pedigree, a lot of people will question the hiring.

I don’t understand teams bringing back managers that did not fare well with the club the 1st go around.  At least with Cito Gaston (who took over for Gibbons when he was fired in 2008 after starting 35-39), had World Series Championships to his credit.  Gaston took over the same club that Gibbons could not reach, and placed a 51-37 record down the stretch of that season.  Only if Gaston could be brought back into the fold to coach this team once again.  This time around, with all of the talent stockpiled on the team, he would have a chance to take the Jays back to the promise land.

The other managers the club missed out on:

Ozzie Guillen

Ozzie Guillen is a smart manager that deflects the media  in his direction when the club is struggling and praises their efforts when doing well. With 20% of the players having already played for him last year, he would have had a smooth transition. His Manager style is better suited for the American League.

Gibbons is known as a tough, no-nonsense manager.  If they were going to sign  a guy like that, Ozzie Guillen would have been a better direction to go.  Ozzie Guillen would have been perfect to take over this team considering how many LATIN players on the club.  Guillen is so underestimated in the world of baseball as a manager.  He would have been perfect in the Media Mecca that is Toronto.  I have never seen anyone in the Major Leagues as a Manager that the team would put their post game conference up on the scoreboard as the fans are exiting the park, as the White Sox always did with when Ozzie managed them at Us Cellular Field.  It was a testament to the man’s colorful ways and popularity.  The Jays should have given this guy a longer look.

Ernie Whitt

Ernie Whitt has been Managing Team Canada in International Play for the last 8 Years with some nice success. He should have at least been interviewed for the job as Blue Jays skipper.

Ernie Whitt is not only the best catcher the organization has ever seen, the man has been a bench coach for the club, and had led the Canadian National Team for the better part of the decade to decent results in International competition, despite a limited roster and not a lot of ex or current MLB Players.  The fans love this man and he would have been a perfect selection for the job.  He is currently a roaming instructor for the Philadelphia Phillies.  Whitt is likely to coach Canada in the 2013 World Baseball Classic.  I mean, why wouldn’t the club even interview this guy?  I find him likeable as an interview and the man also knows the game.

Sandy Alomar Jr.

Sandy Alomar JR. might have been the best candidate to have not been hired by the Jays Brass. He is young enough, could have coached the LATIN players well, and could have helped J.P. Arencibia and the other catchers work on refining their defense at the position. He will remain with Cleveland for 2013 as a bench coach.

Sandy Alomar Jr. was almost hired by the Jays in 2010, before the club hired John Farrell instead.  He acted as the bench coach for the Cleveland Indians in 2013.  He also played the game at the catchers position for 20 years.  He also would resonate well with all of the Latin players on this team.  Plus he would probably have brought along Roberto Alomar as part of his coaching team.  It would have been an awesome hire to bring this guy in, instead he will remain as the Cleveland Indians bench coach for 2013.

Jim Tracy/Jim Riggleman

Both Jim’s would not have been my favorite selections, but at least both have been to the Playoffs.

While I think it would have been a mistake to hire these guys too, I would even have them  over John Gibbons.  Jim Riggleman did a pretty decent job with the Washington Nationals in grooming some of their young talented stars and really got a raw deal without being giving a contract extension.  Yes that would be a red flag for some that he quit on the job last year, however the man is a pretty decent teacher of the game.  Riggleman coached some talented young Cubs teams in the late 90′s as well.  Jim Tracy has also led 2 of his 3 teams managed to playoff births and had early success in his 1st year he took over the Colorado Rockies.  Both of these guys would have been better hires than Gibbons.

So where does this leave the Jays?  They could end up playing well anyway.  After all, John Gibbons will never throw a pitch, or take a turn at bat.  If you are a Jays fan, the time to win is now and they can’t afford a slow start out of the box.  If they do start slow, the fans and the city of Toronto will be calling for his job early.  It almost will be playoffs or bust for the club in 2013.  I am not confident he will do a good job, but maybe I will be wrong. If Gibbons couldn’t control those teams back then, how is he going to manage a bunch of superstars now?  So please Cito, keep your cell phone ready!

Cito Gaston took over for John Gibbons after a 35-39 start in 2008. Gaston led the club to a 51-37 record in the last 88 games. He was the skipper for both of the franchises World Series wins and is credited for fixing Jose Bautista‘s swing.

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Here was the starting line up for the Dodgers at the start of the season (1.0) versus the one they’re likely to start tonight vs. the Marlins.

