2009 Blue Jays Season In Review
So I had a request for a review of the 2009 Toronto Blue Jays season.
It was an up and down ride… but mostly up and the start and down for the rest of the season.
Things started out well as we were getting clutch hits and big wins (against teams that are no where near the play-offs now).
We also got good pitching from Roy Halladay as well as Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond who was named Rookie of the Month for April.
By May 17th we were at the top of the world and with a 27 and 13 record and then… May 18th through 27th happened. We lost 9 games in a row and the whole thing was shot to hell.
Since then we have seen Vernon Wells under perform at the plate. We’ve seen Alexis Rios (one of my favourite baseball players) sent packing for nothing to the White Sox on waivers. We’ve seen Jesse Litsch go down with elbow problems and have Tommy John surgery. We’ve seen BJ Ryan lose his groove and be cut loose (even though we’re stuck paying him). We’ve seen a horrible close game record. We’ve seen everything go wrong my friends.
The biggest news out of Toronto this year was the Roy Halladay story. Was he going to stay, was he going to go? Would JP Ricciardi pull the trigger on the biggest trade for the club since Roberto Alomar and Joe Carter came over from the Padres. In the end Doc wasn’t sent anywhere and represented the team at the All-Star game in St. Louis along with Aaron Hill.
Aaron Hill has also been a big story for the team this year. With a week left in the season he has broken Alomar’s single season records for home runs and rbi and played well in the field as well. A Second Baseman with 30+ home runs and 100+ rbi is a success story for me, especially when you consider that Hill missed most of last season after a nasty concussion kept him out for the summer and early fall months of the 2008 season.
Following Hill in the line-up has been Adam Lind who has shown that he is ready to be an every day hitter in the big leagues. The only question is where will be play? Is he going to be a career DH, can he play Left Field well enough to stay in the line-up or can we teach him to play First Base? I hope we get it figured out because I can see this guy hitting 3rd or 4th in the Blue Jays line-up for a long time.
Through all the big hitting in the top 3 spots though we haven’t won much. At the end of the season we will be below .500 in win percentage. We have a chance to become one of the only teams ever to score more runs than we give up but lose more games than we win… terrible.
All said and done I give the team a D grade. We were expected to improve on last year’s season, continue the hitting and winning ways that Cito Gaston and his coaches brought in last season and maybe make a run at the big guys in our division. The Tampa Bay Rays dropped significantly and he did nothing to take advantage.
I can see change on the horizon my friends. Marco Scutaro should be left to walk and the 2 draft picks taken next June. Rod Barajas will be a free agent and may be let walk so that the young guys or a cheaper option can be brought in. Roy Halladay may be traded for young parts to help rebuild or he could be signed if management can show him that they are committed to winning now.
My Pitcher of the year is Roy Halladay, with honorable mention going to Ricky Romero.
My everyday Player and Comeback Player of the year is Aaron Hill with honorable mention to Adam Lind in the Player of the year category.
I guess that’s it. The team is on an upswing right now which means nothing other than a lower loss total when we look back at this season years from now. All signs point to Spring Training and a 2010 season where we can hope for more.
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