Just trying my hand at being a Toronto Star headline writer...
Phil Rogers summarizes each of the 30 Major League teams chances of making the playoffs in 2004. The Jays are classified as "Sleepers", along with the Giants, White Sox, Cardinals, and Rockies.
Let me break that down before anybody goes and takes this list too seriously: The Giants and Cardinals are wide awake, the White Sox are more than keeping pace (in reverse) with the Twins, and the Rockies are in a coma. Yup, those sneaky White Sox, compensating for the losses of Bartolo Colon, Tom Gordon, Scott Sullivan, and Carl Everett with a total of one (1) new player on the Major League roster. Relief pitcher by the name of Cliff Politte. Maybe the key is the appointment of Ozzie "Wet Noodle" Guillen as manager.
Phil doesn't have anything startling to say about Toronto, mentioning the three new starters as increased depth, giving a nod to the re-built bullpen and tagging Justin Speier as possible closer, and naming Alexis Rios as a potential impact rookie.
But there's lots of fun in the AL West. Anaheim: "Bank On It", Oakland and Seattle: "For Real". Bank on Anaheim being interesting, but Jose Guillen and Kelvim Escobar are two of the most volatile free agents to sign anywhere, and then there's Le Situation Erstad which has been expounded upon recently in these parts. Oakland is indeed for real, and that's why you can't bank on Anaheim for the playoffs - The AL Wild Card is a loftier goal than the AL West this year. Meanwhile, Seattle's best move this offseason was of the holding-steady variety, signing Joel Pineiro to a 3 year extension. They for real should be considering turfing GM Bill Bavasi, haste, post haste.
Baltimore gets less respect than it has in other parts this offseason, classified as "It Doesn't Look Good" along with Tampa Bay, Cincinatti, Montreal, the Mets, Los Angeles, and San Diego. I'm still expecting LA to do something about their hitting, and I agree with Aaron and other Bauxites that San Diego looks like a sleeper. As for the "Wait Until 2010" class of Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Pittsburgh? No real argument, other than to say I expect Cleveland to rise to sleeper status by 2005.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040120021929999