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Originally Posted by Sylvanfan
Well the Yankees have had a fair amount of injuries themselves. They do have the ability to stock their roster with better depth which has let them survive. The Rays stayed afloat while dealing with injuries.
I hear all this hype about Jays prospects...yet what have they done in the majors? I certainly haven't seen anyone come up who looks like they'll be anything more than an average player so far.
Roy Halladay traded 3 seasons ago, what do the Jays have to show for it...two guys done for the season with injuries, and a guy who so far can't hit major league pitching. This after they kicked in money to trade him to the Phillies, and flipped the one guy who's somewhat been able to hit major league pitching.
Defend the Jays all you like, but right now they're looking like the only AL East team to not make the playoffs in the last 5 years. They knew damn well going into this season that they lacked depth in their rotation and the minor league guys have either got injured, or not been up to par. The Athletics have had injuries to their rotation too...yet they actually find a way to win.
I suspect that even if the Jays team had stayed healthy, they would still be 6-7 games behind the top 3 teams in the Division. They're more hype than substance in my books. Will be until they can play a full season and win more than 86 games.
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The real "top prospects" are still in A ball. The three young pitchers Sanchez, Nicolino, and Syndaguard are three guys that all have "ace potential". All three put up amazing numbers this year and will be in AA next year. As we all know the jays aren't scared to call up guys from AA during the season (Hutchison, Alvarez). This year may look like a "step backwards" but all these AB's these young guys are getting will do wonders for their development. Hechavarria will most likely be in our infield somewhere next year (2nd base is my guess) so this taste of the big leagues will help him greatly for next year.
As for the injuries, yes the Jays have been hit hard, but every team has them. The Jays lack of depth in starting pitching definitely showed this year and that is one area that needs to be addressed in the off season. Maybe the Jays can bring back Marcum in the off season? He is a free agent and would be a good veteran to have back on the team. He would act as a stop gap until the young pitchers I mentioned earlier are mlb ready.
The players added to the bullpen from trades/call-ups have impressed me alot in the past month. The Jays bullpen looks much better now heading into next year and hopefully they can resign Lyon (free agent) and Oliver (our best pitcher this year IMO with a club option for next) will play another year. Add hopefully a healthy Santos to join Delabar, Jansenn, Houp, and Lincoln and our bullpen is actually respectable.