It is shaping up to be a long summer in Toronto. Nothing major has been done to upgrade this team. A better year from Hill and Lind should make some improvement and the suggested slide of the Rays will also help.
The Jays have many younger players that the organization is prepping for contention in 2013 and beyond. Interesting how this plan mirrors the aging Yankees (Jeter, Rivera, Posada). Having a slow offseason is not the norm for the Yankees, missing out on the top free agents this season will not be the rules for the Yankees, more the miscue.
I think the Jays should risk and bit and try to move the time table forward. I would look at three free agents ... Manny Ramirez, Vlad Guerrero and Brian Fuentes. These are three veterans with potential to contribute big numbers but also provide younger teammates with some guidance. With all the ManRam stories, apparently he does prepare fastidiously for games and pitchers.
This would add a combo LF/DH that can likely produce in the .300/60/200 range. This added to hold overs (Hill, Lind, Wells and Bautista) will likely produce a six person swat team in the range of .275/170/550. This type of offense will propel them into the tops of the American league.
The Jays have hope that Rajia Davis will be the effective lead off hitter they desire. He will have to learn to be a bit more selective, but with a .284 average and 50 stolen bases last year, he will look good on top.
Imagine for a moment, the following line up (1 through 9) ... Davis, Hill, Lind, Bautista, Ramirez, Guerrero, Wells, Encarnacion, Arencibia, Escobar - that is a pretty scary 1 through 9.
Adding Fuentes might be as important. The current bullpen alignment is a bit scary. With Dotel or Frasor as your closer, Fuentes makes the natural order fall back into place with Frasor in the 8th and Fuentes in the 9th. Fuentes is a lefty, which is particularily exciting when dealing with the Red Sox and Yankees, as they both have lefthanded dominant line ups.
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