Quote:
Originally Posted by moon
That isn't really their problem at all.
As the resident Cardinals (and in many peoples eyes Jays hater) equating their problems to not having a guy like Pujols who is easily the best hitter of hi generation and possibly a top 5 guy of all time when is is done is just silly. Throw in the fact that he was a 14th round pick and it makes no sense at all.
The problem the Jays have had, outside of the garbage excuse of their division, is that they have overrated the readiness/ability of their young guys and overpaid on bad players.
The Jays seem to have corrected this problem, although it is very, very early, but JP did develop guys but made the mistake of thinking they were ready to early and wasting money on FA's like Thomas and Ryan.
The Jays issue isn't that they can't compete with NY and BOS but that they have to choose the right time to do it and that has to coincide with young guys taking the next step. When that happens then that is the time to spend money. JP chose the wrong time to make that next step and spent the money too early.
The thing about competing with those two teams now is that they produce as much young talent as other teams but still make bad signings. Yes the Jays can go head to head year after year but they can for say 5 years out of ten if they make smart decisions in bringing up their own talent.
Sure it woudl be great if they could luck out and get a talent like Pujols or Cabrera but if that is the plan you are not going to be successful for the most part.
For me the key is not to stop whining about the division, stop trying to win when the time isn't right (which the Red Sox have actually done) and build the team to compete for 5 years out of ten instead of being mediocre for 10 years out of ten.
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Moon, there is so much wrong with what you have said. first the contradictory comparative analysis you offer. the Jays are not, contrary to the early part of post, competitive with the Yanks and Sox. Those two are teams like St Lou, LA(before the divorce), and the LAA to a degree, in that they are always able to spend on their farm systems and land big time free agents. We have a competitive budget for a team, but all those teams have or had comparable budgets to the jays, but those teams all spend a lot on their farm teams. This was the first year the jays have had this much to spend on the draft and international talent in a long time. They have had to go overslot on numerous deals. the dickie thon bonus is first round money for a guy drafted in the sixth round. Under JP's reign he never saw the value in a strategy like that. That is the other issue I have with your post. Trying to criticize so, seemingly, vehemently about JP's shortcomings but fail to notice this.
Also, Ryan wasn't a terrible deal. That kind of proves your intentions. He was an all star closer his first season. You can't predict injury or regression like with hill and lind, so it kind relates to what Gozer said, where he stated it in a more succinct fashion. And choosing to compete as you say, is kinda what AA is doing, so perhaps you be less caustic of him than jp since you have similar ideas.
And the Division excuse is not garbage. The only reason the NL has a division with 4 50 win teams is because the NL is generally weaker and all those teams beat up on basement dwellers like the dbacks and the pirates. Our cellar dwellars are the indians who sweep us after four games and the orioles can surprise. So the jays are in tough with 3 teams superior to them. The rays are an anomaly since they were putrid for 12 seasons only to have the resulting talent blossom into players like crawford, longoria, niemann, price et. al.