Saturday, January 9, 2010

It's the journey

Regardless of how the Aroldis Chapman affair plays out, Blue Jay fans are already winners. As has been repeated ad nauseam, the fact the Jays are willing to stick their collective noses in on a coveted free agent such as Chapman is telling.

Telling in that it shows that Anthopoulos has Beeston's - and therefore Rogers' - full confidence to transform the club as per his vision. Telling in that the owners, who have been slagged numerous times by numerous sources (present company included) for not spending, are willing to commit financially to make it happen. And telling in that the Anthopoulos-led Jays are not willing to simply concede defeat to the "big boys" when it comes to pursuing players who fit the vision.

You know what else this last week (or so) has done? It's given us something to dream on. Dunno about you folks, but I've been working through future rotation scenarios in my mind's eye - Marcum/Morrow/Chapman/Cecil/Romero? But then what of young Kyle Drabek, seen as the key cog to the Halladay deal? Or how about blogger favorite Rzepczynski? Last year's first rounder Chad Jenkins? And what if McGowan can get past his shoulder problem? That's a lot of talent - unproven as it may be - from which to piece together a rotation. In fact, ignoring the Chapman dream, it's clear to see the Jays are commodity rich in the major league arms race. Which leads to this thought....

Does it not seem inevitable that AA has another trick up his sleeve? What's the one area in the Toronto system (in the post-Halladay era) that Anthopoulos himself has mentioned as being coveted by other teams? The Jays young pitching. Where is the team's surplus? Young pitching. Where are the Jays needs as we build towards contention? Just about everywhere but young pitching (and the outfield, 1B, and 2B...but you see where I'm going with this). In other words - especially if the Jays land Chapman - maybe hold off on ordering up that custom Romero/Cecil/Rzepczynski jersey for a few weeks.

One more thought on what the pursuit of Chapman might mean, if you tend to read into things like I do (I pray to all that's holy that you don't): it signals a re-entrance into the Latin American market for players that made the Jays a model franchise in the halcyon days of the club. George Bell, Carlos Delgado, Tony Fernandez, Alfredo Griffin, Damaso Garcia, Manny Lee....hell, I'll even throw a Nelly Liriano at you. The Jays would be wise to re-emerge as a favored destination for their countrymen. More dreams, I guess.

A note on the Zach Jackson acquisition
To the critics: simmer the fuck down. It was borderline shocking to read the caustic and sarcastic comments throughout the blogosphere comment sections regarding this move for Toronto.

In case you haven't been paying attention, the Jays have "lost" the immortal Brians Burres and Bullington, along with Fabio Castro and whomeverthefuck else this offseason. That's a lot of Vegas innings to fill. And not every player on the minor league roster is destined to be a star. They're called organizational players, and every team has them.

Yes, even the Yankees (Josh Towers, anyone?).

Sunday update
Chapman signs with an NL team? Good thing I was stressing the "journey, not the destination" angle...

16 comments:

Mylegacy said...

This off season has been fantastic.

We could be in a place where our rotation from late 2011 on might be five of: Morrow, Drabek, Chapman, Jenkins, Stewart and Alvarez.

Meaning all TWELVE of Romero, Cecil, R-alphebetsoup-ski, Marcum, McGowan, Litsch, Richmond, Tallet, Mills, Ray, Purcey and Gonzalez might all be looking for a spot in the bullpen or be trade bait.

We could be on the verge of getting a VERY COMPETITIVE - BRAND NEW - complete starting rotation all acquired in one year! Amazing.

I cannot wait for spring.

Roy said...

Turn Morrow into a lights out closer anyone?

Roy said...

I know, it;s what messed him up in the first place. Just a possibility so Litsch doesn't try and cut someones hamstring to get into the roto.

The Ack said...

You know, I felt bad about omitting Litsch from the list of potential starters there, but hard to see how he still fits. Prove me wrong, Jesse.

Torgen said...

Why are we putting McGowan (who has ever been successful as a starter) behind Morrow (who hasn't)? And I feel like it's a little early to be anointing Jenkins.

The Ack said...

Hey, it's sunshine Torgen! These weren't rankings, dude, just listing off future possibilities.

Re: Jenkins - I mean, he was a first round pick, so I think it's reasonable to say the club sees him as a future rotation piece.

And, I'd love for McGowan to emerge healthy and be the ace he was destined to be, but that shoulder is a massive question mark.

.....I see MLBTR is reporting Chapman has signed a $30M (!) deal with an NL club, so if true, that dream is over.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

Hey, it's sunshine Torgen!"

That resulted in a good lol. Nicely done, Ack.

You're absolutely right about the young pitching. We've got a stockpile of it. And if the organization is looking more to trades than free agency, it only makes sense to deal what you've got a surplus in.

As for Chapman ... it was a long shot to begin with, but at least we were in it. I've always been fond of the moral victory. You have to be, as a fan of this club. Not surprising to see that he got $30 million. I'd have chased the money too. I wonder who it is ...

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

According to the Toronto-hating Jeff Passan, it's most likely Cincinnati, and $30 million over five years.

Torgen said...

What, I can't call people out for rosterbating to prospect porn? If this team was trying you win you'd need SPF to read my tweets.

The Ack said...

Fair point. There was some definite rosterbation (TM - LTB) going on there.

Ty said...

It's too bad we didn't get him, but at the same time, I'm glad we weren't the ones paying $30 million for him.

Navin Vaswani (@eyebleaf) said...

Torgen, I appreciate your points of view, storm clouds they may be. We need all points of the spectrum covered, and that's one of the beautiful things about this site. From the writers to the commentators, everyone's got a "personality" as a fan of this team.

Go Jays.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone given any thought to McGowan as a closer or set up guy. That douche in boston was turned into a closer to protect his shoulder. Am I crazy to think that McGowan's stuff might play very well out of the 'pen?

The Ack said...

No, you're not crazy. Without searching the archives, if I haven't posted about it, I know I've commented about it with the same Papeldouche comparison. Would be fanfuckingtastic if McG can regain the form that dubbed him future ace, but a bullpen wizard wouldn't hurt the club either.

Colt McCoy said...

The reds are gonna be nasty now. They have a lot of good young arms stacked, just like the jays

dave57 said...

The reds do look like a team with a pretty good rotation shaping up down the road but you have to wonder where the money for this deal came from. I seem to remember them talking about dealing Harang/Arroyo/Phillips to anyone that would pay their salary. I guess they are only paying 1M this year but I really didn't expect them to be players on this one.