The Jays are the best team in the AL East

Burnett gives the Jays 16 major league-capable pitchers (Or 14 + League and McGowan, both AAA ready, both prime prospects):

Roy Halladay
AJ Burnett
Gus Chacin
Josh Towers
Ted Lilly
Miguel Batista
Dustin McGowan
Dave Bush
Scott Downs
BJ Ryan
Justin Speier
Jason Frasor
Pete Walker
Scott Schoenweiss
Vinny Chulk
Brandon League

Toronto pitching stats can be seen here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/teams/pitching?team=tor

I think this puts us up there with the ChiSox for best pitching staff in baseball. The offense is still below par, but I'm pretty sure 2-3 of the guys listed above will be gone by spring training, upgrading an offense that was middle of the pack last year. If the Jays can replace Hinske at DH with Overbay and find a middle-of-the-order outfield bat (Abreu? Dunn?), they could well be the team to beat in the East. If we don't find that MOTOOB, I'd still like our chances at a playoff spot. The Yanks are looking almost feeble, and the Sox plus Beckett minus Wells and at best breaking even on Manny, aren't looking like much of an improvement over last year.

Gary

[pryor15]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
burnett's just not that good

[/ QUOTE ]

12-12 last year with a 3.45 ERA, on a disappointing Marlins team last year. His WHIP is a little high, 1.26, but I think those 198 Ks make it a little better. I feel like he would be one of the premier pitchers in the league by now if he could complete back to back seasons without injury.

[/ QUOTE ]

check out his home/road splits. he pitches very well in a good pitching park and pretty average everywhere else. he and ryan aren't really gonna be the difference toronto needs to catch the sox/yanks.

[cdxx]

[ QUOTE ]
I know most people think that the Yankees or Sox are better but think about it.

[/ QUOTE ]

sure, they are improving their pitching, even though that's a risky statement (burnett, chacin). plus there are very few pitching staffs that will match up well against both new york and boston, even without manny ramirez.

their defense overall is not any better which was only marginally better than nyy or bos.

their offense is not going to improve this season, which was average in the league, and they have to match up against pretty good nyy and bos rotations, johnson, mussina, rivera, schilling, clement, wakefield.

most importantly, this is not april, so there's still a whole lot of time changes coming.

[kenberman]

[ QUOTE ]
and the Sox plus Beckett minus Wells and at best breaking even on Manny, aren't looking like much of an improvement over last year.

[/ QUOTE ]

We haven't traded Wells yet, so there will be another addition in there. We've also added Guillermo Mota (capable middle reliever), and will have young pitchers Papelbon and Hansen for a full season.

Manny has yet to be traded, and may not, so this is neither a plus nor a minus

In terms of putting my money where my mouth is there is a good chance I would do it but I would need to wait until all the offseason signings playout. Now if we look at their team last year Rob Neyer wrote that "Their run differential -- they scored 775 runs and gave up 705 -- suggests an 88-74 record rather than their actual 80-82 record. So it is pretty likely that with Ryan and Burnett they could get 90 wins not to mention that Halladay who was on pace to win a Cy Young missed the second half the year. Considering Halladay's injury (He broke his leg when he got hit by a line drive) That should add some more wins. As I said earlier the Sox and Yankess are going downhill and the Jays look like they should be able to win the division

[brettbrettr]

On the list of sports cliches I hate this one falls in 17th place:

"They don't play the games on paper."

[ QUOTE ]

their offense is not going to improve this season, which was average in the league,

[/ QUOTE ]
Their offense was well above average it was the 8th best in the majors and the 5th best in the AL. Also their offense probabaly will improve because they are going to trade for a better hitter like Overbay or Mench.

[pryor15]

[ QUOTE ]
In terms of putting my money where my mouth is there is a good chance I would do it but I would need to wait until all the offseason signings playout. Now if we look at their team last year Rob Neyer wrote that "Their run differential -- they scored 775 runs and gave up 705 -- suggests an 88-74 record rather than their actual 80-82 record. So it is pretty likely that with Ryan and Burnett they could get 90 wins not to mention that Halladay who was on pace to win a Cy Young missed the second half the year. Considering Halladay's injury (He broke his leg when he got hit by a line drive) That should add some more wins. As I said earlier the Sox and Yankess are going downhill and the Jays look like they should be able to win the division

[/ QUOTE ]

the rest of the article then says:

"There's also a negative indicator, though. Actually, there are two of them: The Blue Jays scored 41 more runs than their underlying offensive statistics would predict and they allowed 23 fewer runs than their underlying defensive statistics would predict.

So considering the Blue Jays' run differential, they should have won more games ... but their run differential shouldn't have been as good as it was."

dude, you should know by now you cant slip [censored] like that past us.

i still don't see how boston is going downhill. most signs point to them win as many, if not more, games next year.

edit: i just realized how few posts you have. oh well, you'll learn in time.

[pokerdirty]

[ QUOTE ]
In terms of putting my money where my mouth is there is a good chance I would do it but I would need to wait until all the offseason signings playout

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sorry, but if you are going to come onto a board dominated by Yanks/Sawks fans in December, and say the Jays are the best team in the AL East, and then give a pussy response like that, your argument has no respect from me.

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
In terms of putting my money where my mouth is there is a good chance I would do it but I would need to wait until all the offseason signings playout

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm sorry, but if you are going to come onto a board dominated by Yanks/Sawks fans in December, and say the Jays are the best team in the AL East, and then give a pussy response like that, your argument has no respect from me.

[/ QUOTE ]
I don't see how waiting to get as much info as possible before I make a bet is being a pussy it's called being smart