those wheelin' and dealin' Jays

Could we be looking at an Orioles-Jays race for the top of the AL East in September?

Okay, they don’t even have a coach yet. They finished in fourth place a year ago. The Yankees are still the Yankees. And as we can tell from the three teams in Los Angeles and Miami, baseball is won on the field and not on paper. But there is real excitement north of the border for the first time in 20 years and it is impossible to ignore what the Toronto Blue Jays are doing.

The Jays just signed Melky Cabrera, coming off a suspension-shortened season where he hit .350. It is a low-risk, high-reward move that fills a need in left field. They just traded away spare parts for a top-level shortstop, All Star catcher, a speed demon who plays anywhere, and two top of the rotation arms. Last week they also signed Maicer Itzuris, a utilityman who will compete with Bonafacio for second base but like Bonafacio can pretty much play anywhere. And they probably aren’t done yet.

So anyway, as their team presently stands:

SS Jose Reyes
3B Brett Lawrie
RF Jose Bautista
DH Edwin Encarnacion
LF Melky Cabrera
1B Adam Lind
CF Colby Rasmus
C John Buck
2B Emilio Bonafacio

SP: Josh Johnson, Ricky Romero, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow, Drabek/Laffey/Villanueva
Bullpen: Sergio Santos, Casey Janssen, Jason Frasor, etc.

That is an exciting lineup! Better than what the Yankees will have. And they have flexibility. Bonafacio can play second base or center field. On the bench they have a backup catcher with 30+ homer upside (J.P. Arencibia), outfielder who’s averaged 42 stolen bases the last four years (Rajai Davis), and a utility veteran player they are paying $3 million to play somewhere (Maicer Itzuris). They can use Arencibia or Rasmus as trade bait.

As a Yankees fan I hope Toronto is as improved as they look to be. A strong division is good for the Yankees. Tampa Bay is always good and a stronger Baltimore and Toronto makes the season so much more interesting. Boston is down right now but there is never a dull rivalry game with them. The bullpen is a cause for concern, and moving to the AL East is usually death for pitchers so we’ll have to see how Josh Johnson and Mark Buehrle fare, but the Blue Jays are in position to really compete. And suddenly with a very strong lineup around him, Jose Bautista is poised to bounce back with an MVP season.