Joel Sherman in the New York Post (h/t MLB Trade Rumors) has a story telling us that the Jays are quietly becoming a threat to the Yankess.
Imagine what the Rays would look like with the finances to keep all of their best players.
I guess you could say that this is yet to be seen. We don't yet have 100% proof that the team will spend to keep all it's best players, but they did sign Jose to a long term contract, Yunel and Ricky are signed for the next few years. We will see how things go in the future.
You know how hard it is to even win 81 games like the Jays did last year when three teams in your division win at least 90? Or win 85 when three others win at least 89 as occurred in 2010? It is like a mathematical trick or - more aptly - symbolic of just how good Toronto has become.
Yes we know exactly how hard it is. The problem for the Jays is to explain to the average fan how hard that is to do. Most people look and see a .500 record and think that the team isn't very good. It's hard to explain that we did that while playing 56 games against 3 of the toughest teams in baseball. Maybe the 3 toughest teams in baseball.
Here is another thing you might not know: Toronto's owner, Rogers Communication, just might be the majors' richest ownership.
Yeah, but a lot of Jays' fans think they got to be the richest owner in baseball by not spending on players. I think, when the time comes, they'll be spending. I know people wanted the team to spend a fortune on Prince Fielder but we'll be wanting to keep guys like Brett Lawrie. Sign Prince to $30 million a year and watch him decline and then not have money to keep Brett through his prime? I'd be unhappy with that.
Anthopoulos believes if the Jays build it (a title contender) they (the fans) will come again and so will monster TV ratings. "We have a whole country to draw from," Anthopoulos said. "The fan base is 30 million across Canada."
We had 800+ comments on a spring train game thread and the game wasn't even on TV. How many comments you figure we'd get for World Series game 1? It does feel like there is an excitement building around the team. I'm optimistic about the future. I'm not sure that this is the season we break through, but even if it isn't, 2013 and 2014 should be a lot of fun around here.
It's a nice story, nothing that we didn't already know but it does feel good that others are noticing how good the team is getting.
How optimistic are you? How many times do we make the playoffs in the next 5 years?