Blue Jays’ Talented Young Pitching Gives Toronto Fans Optimism for Future

The Toronto Blue Jays aren't going to make the playoffs in 2010.

But that doesn't mean it hasn't been a successful year for a team that was supposed to finish in the cellar of the AL East after losing its ace, Roy Halladay, to the Phillies.

Toronto enters Fenway Park for a series with the Red Sox this weekend at 63-57, on pace for about 85 wins. While that record has no chance of eclipsing the rest of the powerhouses in the AL East, most baseball analysts will attest to the fact that the Blue Jays are, without a doubt, a very good baseball team.

Led by unsuspecting slugger Jose Bautista (37 homers), Toronto's offense leads all of baseball with 183 home runs in 2010. Meanwhile, the Blue Jays' pitching staff ranks second in the AL in strikeouts (876) and fifth in opponents' batting average (.250).

The Blue Jays are a formidable ballclub and pose a threat to the Red Sox each time the two teams meet.

And as Tom Dakers from Bluebird Banter tells us, the Blue Jays are going to remain competitive in the AL East for a very long time.

NESN.com: How have the Blue Jays been able to have so much success in 2010, despite the loss of Roy Halladay?

Tom Dakers: We have a lot of good young pitchers. Brandon Morrow, Ricky Romero, Shaun Marcum and Brett Cecil could be good major league pitchers for years to come. Combine them with a good bullpen and good defense, and you can go a long ways toward building a team.

On offense, we have a bunch of sluggers. Before the season, manager Cito Gaston said we could have eight guys with 20-plus homers. I laughed. Well, he could turn out to be right. That is about all our offense does well. We don’t take a lot of pitches, we don’t have a lot of speed or high-average hitters. What Cito has done well is working with the players he has been given, not trying to make them do things they aren’t able to do. He won’t hit-and-run or bunt or, you know, any of those manager-type things. He just tells the guys to swing for the fences and it works.

NESN.com: What was the thought process behind Toronto GM Alex Anthopoulos’ move to trade Michael Taylor (acquired from the Phillies in the Halladay deal) to the Athletics for Brett Wallace, then ship Wallace to the Astros for Anthony Gose?

T.D.: Would "damned if I know" work as an answer? No? From what I can figure, the team thought that Taylor could only be a corner outfielder, that his size will rob him of his speed and that the team is fairly set in the corners in the future. So off to the A’s for Wallace, who the Jays had liked for a long time — they drafted him but he didn’t sign. We thought he was the first baseman of the future.

Wrong again. Gose is a pretty raw talent. His defense in center is great and the team feels that it is harder to find a good center fielder than it is to find a first baseman. He is very good defensively, covers a lot of ground and has a great arm — he was a pitcher who could get his fastball into the 90s. The question is: Will he be able to hit? He just turned 20 last week. His numbers at A-ball don’t look that great but he is younger than most of his competition. He is holding his own but not much more.

It is a hard trade for Jays fans to get their heads around. Wallace was to be our first baseman for years. He was at the top of our prospects list and was high up on Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospects. We figured next year we’d be watching him. Trading him for a player that isn’t on anyone’s top prospects list and is a few years away from being able to make the majors is just a tough shift in thinking for the fans. Shifting gears like that can make your transmission fall right out of your car. Hopefully the Jays' scouts and management know better than we do.

NESN.com: Will Toronto ever be able to break through the tough AL East fortress that is the Yankees, Rays and Red Sox? Do Blue Jays fans want division realignment in baseball?

T.D.: Yeah, I think so. We seem to be headed in the right direction. There is optimism around the team again. But if you could arrange for us to move to the AL Central, I wouldn’t be against this idea. It is funny — everyone says how well-run the Twins are and ‘how they play the game right,’ but if you put them in the AL East they wouldn’t be in the playoff hunt.

NESN.com: Did Toronto make the right move by holding onto all of its strong bullpen arms like Scott Downs, Jason Frasor and Kevin Gregg at the trade deadline?

T.D.: General manager Alex Anthopoulos decided he wasn’t going to trade anyone unless he got back something that he thought would be a special piece for the Jays. Why make a trade just to make a trade? If you are only offered players that won’t help your team, stand pat. Downs will be a Type A free agent. Frasor and Gregg, I believe, will both be Type B, so if you aren’t offered anything better than what you could pick up in the draft, you’d be a fool to make that trade.

NESN.com: Starting in 2011, the Blue Jays owe Vernon Wells $25 million per year for four years. What are the chances that Wells is in a Toronto uniform by the end of that deal?

T.D.: Poor Vernon, he gets a ton of grief for signing a contract offered to him. I'd guess that he’ll still be with the team until very near the end of the contract. No one is going to take the contract from us and he is too good to just release. It is best to forget about the money and just enjoy him. His defense has been much better this year than last and he has hit better.

NESN.com: When do you expect Kyle Drabek to make a big impact with the big league team?

T.D.: He might make the team at some point next year but I’d expect him to make a real impact in 2012. People here really do want to see him — we have folks on the site hoping he’ll be a September call-up this year. When you trade Roy Halladay for a player, you really want to see what he's got. I think Kyle will be really good, but we have a bunch of good young starting pitchers. There is no point in rushing him to the majors.

Thanks again to Tom Dakers from Bluebird Banter for his contribution to this article.