Toronto Blue Jays

[ArgoRavi]

With the Jays' loss to the Yankees on Wednesday night, they have been officially eliminated from wild card contention with 11 games still to play. They are also assured of a sub .500 season.

[jerrym]

Blue Jays fans can look forward to another preseason set of predictions of first place finishes by the Blue Jays from the entire Rogers crew.

[AngeloV]

Blue Jays fans can look forward to another preseason set of predictions of first place finishes by the Blue Jays from the entire Rogers crew.

You mean like the 108 win prediction Richard Griffen of the star made going into this year? How does someone that far off keep his job as a baseball writer?

[jerrym]

You mean like the 108 win prediction Richard Griffen of the star made going into this year? How does someone that far off keep his job as a baseball writer?

Exactly. You can probably toss in the entire mainstream Toronto sports media in its slavish devotion to what they think is "major league" anything.

[Ron]

Exactly. You can probably toss in the entire mainstream Toronto sports media in its slavish devotion to what they think is "major league" anything.

Many baseball writers across North America had the Jays winning the division. Many also had Boston in the basement.

That's why they play the games I suppose.

[jerrym]

In an unsurprising move, the Blue Jays have refused to make a $14 million 2014 qualifying offer to Josh Johnson, who finished 2-8 with a 6.20 ERA, after being obtained from the Miami Marlins. This was another trade gone bad for the Jays, as Johnson earned $13.75 million this year.

http://sports.nationalpost.com/2013/...-josh-johnson/

[D-Gap-Willie]

There was no point in making a $14 M qualifying offer to Johnson. It was obvious to most observers that Johnson had completely lost his pitching mechanics while trying to recover from shoulder inflammation ( and subsequent problems) early in the 2011 season. He had moments when he looked OK, but it was obvious that he was still battling injury problems. Can he rebound ? I doubt it. Almost 3 years of battling through arm issues will make a permanent mess of pitching mechanics. He got more than $35 million for only 13 wins in the last 3 seasons. Now his agent wants another $10 M for next season. A minor league contract would be more realistic.
I don't see the trade as having "gone bad for the Jays". They still got Reyes and Buerhle, and gave up very little in return.

[Will]

Watch Johnson turn into a Cy Young award winner.

[D-Gap-Willie]

Watch Johnson turn into a Cy Young award winner.

Before or after Ricky Romero wins it ?

[ArgoRavi]

So with the first spring training game today, what are the expectations for this Jays team which is not much different than last year's?

[Will]

There is still potential offensively despite significant holes at C and 2B. The starting rotation is, once again, the weakest part of the ball club and no steps were taken in the off-season to improve it. This is certainly not a playoff team, but if a few things go right they may return back to an 80-85 win ball club.

[294life]

Way to rock the big O tonight with a 5-4 win in front of 46.121 folk. Expecting over 50,000 tomorrow.

[ArgoRavi]

Way to rock the big O tonight with a 5-4 win in front of 46.121 folk. Expecting over 50,000 tomorrow.

I was surprised that so many Montreal folk were cheering for the Blue Jays. I thought that Montrealers hated Toronto sports teams.

[Argo57]

Attended last nights 6-4 loss to Houston approx 15k attendance, no atmosphere at all in the building, long gone are the Jays glory days.

[Will]

The Jays are playing half-decent baseball right now. Still very early though.

[bluto]

Jays just won their 8th in a row and 13th out of 15 and sit in first and did this in front of 15,993 fans

[T-Bone]

Jays just won their 8th in a row and 13th out of 15 and sit in first and did this in front of 15,993 fans

Looks like their TV ratings are on the up though.

[ArgoRavi]

Looks like their TV ratings are on the up though.

When the Jays are winning, their ratings are great; when they are not, they take a bit of a nosedive.

[T-Bone]

When the Jays are winning, their ratings are great; when they are not, they take a bit of a nosedive.

I speculate that is true for many sports teams.

[294life]

I bought a ticket for the season finale. Hopefully they can either finally win the division or a playoff spot. Four months to go