The Jays' front office was curiously public this week. Some thoughts on why, plus Mark Shapiro on expectations, performance, Schneider, Vlad, Bo, extensions, Romano, an All-Star Game bid, and more!
Well, as he mentioned, it's been 7 years (7 years!) and like many, I had full confidence in this regime building a sustained winner and bought their narrative - and by winner, I mean a team that has a chance to win the World Series. Last year I think was a huge missed opportunity but was also apparently a year ahead of our anticipated window. This year has one big red flag looming over it - what if this is what our team is? A good team, but not a great, championship calibre team (unless of course we finally catch fire in September and the playoffs).
Sure, next year could completely turn the page and we click on all cylinders, but there is a lot of work to be done to make that happen. And what if the next 3-4 years prove fruitless - we are ultimately after a World Series right? There seems to be a lot of teams way ahead of us in that regard. There are too many flaws with the team at the moment and if this 'competitive window' with our young core talent doesn't yield something big, or close to big, then what can we conclude? The plan failed? The players weren't as good as we thought they were? The Front Office wasn't as smart as they/we think they are? I'm not sure Jays fans will handle that very well.
But this is all negative - this year could just be an anomalous funk. But perhaps the roster construction needs fixing in a big way - the offseason will be huge, as they always seem to be.
I could only hear snippets of this on the car radio today, but knew I could look forward to a Stoeten transcription and breakdown. Thanks from a happy subscriber. If you're reading this for free....PAY THE MAN.
Well, as he mentioned, it's been 7 years (7 years!) and like many, I had full confidence in this regime building a sustained winner and bought their narrative - and by winner, I mean a team that has a chance to win the World Series. Last year I think was a huge missed opportunity but was also apparently a year ahead of our anticipated window. This year has one big red flag looming over it - what if this is what our team is? A good team, but not a great, championship calibre team (unless of course we finally catch fire in September and the playoffs).
Sure, next year could completely turn the page and we click on all cylinders, but there is a lot of work to be done to make that happen. And what if the next 3-4 years prove fruitless - we are ultimately after a World Series right? There seems to be a lot of teams way ahead of us in that regard. There are too many flaws with the team at the moment and if this 'competitive window' with our young core talent doesn't yield something big, or close to big, then what can we conclude? The plan failed? The players weren't as good as we thought they were? The Front Office wasn't as smart as they/we think they are? I'm not sure Jays fans will handle that very well.
But this is all negative - this year could just be an anomalous funk. But perhaps the roster construction needs fixing in a big way - the offseason will be huge, as they always seem to be.
I could only hear snippets of this on the car radio today, but knew I could look forward to a Stoeten transcription and breakdown. Thanks from a happy subscriber. If you're reading this for free....PAY THE MAN.