Hints, allegations, and....

Heyo! Late to the party, as usual, but much like Vernon Wells jogging into a basebrawl, better late than never, right? Right.

(Incidentally, the Tao wasn't too far off with his reports on my whereabouts. File that under "....things left unsaid". See what I did there?)

If the shittacular collapse of the Jays has done anything, it's provided me with the closure necessary to speculate and dream of better days in 2010. I mean, things couldn't possibly be worse, could they? Wait - don't answer that....because I'm thinking that they could get worse, theoretically. Maybe. But unlikely. Yeah. Let's go with "unlikely".

Here's the deal, though - to my way of thinking, a further drop in the standings means the team is starting from scratch and tearing the fucker down. That's one way of doing it. It would be painful....but at least it would be a direction.

These days, though, I'm kinda sorta maybe leaning towards the train of thought that says the boys upstairs at the 'Rog plan on sinking some cash into the team and taking a run at being competitive again. That's another way of doing it.

Here's what's pushing me towards curtain #2:

• Nadir Mohamed, top dog of the parent co, is actually talking about the team. And talking about the team in terms of putting a winner on the field. And you know what? My bullshit detector hasn't been ringing in my ears. To slash payroll down to the $60M range, at this point, would be suicide by attendance.
• I don't have the link (because I'm lazy), but the well documented PTS roundtable in which McCown, Blair, and Brunt discussed the potential of a $120M payroll figure "being on the table" is a marked turn in tone from those who cover the team. McCown has hinted at a payroll increase in the past - but this conversation really put it out there.
• Why would Beeston be pimping "THE PLAN" so hard if it meant more heartache and disappointment for the fans? Why would you do that? We like to talk about how the Jays are run as a business first.....and businesses typically set conservative expectations or risk destroying shareholder confidence when those expectations aren't met. Record low crowds = no more wiggle room.

So, yeah. Maybe I'm setting myself up for epic disappointment. But you know what? Even the aforementioned "rebuild" would mean something. I guess that's a plan. It's Big Macs instead of a T-Bone....but at least we wouldn't be starving.