Measuring Success

The big question circulating around the blogosphere right now is how one can measure the Jays' success this season if, in all likelihood, they will not be going to the dance in October. There have been many answers to this question: Jordan Bastian and the roundtable panel at Mop Up Duty have taken a crack at it.

As expected, the key theme in all the answers was "DEVELOPMENT".

The Jays need to see some very substantial progress in its young pitching staff. Shaun Marcum, Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow, Scrabble, Brett Cecil, David Purcey, and Dustin McGowan (fingers crossed) will all get the ball at the big league level. Thus far, they've had their moments of brilliance but haven't shown consistency. Will they realize their potential?

The Fisher Cats and 51's will also play an important role when evaluating the 2010 campaign: Kyle Drabek, Zach Stewart, Robert Ray, Brad Mills, and others will be scrutinized at AA New Hampshire and AAA Las Vegas (plus Chad Jenkins at Single-A Dunedin). Will they thrive or dive in the minors? Will they pitch their way into a call-up at some point in the season? Some of these guys need to emerge as solid major league candidates.

As for position players, Brett Wallace will be discussed a lot throughout 2010 and beyond. He's the Jays' first baseman of the future and he's projected to occupy an important spot in the heart of the lineup. He will probably spend most of the season in AAA, but a Lyle Overbay trade, combined with some strong play in the minors, could send him up to Toronto. J.P. Arencibia did not have a good season in Vegas last year. He finished batting .236, 21 HR, 75 RBI, 0.23 BB/K rate, .728 OPS. Many were no longer getting their hopes up over him, but after showing some power this spring (3 HR's) he's starting to create a buzz again. It would be great if he were able to bounce back, considering that the only other solid catching prospect we have is Travis d'Arnaud, and he's still years away from making an impact. Also, it would be great if we struck "oro" with our new Latin Lover, Adeiny Hechavarria.

Another popular notion was how we need to avoid "REGRESSING".

When reviewing the 2009 season, the only reason it was not deemed a complete failure was because Adam Lind and Aaron Hill ascended to Silver-Sluggerdom. They will need to show that they can do it again. Most of the analysts are pretty positive on Lind and negative on Hill. We need them both.

There's one player who is in a category of his own: Vernon Wells.

We've all been hearing a lot of trumpets blaring from Dunedin proclaiming that Vernon is on the brink of a rebound season. He's "finally healthy" and "assuming a leadership role". I fear that I will be obsessing about his stats for the next few months. Obviously, a return to his 2006 form would be ideal, but just some improvement in plate discipline and fielding would be encouraging enough.

Many mentioned "killing the draft". The Jays have the 11th, 34th, 38th, 41st, 61st, 69th, 80th, 93rd, 113th, and 126th overall picks in the 2010 draft (plus more later round selections). Alex Anthopoulos' first test was the Roy Halladay trade; his second test will be whether or not all that extra money spent on scouting yields results at the draft. Furthermore, the ability to sign the picks (have fun on ESPN J.P.) will be huge.

Pushing Cito Gently Out the Door

Blue Bird Banter: "Most importantly Cito has to actually retire at the end of (the season) and not decide ‘hey this was fun, I’m staying’."

Yeah, I'm very sad to say that I agree.


Lastly, I think a huge piece of off-field success would be if fans don't abandon the team by June. It would be great for these young players to have some fan support at the ballpark. People, COME OUT TO THE ROGERS CENTRE! The boys need us.