Jays hungry for more
AL East champs want to take it two more steps
DUNEDIN • Spring training arrives every year outfitted with its own automatic sense of renewal but, for Blue Jay manager John Gibbons, the camp that opens here on Monday is special.
“There’s a different feel,” said Gibbons Friday, his first day at the team’s spring training headquarters.
“After all those years, we got over that (playoff ) hump. Now, can we build off it? Or are we a one- year wonder? You don’t want to be a oneyear wonder. The pieces are all in place. There are some new looks but the core is there, so let’s build off that.
“Just talking to guys over the winter, there’s definitely a sense that there is unfinished business to take care of .... Now we have a taste of it and we’re even more hungry.”
There is every reason for the Blue Jays manager to be confident. The offence that outscored its closest pursuer by a whopping 127 runs returns virtually intact. Indeed, the expectation is that, with Michael Saunders healthy in left field and a full season of Troy Tulowitzki at shortstop, this could be an even more productive outfit. The Jays also made great strides defensively as the 2015 season unfolded and will bring that solid run-prevention outfit into 2016.
The 2015 Blue Jays separated themselves from the rest of the Al East with a mighty push at the end of the season. After 102 games, the Jays were sitting at 51- 51 on July 29. Over the next 55 games, they went 41-14. After losing four of its final five games, Toronto finished with a 9369 record, for a six-game lead over the second- place Yankees. The Jays defeated Texas in an entertaining openinground five-game series, then lost the American League Championship Series to Kansas City in six games.
In looking back, it’s not a surprise that they won the AL East. What’s surprising is how they were able to play only .500 baseball through the first four months of the season, given the raw offensive numbers.
“It didn’t add up,” says Gibbons, in retrospect. “By accident, you would think we would have won a few more.”
The trade that brought shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and reliever LaTroy Hawkins to Toronto in exchange for Reyes, plus minor league pitchers Jeff Hoffman, Jesus Tinoco and Miguel Castro turned the tide.