The Blue Jays had a very good year in 2008, but the fact that they play in the incredibly tough AL East took away from their good season. Roy Halladay was unbelievable for Toronto by winning 20 games and having a sub 3 ERA. AJ Burnett finally stayed healthy and showed how good he can be by winning 18 games and having 231 strike outs. Also, the baseball world was introduced to 20 year old Travis Snider and he did not disappoint. Snider hit .301 in 78 ABs, had 2 homeruns, 13 RBIs, and 9 runs. He made the most of the short time that he was in the majors. If the Blue Jays were in the NL West they would have won the division with their 86 - 74 record.
Projected Lineup:
C - Rod Barajas
1B - Lyle Overbay
2B - Aaron Hill
SS - John McDonald
3B - Scott Rolen
LF - Adam Lind
CF - Vernon Wells
RF - Alex Rios
DH - Travis Snider
Projected Rotation:
#1 - Roy Halladay
#2 - Jesse Litsch
#3 - David Purcey
#4 - Scott Richmond
#5 - Casey Janssen
Closer - BJ Ryan
2009 Outlook: The Blue Jays lost AJ Burnett in the off-season and that is a big loss for them because when he is healthy he is one of the top pitchers in the league. Roy Halladay should get close to 20 wins again and pitch well, Litsch should get to double digit wins, but nothing special, and David Purcey could get double digit wins as well, but again nothing special. After those three it is really down hill in the pitching department. Scott Richmond and Casey Janssen could get roughed up a lot in 2009 and that is going to hurt Toronto big time. They need as many wins as possible to compete with Tampa, Boston, and New York.
The offense looks as if it should be really good in 2009. Travis Snider will have more experience and only get better as the season goes on. Two big questions that Toronto has are with Alex Rios and Vernon Wells. Can Vernon Wells stay healthy and can Alex Rios make up his mind? Alex Rios either steals a lot of bases and does not hit homeruns or he hits homeruns and does not steal bases. He switched midway through the 2008 season. If Wells can stay healthy and Rios choses what he wants to do, then the offense will be ok, but the pitching will still hurt the team.
Projected Finish: 4th Place, AL East
there is 5 teams in the AL East. if this is the first team you have from this division...they should be projected as 5th place, not 4th.
ReplyDeletethat was my bad, i posted it at the wrong time.
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