Doc's Diagnosis: '07 Jays suffered from malaise

(How about that title? Bad puns! Bad rhymes! It's like a James Blunt song! Cougars will love it!)

Roy Halladay has always been a fierce competitor on the field, but a bit pat and polite to the press. You'll never hear him call out his team's performance, even when the Jays go into prolonged stretches of absolute sucknaciousness.

Which is why it is fascinating to read the quote that Doc gave Globe Baseball Junior (aka Lil Bobby MacLeod) at the pre-Spring Training workouts. In just a few words, Halladay pretty much sums up last year's failures, and reveals a lot about the state of the dressing room.

“I think there were times last year where there just wasn't that sense of urgency, where things were kind of taken lightly,” Halladay said.

Halladay goes on to say that Scott Rolen and David Eckstein will make a big difference, and everything is a-okay. And if he says so, who are we to doubt it?

Still, it's something else to see staff ace quietly and efficiently eviscerate some members of the '07 squad (some of whom, you'd have to guess, are still on the team in '08.)