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Blue Jays: contender or pretender?

The Toronto Blue Jays are no longer the also-rans in the American League East. Or at least that’s what Canadian news outlets would have you believe. The New York Yankees have been called ‘too old to win’ for a decade now, but those geezers won the AL East going away. The Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays both finished ahead of the Jays last season. But Toronto finished 16 games under .500 last year, so plenty of teams did that. 

The Jays made a few off-season splashes that will – pundits say – reel those teams in. And let’s just not talk about the train wreck in Boston. (Actually, let’s, but how about saving that for another day?)

Despite having a home run king like Jose Bautista in the lineup, the Blue Jays are building their hopes around younger players like Langley-born infielder Brett Lawrie. Photo stolen without remorse from the internet.
Despite having a home run king like Jose Bautista in the lineup, the Blue Jays are building their hopes around younger players like Langley-born infielder Brett Lawrie. Our question: is Lawrie going to live up to the hype? Photo stolen without remorse from a random site on the internet.

More, including a ridiculous picture of Matt Damon, after the jump.

Toronto was busy in the off-season. Jays VP Alex Anthopoulos made moves that would make Beyonce blush, my friends. He bolstered until he couldn’t bolster no more. Damn his hide, the man went on a spree that would normally send half of the baseball world into a cussing frenzy — but only because this series of acquisitions is normally only done by organizations like the Yankess. 

Let me quote MLB Center: the Jays traded for “All-Star right hander Mark Buehrle, All-Star shortstop Jose Reyes, right-hander Josh Johnson and infielder Emilio Bonifacio. The Blue Jays then added NL Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey and catcher Josh Thole from the New York Mets, reliever Esmil Rogers from the Indians and free agents Melky Cabrera, Maicer Izturis, Henry Blanco and Jeremy Jeffress.”

With all of those award winners in the clubhouse, it almost doesn’t matter that Lawrie will start the season on the DL. He suffered a rib injury in the World Baseball Classic, and isn’t scheduled to start throwing again until later this week.

The 2013 season opens with a trio of home games against the Cleveland Indians, who are renowned for being atrocious on the road. That said, the Tribe have a new manager in Terry Francona, and spent the summer throwing free agent money around at Nick Swisher and Jason Bourne.

This is not Michael Bourne.
This is not Michael Bourne.

Wait a minute, that’s a typo. Michael. Make that Michael Bourne.

While Cleveland didn’t make as many moves as Toronto, they’ve got a much different feel to their offense. And both clubs have a lot to prove, as they were a combined 42 games behind their respective division leaders.

Welcome back, boys of Toronto summer. I can tell you our love is still strong. The only question is, will you break our hearts yet again?