It's time to start looking to the future of the Jays because there isn't much left to say about the present.
Five weeks to go in the Major League Baseball season and there's no reason to continue to rail on the obvious shortcomings of the 2008 Blue Jays. They've all been laid out before us for several weeks now.
But there are some things that I'd like to see happen so that all Jays' fans can at least have something to hold up with some form of optimism during what could be a very turbulent off-season in Toronto.
Keep playing the new guys
The arrival of Randy Ruiz, although a couple months too late, coupled with the return of Travis Snider have given a glimpse of the future in the power department next season. Adam Lind and Aaron Hill have more than lived up to their potential this season, so a strong finish by Ruiz and Snider will solidify an evolving mid-order. Ruiz's career minor-league numbers (.304 AVG, 308 doubles, 192 HR, 807 RBI in 1,088 games) should not be discounted. He has hit at every level but for whatever reason has seen just 36 games of action in the Bigs. Remember it wasn't too long ago that they shelled out over $18 million to 39-year-old Frank Thomas to DH and 'The Big Hurt' gave them just 34 home runs over 226 games. From what I've seen, I can't believe that Ruiz can't give them at least that and for a fraction of the cost at a time when getting value for their money is paramount. As for Snider, we're going to have to take the good with the bad. He's still raw in the field and at the plate but we tend to forget that he's still just a 21-year-old. As long as he takes to the coaching, Snider has a world of ability and will give them another power bat from the left side. There's no reason why Ruiz and Snider couldn't be in their every day the rest of the way.
Strong finish for Doc
Thirteen starts into his season, Roy Halladay had 10 wins with a 2.52 ERA while averaging 7 2/3 innings per start and the team was giving him ample support by scoring 7.29 runs per game. Then a funny thing happened on his way to his second Cy Young Award: a strained groin sent him to the D.L. and when he returned things weren't even close to being the same. His name was in the headlines daily as the trade deadline approached as he lost his ability to put hitters away and the run support dried up. Over his last 11 starts, he's just 3-6, 3.67 ERA and has allowed 12 home runs. It's in the best interest for all involved that Halladay rediscovers his magic and finishes strong. No matter what happens this off-season, 'Doc' will be in the middle of everything. If they decide to do a complete rebuild, he'll be dealt for a significant parcel of prospects. If he's kept and they increase the payroll considerably to take a run at the playoffs, he needs to get back to where he was in early June.
Take stock
For whatever reason, the Blue Jays have never used September to take a look at players/pitchers when they can expand their active roster to 40. The reasoning has always been that they want to put their best line-up out there against teams still battling for the playoffs. Well, just about every other team out of the post-season hunt bring up prospects for a look see regardless of who they are playing so why not the Jays? As I scour the minor league stats, why shouldn't slugging first baseman Brian Dopirak (.313 AVG, 26 HR, 92 RBI in 127 games between AA & AAA) get the call and some prime-time at bats? Even though he's not exactly torn the cover off the ball in his first full season at AAA, top catching prospect J.P. Arencibia should also get to experience a month of the Major League life and take that back with him to think about over the off-season. Or how about Buck Coats, who had a cup of coffee with the big club a year ago? At 27, he's not exactly a prospect, but he's hitting over .300 while his 25 steals to date would give the Jays sorely needed speed on the bases.
As for the pitching, injuries to the big club have forced the likes of Brett Cecil Marc Rzepczynski, Brad Mills and Robert Ray to the Majors before their time so the cupboard is a little bare but we still need to see what Fabio Castro, a left-hander acquired at the 2008 trade deadline for Matt Stairs, can do in the September rotation after some of the youngsters are shut down for precautionary reasons.
Make post-season decisions quickly
It all starts with whether or not interim CEO Paul Beeston has finally found his successor. Everything else should fall into place after that. One would think that a new man at the top would want to bring in his own baseball operations people to run the show and set the rebuild in motion. General Manager J.P. Ricciardi can complain all he wants to ESPN that the Toronto media have had it in for him but the bottom line is this team has spun their wheels in the eight seasons under his watch. And all that this writer had to see was MLB.com's list of the top 50 prospects heading into this fall and there wasn't one name from the Blue Jays farm system on the list. That certainly doesn't bode well for the immediate future. This is a team at a crossroads and some tough, exact decisions need to be made. The core is promising but after that the falloff is quite dramatic. In my mind, the ticket-buyers will accept a full rebuild if they are told exactly what is going on.