1- Dee Gordon SS                                                 1- Shane Victorino LF
2- Mark Ellis 2b                                                     2- Mark Ellis 2b
3- Matt Kemp CF                                                   3- Matt Kemp CF
4- Andre Either RF                                                4-Adrian Gonzales 1b
5- Juan Rivera LF                                                  5-Hanley Ramirez  SS
6- James Loney 1B                                               6-Andre Either RF
7-Juan Uribe 3b                                                    7-Luis Cruz 3b
8-AJ Elis C                                                              8-AJ Ellis C
9-Kerhsaw P                                                          9-Kershaw P

It’s a major change. Hanley Ramirez is a huge improvement over Dee Gordon. Gonzales a huge improvement over James Loney and Victorino an improvement over Rivera.

The Dodgers offensive is now one of the most potent in Baseball. So what does the pitching look like? The Dodgers have the 3rd best pitching in Baseball. Blanton and Beckett will help solidify the rotation behind Kershaw, Billingsley, Capuano. Beckett also gives added insurance should Billingsley need extra time to recover his form from his ongoing right elbow issues. Heading into September the Dodgers may also get additional reinforcements if Ted Lilly should return. My guess is that Blanton gets regulated to the bullpen if Beckett ends up being an improvement and Lilly can come in and start.

There’s going to be a lot of talk about whether the Dodgers added too many non-useful players to acquire Gonzales. But Beckett is only a year from going 13-7 with a 2.89 ERA. Crawford won’t factor in this year but in 2013 he could be to go Dodger lead-off hitter of the future. He is a career .300 hitter who can steal 30-40 bases a year and hit 12-15 hrs, he’s also 31 and has some great years ahead of him.

Nick Punto could provide stability at 3rd base if Cruz fades and is a big improvement over Juan Uribe. In the trade the Dodgers lose Loney a hometown favorite but a disappointment at the plate in 2011 and 2012. Rubby De La Rosa could be a decent pitcher one day.  Ivan De Jesus will become a full time SS for some team and Justin Sellers might become a great or above average MLB outfielder. AS a pitching prospect Allen Webster was one of the Dodgers more promising ones and as such should at some point turn into a fine regular starter with a good career in baseball. I think the Red Sox are hoping one or two of the prospects pan out or at least help them leverage going after other players this off season.

All and all game on for the post season push! The Dodger offense is potent, the pitching is only rivaled by the Nationals. It’s going to be a fun September and October!

I was in Rancho Cucamonga today watching the Stockton Ports play the hometown Quakes, a Dodgers affiliate for whom former Athletic Ted Lilly was making a rehab start. The A’s of the future did little in the 9-2 loss though A.J. Kirby-Jones managed a home run off of Lilly. The Quakes meanwhile tagged Ports starter Sean Murphy for three home runs in his four and two-thirds innings on the mound (ouch). For the big league boys, the A’s avoided a sweep with a win in the third game of the three game set in Kansas City downing the Royals 3-0 behind Dan Straily‘s first MLB win. A’s improve to 62-55 with the win as the lowly Royals slump to 51-66.

• Straily deserves a lot of the credit for this one as he kept Kansas City hitters off balance all night. In his six and a third innings, he allowed just three hits (all singles) along with two walks while striking out just two. He threw 99 pitches, 67 crossing the plate as strikes. On the year in his 17 innings he has 6.4 K/9, 2.1 BB/9 and 2.1 HR/9 so while he has a tidy 3.18 ERA he has a messier 5.45 FIP. Adjusting the home runs he still is at 4.82 for his xFIP as he has struggled to keep the ball on the ground (28.3% GB%) and also benefits from an unsustainable .240 BABIP and 97.2% strand rate.
• The bullpen however should not be overlooked as they did what they had to do to preserve the win for Straily pitching two and a third innings of shutout ball as Sean Doolittle, Jerry Blevins and Ryan Cook earned holds and Grant Balfour came in for a 1-2-3 ninth inning to notch his ninth save.
• Coco Crisp launched his sixth home run of the year off of KC starter Luke Hochevar. Originally ruled a double as it bounced back to Jeff Francoeur off of a railing out in left field, Bob Melvin argued and upon review it was named a round-tripper which gave the A’s all the run support they’d need. Yoenis Cespedes also tagged Hochevar for a home run, taking him deep to left center for his fifteenth on the season. The 1-for-3 day also raised his batting average above .300 to .301.
• The A’s offense otherwise was pretty sparse with a Jemile Weeks single scoring Derek Norris for the third A’s run. No Athletic had more than a hit. Other than the two home runs the only extra base hit was a Brandon Moss double. Again disconcerting is that the A’s had eleven strikeouts. They just keep whiffing and whiffing, Chris Carter, Josh Donaldson, Josh Reddick and Weeks all K’ing twice each.