Winter still reigns in most parts of Canada, but on the Toronto baseball beat, you can see the first signs of a spring thaw. Ken Fidlin wrote a strongly positive column about the Jays' chances in 2004 and beyond in today's Sun (assuming you can find the column amidst all the sidebars and advertisements). Thanks to Jimmy Key's Christmas Lights, my favourite Box moniker, for the link.
There's nothing very new in the column about the Jays, although I did quite like this observation:
If this year is like most others, there will be great wads of newsprint wasted on daily descriptions of the competition for that final starter's position in Florida and then, a month into the season, the winner will be back in the minors.
Ain't that the truth. That phenomenon really speaks to the depressing tendency of many organizations to make snap decisions on who will start the season in the rotation or in left field, based on 40 springtime innings or plate appearances against other clubs' A-Ball prospects. And then they're shocked -- shocked! -- when the player who shone in March gets whipped in April. If Josh Towers emerges as fifth starter this spring, as is expected, then it will be based on his performance last year in the majors as much as on anything he does in Dunedin (it's also worth noting that thanks to the schedule, the Jays won't even need a fifth starter until a few weeks into the season).
This article is noteworthy, however, for what it represents: the first mainstream column in many years that's really excited about the Jays' chances and their new direction. Many of us here have seen the shift in the organization from the day JP Ricciardi took over, and have tracked the small but constantly growing signs of change for the better. But many scribes, mistaking deadwood-chopping for cost-cutting salary dumps, thought the Blue Jays were waving an organizational white flag in the interests of Rogers' bottom line. To be fair, they were entitled to be skeptical, and couldn't afford to take a fan's viewpoint. But even for all that, the thaw has been a long time coming.
What JP has accomplished here, after the first two years of rebuilding, is to turn the Jays' image from underachieving, overpaid slowpokes to young, hungry, hustling underdogs -- the part that every athlete and every team simply loves to play. The Jays are about to become underground heroes, sleepers who will soon break into the wider public consciousness, and people are starting to pick up on it. I still don't think the Jays are a playoff team, and although that has more to do with their division than with their talent, there are still verifiable holes on this team that will not be plugged all year. But they are starting to win the battles against apathy and cynicism in their hometown, and soon they'll be winning the war. This column may represent the first flag raised on the battlefield.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040209101436999