10 Reasons To Be Excited About The '10 Jays

The Blue Jays' 2010 season, which is only hours away from taking flight, is poised to be a tough one. The face of the franchise is gone as the After Doc era begins, and Vernon Wells is earning three times as much as the Jays' entire rotation. But despite those bumps in the road, there are reasons for optimism in '10. Here are ten of the best:


1) Aaron Hill

We all missed it. While our attention was focused (deservedly) on Roy Halladay and his amazing pitching prowess, Aaron Hill quietly became one of the best hitters in baseball. He also became quite the heartthrob--even though he occasionally gets caught in a yawn (see photo), most Jays jerseys I've noticed worn by girls around my university are adorned with Aaron's name on the back. Speculation has Aaron settling back a bit from last year's levels of offense, at least in power, but even so, it looks like we finally have our best second baseman since Robbie skipped town 15 years ago.

2) The Youngsters Emerge

When you run your finger up and down the Jays' opening day lineup, it's not very impressive. In fact, large parts of the Jays' roster could be considered interchangeable with Las Vegas. By the end of the year, expect that to be the case--Jesse Carlson, Brett Cecil, Zach Stewart, David Purcey, Josh Roenicke, J.P. Arencibia, and Brett Wallace are just some of the names that will be given a try in Toronto eventually, many of whom show tremendous potential. By September, we'll have a good grasp of who will lead this team back to respectability in 2011 any beyond.

3) Alex Anthopolous

Meet the new GM, not quite the same as the old GM. Anthopolous has shown a willingness to make trades, and an ability to make good trades. Unlike J.P. Ricciardi, who was scared away from trades because he knew he'd be skewered if they didn't pan out, Anthopolous gives you the sense he enjoys making deals as much as any armchair GM. On top of that, he's engaging, honest, and has a fresh approach to public relations--right now, he seems like a dream GM. 'Course, we said the same thing about Ricciardi at first...

4) The Anti-Bandwagon

We all know that Leaf fans are insufferable. Any victory proves that the team is good enough to make the playoffs, any trade was a ridiculous steal on the part of Brian Burke. Jays fans have the opposite tendency--they can't criticize fast enough. Travis Snider hitting ninth?!? Randy Ruiz on the bench?!? Brian Tallet as the #2 starter?!? (Okay, that last one might be valid.) Listening to Jays Talk will be fun this year, because we all enjoy the despair of Jays fans more than the delusions of Leaf fans.

5) Buck Martinez

Now that the man who fired him has departed from the scene, Toronto's patron saint of colour commentary has made his return. Only now he's doing play-by-play, working with his old teammate Rance Mulliniks and his old understudy Pat Tabler. Martinez has a great voice and a tremendous depth of baseball knowledge, I suspect he'll be the best TV play-by-play guy the Jays have had since Dan Shulman headed stateside.

Also, the Jays have finally committed to producing all 162 games of the season. Some might still wind up on the Rogers preview channel, but no longer will we have to suffer through inexplicable out-of-town broadcasts.

6) Unlikely Heroes

Assuming we take Cito and Anthopolous at their word (and yes, that's always dangerous), there aren't any safe jobs on this year's squad. In theory, this means ample opportunity for everybody to prove that they can play--maybe Randy Ruiz will continue to hit .350, maybe Kyle Drabek will be ready for the bigs earlier than anybody thinks, maybe Dana Eveland will turn into an ace. Management has laid the groundwork for a new decade's Chris Michalak or Tony Batista to come in and surpass everybody's expectations, and probability law suggests that this will happen.

7) Travis Snider

It's still hard for me to believe that a bona fide MLB player is barely older than I am, but Snider fits the bill. Snider's rookie season included some ups and downs, but ultimately it was decided he was good enough to start 2010 as the Jays' left fielder. This kid has a ton of potential and a great work ethic--if this is the year he starts to put it all together, it'll be a lot of fun.

8) We Can Beat The Yankees

Not every time we play them, sure, but beating the Yankees won't be as big of an accomplishment this year. PECOTA has them projected to miss the playoffs, and most predictions I've seen have them finishing behind Boston and Tampa. It might be an easier victory than it has been in a long time, but that doesn't make it any less sweet. Especially if A.J. Burnett is back on the mound.

9) No More Tomo Ohkas

Don't get me wrong, the idea to bring in Ohka (and John Thomson, and Victor Zambrano, and Brad Wilkerson, and...) was a good one--cheap pickups who at some point were effective major leaguers, and might be able to recapture that glory. But the execution, the running these people out game after game even though they clearly didn't have it and our career minor leaguers in AAA would have done a better job, that was a problem. This year, we're going with the career minor leaguers--and if they can't hack it, and get sent back down to Vegas, their egos will be just fine.

10) Doc's Return

Any true Jays fan already has June 25-27 marked, circled, and underlined on every calendar they own. The Philadelphia Phillies roll into town, with the odds slightly in favour of a Roy Halladay start. This isn't going to be Burnett coming back to the Rogers Centre to get humiliated, this is going to be Mats Sundin's return to the ACC. We love the guy, we'll give him an ovation. We'd love to see Toronto kick his ass, of course, but we wouldn't rub it in if that happens. He's a great player, after all, so maybe he'll throw a shutout or score the winner in a shootout--and if he does, we'll cheer for him just as much as we did when he wore our colours.

These aren't silver linings, little puffs of interest in a season full of doom and gloom. These are bona fide reasons to cheer for the '10 Jays.