ACES WANTED
Blue Jays GM vows to hunt for top free-agent pitchers as ugly season comes to end,
Losing is always toughest on the fans.
Though it’s something Blue Jays supporters have grown accustomed to after 19 consecutive playoff-less seasons, this year was particularly hard on the city’s baseball fanatics, who were re-energized by a promising young team that was blistering hot coming out of spring training.
Six months later, after a season derailed by injuries and underperformance led to the club’s second-worst record since 1980, the only October baseball Jays fans were treated to was this week’s meaningless three-game set against the Minnesota Twins, one of only three AL teams with a worse record than Toronto.
The excitement around the Jays this spring was reminiscent of the championship teams of the early 1990s. Expectations were exceedingly high. But the mood quickly soured in June when three-fifths of the starting rotation went down in the same week, an injury bug that eventually made its way through the bullpen and the starting lineup.
But the initial buzz around the team led to an overall boost in attendance and TV ratings.
Crowds inside the Rogers Centre were up 15 per cent this year, or an average of about 3,500 more spectators per game.
The good news for fans is that your increased support did not go unnoticed.
Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos said the team’s revenues have gone up “across the board” and will be reallocated to the payroll, which “will definitely go up” next season.
Both manager John Farrell and Anthopoulos say the team’s starting pitching needs are obvious and will be the main priority for upgrades in the off-season.
On that point, the fan base is on the same page as Anthopoulos.
“They need to acquire more pitchers, proven ones, that’s for sure,” said Melissa Lentini, who lives in Belleville and travelled to Toronto for 10 games this season, including Wednesday’s finale.
Lentini said she couldn’t remem- ber a time when there was more excitement for the Jays at the start of the season. “It was great to see the city behind the team at the beginning of the season, but it was disappointing when it all faded as the season went on.” Eight-year-old Ryan Pelton took in the final game of the season with his parents, just a few seats away from the Jays’ dugout. Ryan’s highlight of the year? “Edwin Encarnacion hitting a lot of home runs.” Encarnacion, who missed the final three games of the season, hit 42 homers this year, good for third in the majors and one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal year. Ryan’s Lowlights? “Losing Jose Bautista twice.” The reigning home run champion sprained his left wrist in New York on July 16 and returned for just two games in Baltimore on Aug. 24 before he was shut down for seasonending surgery. Ryan would like to see the Jays acquire replacements at second base and shortstop.
“And they need a few pitchers,” he said.
Vlad Nikic, 19, said it was the most disappointing Jays season he could remember. “I honestly thought they were going to be a playoff team.”
Nikic also echoed a sentiment common to the city’s sports call-in shows. “I think they could spend more.”
We’ll see this off-season if Jays owner Rogers lets Anthopoulos keep his word.