Looking Forward To The 2013 Blue Jays

The Toronto Blue Jays are entering another difficult offseason. There was high hopes in Jays Nation that 2012 season would be a good one, full of breakout seasons and meaningful baseball in September and maybe even October. Unfortunately, the season fell apart shortly after the all-star break with some injuries, sloppy baseball and the Orioles not falling apart like we thought they would. Now the team must take stock of the talent and reassess their priorities heading into 2013.

There are several areas that should be set, Jose Bautista in right field, Edwin Encarnacion at first/DH, Colby Rasmus in centrefield, Brett Lawrie at third base and a catcher (either Arencibia or D’Arnaud). The relievers should also be in decent shape going into Dunedin. There are also many question marks, beginning with the starting pitching staff, which has lots of holes and is being held together by Dr. James Andrews surgeries. Left field is still a concern as is the middle infield. The other big question that the Jays might have to face is who will be the bench boss.

John Farrell was brought into manage the Jays with much fanfare. He had done a great job with the Boston Red Sox pitching staff, was known as players manager. In two years on the job he has kept up the rapport with the players and even though he has a pretty poor win loss record (19 games under .500), his former employer has apparently come knocking since the Bobby Valentine experiment didn’t work out.

The Jays are now in a tight spot, they can force their manager to stay and fight the possibility that he doesn’t want to coach the team or they let him go and start the search for a new manager. The Jays need to hope that Farrell decides to stay, not because he is irreplaceable as a manager, but because stability is a key to a winning organization. Farrell in his two years has seen all the players come up to Toronto that will make up the core of the Jays for the next 5-10 years and he should be working closely with general manager Alex Anthopolous to shape the roster.

Hopefully John Farrell is sitting in the corner of the Jays dugout in April and not at Fenway, but if he is, there are several candidates the Anthopolous could consider;

-Jim Tracey (former manager of Colorado who just resigned)

-Ozzie Guillen (soon to be former manager of Miami)

-Sandy Alomar Jr. (currently on the Indians bench, but was overlooked for the Cleveland job)

-Brian Butterfield or Terry Lovello (both on the current Jays staff)

-Ernie Whitt (wants a opportunity to coach at the big league level)

-Omar Vizquel (recently retired and could fit the profile of teams hiring former players, like Robin Venutra)

Whatever happens with the manager situation, this offseason needs to be about adding talent that will propel the Jays forward.