It's not the fact that Toronto was in mid-season collapse that got New England sports radio yakking last week but the degree of the collapse. Talking about trading their ace - and an ace who stands head and shoulders above his teammates - should be the cause of outrage among fans. Instead, it is just part of much weirdness:
Public suggestions by the team’s general manager that ace Roy Halladay was on the trade block; the release of B.J. Ryan, and the swallowing of a $15-million (U.S.) contract commitment; and a brutal trip in which the team lost six of seven games against the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays, with scouts from contending teams descending from all corners. So when all-star second baseman Aaron Hill said Saturday he wasn’t going to take part in the Home Run Derby tonight because he was worried it would damage his swing and “we still have 80 games … half a season … left to play,” it was almost a shock to the system.
Disinterested ownership? The CBC bailing from broadcasting games? Empty seats in a dome from another era? Sounds like the Montreal Expos of fifteen years ago to me. Is it possible that the Jays will move or fold over the next few years? Not likely. Is it possible that they will be gone in ten - yup. Face it. The Jays without Halladay is the dream that Baltimore fans dream every night of every season. There is a reasonable chance that it is the only way that someone else will be in the AL East basement at the end of the season. At this point I give it a 50-50 that the Jays end up there this year and at least 25% that they are gone in ten.
Comments
Bays' Ball - July 13, 2009 6:03 PM
Except for the fact that the Expos of 15 years ago were definitely in much better shape than the current Toronto team, playing to big crowds because of their success. To wit:
"The then-Montreal Expos' best season in their history was interrupted by the 1994 strike. They had the best record in baseball, 74-40, and were six games ahead of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East despite having the second-lowest payroll in the Majors (only the San Diego Padres had a smaller payroll). Some baseball writers were considering the Expos as major World Series contenders. Coincidentally, the only time that the Expos actually made it to the postseason was in 1981, the last time that there was a significant players' strike in Major League Baseball.
Isaac Grant - July 14, 2009 9:40 AM
You may be right, and fans maybe should be up in arms. That said, there's a good crop of young pitchers in the Jays system, and even with selling Halladay certainly putting them in the cellar for a few more years the logic does make sense. The Jays are in no shape to win the AL East in the next two years, and they won't have the money to resign him when his contract is up. Depending on his remarkable loyalty isn't going to get him resigned I think. I suppose they could wait till next year and see if they're contending or not, and then do the same trade, but if they got 2-3 good young arms for him, it might be worth it for the team.
Alan - July 14, 2009 10:50 AM
"The Jays are in no shape to win the AL East..."
They really should lobby for a transfer to the AL Central.
David Janes - July 15, 2009 9:07 AM
No shit.