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March 9, 2008

Every Given Sunday

A Different Feather

by John Perrotto

Fifteen years ago, the hottest spring training site on the Gulf Coast of Florida was the Blue Jays’ camp in Dunedin, Florida. The Blue Jays had back-to-back World Series titles in 1992-93, and four American League East crowns in five years from 1989-93. Tickets were nearly impossible to come by for Grapefruit League games at cozy Dunedin Stadium.

Much has changed for the Blue Jays since those glory days. They haven’t been to the postseason in the past 14 seasons, and have rarely even played an important September game in that span, as the Yankees and Red Sox have dominated the AL East. The Blue Jays have been perennially stuck in third place, finishing in that spot eight times in the past 10 seasons to go with one second-place finish and one fifth-place finish.

However, the Blue Jays at least have reason for cautious optimism heading into this season. While the Red Sox are clearly the team to beat, and the Yankees are again most formidable, the Blue Jays feel they have a puncher’s chance to win the division. “It’s always going to be tough when you’re in same division with those teams,” Jays manager John Gibbons acknowledged. “To finish ahead of either the Yankees or Red Sox, you’re going to have to have one of those seasons where everything goes just right and breaks your way. But we do feel we can play with those teams. We believe we’ve put together a good team that is capable of winning a lot of games. It’s the best team we’ve had since I’ve been the manager.”

Gibbons replaced Carlos Tosca during the 2004 season, and has guided the Blue Jays to 80, 87, and 83 wins in his three full years. Gibbons did his best job last season, when Toronto finished above .500 despite having the opposite of the type of season it is hoping to have in 2008. Everything seemed to go wrong for the Blue Jays, and little broke their way. Toronto’s pitching staff was decimated by injuries. Closer B.J. Ryan succumbed to reconstructive elbow surgery after just five appearances, while left-hander Gustavo Chacin started just five games because of a shoulder injury, right-hander A.J. Burnett missed six weeks with a sore shoulder, and Tomo Ohka was a bust after being signed as a free agent.

Forced to improvise, the Blue Jays found some able replacements. Jeremy Accardo took over as closer and had a 3.218 WXRL, while Shaun Marcum (4.3 SNLVAR), Dustin McGowan (4.3), and Jesse Litsch (3.0) all shined as rotation fill-ins in their first extended taste of the major leagues. That enabled the Blue Jays to finish a surprising second-best in the AL in runs allowed with an average of 4.31 a game. “It really does go to show you that there is a silver lining in every dark cloud,” Gibbons observed. “The injuries we had truly were a blessing in disguise because we learned we have good pitching depth in the organization.”