Toronto Blue Jays 2011 Season Preview: A Good Season to be a Fan

The expectations for the Toronto Blue Jays have not been this high since the mid-90’s. With a team that finished 85-77 and in fourth place in a difficult AL East in 2010, which ended up being about 15 wins better than what was supposed to happen, the leap to the next level in 2011 is a dream that fans in Toronto are hoping becomes a reality.

The magic number to make the playoffs in the American League will be 95 wins and for the Jays to improve to that threshold they need to keep doing the things that made them potent in 2010 – hit the ball extremely well for power, hope that the other big three in the AL East stumble slightly and finally play well against the NL during inter-league games.

In 2010 the Jays were led by heavy bats who hit home run after home run and a deep pitching staff. Although the formula for success will be relatively the same for 2011, some of the faces and places have changed.

The pitching staff was the biggest surprise of last season. The young staff was thought to be developing and several of the pitchers who were supposed to lead the team ended up injured but the Jays still managed to put lots of quality starts together. They hope the same will happen this year. With 99% of the pitching staff, including all the starters under the age of 30, there is a bright future in Toronto.

After the trade of Shaun Marcum to the Brewers, Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow will be the top two starters this year. Romero finished 2010 with 14 wins and as the ace of the staff in 2011 he’ll be asked to win at least that many and should oblige. Although Morrow didn’t get the high win totals of some of the other members of the staff last season, he should be able to win at least 14-15 games this season. Morrow arguably has the best ‘stuff’ of anyone on the staff and will provide quite the 1-2 punch with Romero.

The third, fourth and fifth starters this season will probably flux throughout the season depending on injury and innings count. To start the season, the Jays will have top 50 prospect Kyle Drabek make the jump to the majors. A lot is expected of Drabek since he was the key piece of the Roy Halladay deal. Brett Cecil who finished 2010 with the team lead in wins is back and if he can continue his pace the Jays will definitely have a chance at the 95 wins. Jo-Jo Reyes, Jesse Litsch and Mark Rzepczynski will also all get chances to take the hill for the Jays this season. All are hard throwing, young pitchers who will hopefully be able to give 6-7 innings a start and then make way for the strong bullpen.

The closer spot will only have one question this season, who is going to get the ball? To start the season it will be Jon Rauch taking over from the inconsistent Kevin Gregg. Others that will get the ball at the end of the game will Frank Francisco or Octavio Dotel. In a scenario with everyone healthy, Francisco should be the guy with the ball at the end of the game, but it is always nice to have options. Jason Frasor returns as the set-up man and will be counted on to be a shut down pitcher and hold the lead when called upon.

Other names that fans will see out of the bullpen this year include Shawn Camp, Carlos Villanueva, David Purcey and Casey Janssen.

Now that the pitching staff has been set, the players that will score the runs to protect them need to be covered. The outfield has had the biggest makeover. With the magnificent trade to unload the contract of Vernon Wells there was the open spot in centrefield. Newly acquired Rajai Davis from the Oakland A’s brings speed and enough offence to make up for the year on, year off Wells. Travis Snider has claimed left field as his own. He will need to be more consistent as a young player, but it seems Jays management has confidence in him to be the man going forward. For awhile it seemed like the weak link in the outfield might be in right, but that is no more as manager John Farrell has decided that reigning home run champion and the Jays newly minted face of the franchise, Jose Bautista will be the everyday right fielder. Although it would be nice to see Bautista hit 50 home runs again, it will be tough for him as opposing pitchers will be on the look out for that sweet swing.

In the role of back-up outfielders will be Juan Rivera, Jayson Nix and Cory Patterson. Also, lurking are Scott Posednik and young farm hand Anthony Gose.

The infield defence may be a little inconsistent at times and could cause some pain to the Jays pitching staff. They will probably make up for it with their bats, but the more sure handed they can be, the more likely the Jays are to get closer to that magic 95 wins. Returning to the hot corner is Edwin Encarnacion. Encarnacion gets a bad rap for his defence but he covers a lot of ground, and as long as he can keep his throws accurate enough he will have a fine season. The person at the other end of EE’s throws is Adam Lind. The young star has moved to first base and has proven himself defensively. He needs to return to his 2009 offensive form again though and that could make him an all-star. The middle of the infield is strong with former all-star Aaron Hill manning second base. Hill is also a player who needs to return to his 2009 offensive form. Hitting for a .206 average despite hitting 26 home runs just isn’t going to cut it. At shortstop is Yunel Escobar. A solid defensive player who also adds some speed on the base paths will turn the double without problems and help keep those ERA’s down.

Behind the plate this year is super prospect JP Arencibia. After making his debut last year with a bang, Arencibia was frustrated at the plate and then was relegated to back-up duty behind Bengie Molina. This year, he is the undisputed starter and needs to make the most of his opportunity. Molina will still get the opportunity to play enough as he will catch Brandon Morrow and probably Jo Jo Reyes.

