The third place Devil Rays come to Toronto to face the last place Jays. At the beginning of the season Tampa was expected by most to spend another year in the basement and the Jays were the popular 'surprise' team by many experts expecting to challenge for the wild card spot in the AL.
Ninety five games into the season the Devil Rays have exceeded expectations while the Jays have had a mixture of injuries and underachievement to greatly 'exceed' expectations on the negative side of the ledger. With the team's struggles a few Jay fans have not only written off this season, but have written off next season as well. But even with the Jays' struggles and the Devil Rays success, the teams are just 5 games apart in the standings.
JP and Co have always focused on contending in 2005 and beyond. At the beginning of this year this seemed reasonable. And as far as I'm concerned there's no reason to believe that this has changed, despite a 40-55 record at this point.
Doing simplistic anaylsis the team is in good shape for the future. You'll have Halladay at the top of the staff with the Batista, Lilly and Bush trio combining for an acceptable 2-4 starters. The bullpen has found some good arms this season, has reinforcements coming up through the minors, and has room in the budget for a couple average relievers and a 5th starter.
On the hitting side, while it's certainly possible that Delgado could leave, the team was expecting this all along and will have money to find a replacement if that happens (or help in other areas). If he does return to the team it will be on the Jays terms which should provide the team with some money in the budget for help in other areas.
Wells, Hudson & Hinske are mainstays in the lineup, Rios looks like a keeper in RF, and Adams, Quiroz, & Gross are going to be knocking on the door shortly. There may be a couple holes to fill if Phelps remains in his funk and Cat doesn't re-sign (why are resign and re-sign so similar when they're just about opposites?) but the Jays should be able to be fill these holes relatively cheaply if needed.
The Jays don't have a lot of room for error with a small budget in the AL East. If they want to make the playoffs nearly all of the stars need to align. This season, none of the stars have aligned, but I don't think this is affecting the future of next year's team.
My point in all of this is to keep your eye on the big picture. It's a lot better than you probably think it is right now.
Or I'm just a glass half filled homer.
Batista gets the start tonight against former Jay Lurch Hendrickson. Enjoy the game.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=20040723065006999