With all the shifting in positions in the infield, the everyday DH ends up being Juan Rivera. Arriving from the Angels as part of the Vernon Wells deal, Rivera has to be consistent at the plate and provide the protection for the likes of Hill, Lind and Encarnacion and his job will be complete.

There you have the team that will take the field for the Blue Jays this season and try once again to make Canada proud by bringing the playoffs North of the border.

Across The Pond - Raptors vs. Nets in London, England

A change of venue could not help the Toronto Raptors win over the weekend. The Raptors and the New Jersey Nets played two games at the 02 Arena in London, England on Friday and Saturday. These were the first two regular season NBA games ever played outside of North America. After the weekend, the Nets now have the honor of having the only wins on foreign soil as they beat the Raptors in both contests.

In the Friday night’s game, the Nets came out on top 116-103 with newly acquired Nets guard Deron Williams controlling the contest by scoring 16 points and adding 11 assists, even though he was listed as questionable to play due to injury leading up to the game. This gave him his fourth straight double-double since joining the Nets at the trade deadline. Other Nets didn’t seem affected by the time change and media responsibilities during the visit to London as Brook Lopez contributed with 25 points. The Raptors managed to score points, but the defense once again let them down. DeMar DeRozan had a game high 30 points and is really blossoming into a well-rounded player, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Nets
Saturday’s game was a treat for the London fans as they received some free basketball. The game went into triple overtime, and in the end it was the Nets who came out on top 137-136. Andrea Bargnani had a chance to win the game for the Raptors at the end of both the first and third overtime periods, but failed on both attempts. Fans were treated to some great performances during the 3.5 hour game though. Brook Lopez once again came through for the Nets by scoring 34 points, grabbing 14 rebounds and blocking 8 shots. Deron Williams wasn’t too bad himself with 21 points and 18 assists. For the Raptors, Bargnani did have 35 points and 12 rebounds and DeRozan had another 30 point game in the loss.

Now that fans in the UK have seen live NBA basketball will they become fans like the NBA wants? Will they become fans of the Nets or the Raptors? Only time will tell, but history really isn’t on the NBA’s side.
The Nets are trying very hard to become “Europe’s Team”. Since being purchased by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, they have added a Russian version to their website and have started to sign promotional deals and run basketball camps across Europe. Winning games during the inaugural NBA international series will help their profile (all fans like winning teams), but it will still be an uphill battle for them. Traditionally, in areas that don’t have pro teams, the franchises that become popular are the ones that win championships or have the best/most recognizable players. The Yankees with their 27 World Series trophies or Manchester United’s popularity across Asia are prime examples. In this case, the Nets and Raptors are not in that class.

The NBA shop had a sale prior to the weekend, and instead of using NJ or Toronto players to sell to European fans who may be visiting the website shop during this period of time, they featured Kobe Bryant of the LA Lakers, LeBron James of the Heat, Kevin Durant of OKC, Joe Johnson of Atlanta and Derrick Rose of the Bulls. If these are the players and teams that are the face of the NBA why wouldn’t the league consider sending at least one of them?

This has been common practice of leagues of the major North American sports leagues. They have never really send their best product overseas and it is baffling as to why. When soccer comes to North America, the teams that tour are the top clubs – Manchester United, Chelsea, Celtic FC, and Real Madrid have all played games during the past few years. The NBA sends two teams that are out of the playoffs. You could argue that they wouldn’t have known that at the beginning of the season, but neither team was predicted to have a good season.

The NFL has played an International game for the past 5 seasons. Only one of the games was exciting (Saints 37 vs. Saints 32) while the other games were poorly contested and featured the likes of the perennial losing teams such as the Arizona Cardinals, SF 49ers (twice!), Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Miami Dolphins. The New England Patriots did play in one contest, but they did that because their owner, also owns Liverpool FC. Next season it is rumoured that the Pittsburgh Steelers will be one of the teams featured in the International Series since the game is being played in Ireland where the Steelers owner is the US ambassador.

The NHL sends more teams over than any other league to kick off their regular season schedule each year for the past couple of seasons. This season it was the Bruins, Blue Jackets, Coyotes and Wild that traveled to Europe for games. Of those teams, only the Bruins have had any success recently. Next season the Washington Capitals are already rumoured to be one of the teams travelling. This finally makes sense. Send your most marketable player in Alexander Ovechkin to promote the game and show the fans the best brand of hockey possible.

If the big four sports in North America want to make any in-roads in Europe, they can’t force the issue. They will have to let the love for the game and the leagues come naturally. The things they can do to help fast track the passion for the game is to bring the best product when they do play games in Europe, continue to promote the best teams and players because if you have no allegiance to a team, you want to cheer for winners and of course, don’t run out of beer during your games.