Stepping into Seventeen: The Uncertain Direction of the Toronto Blue Jays
Year end retrospectives have been tricky for me because so many cultural icons of my childhood were lost this year, two lost in the last week of the year alone.
Also, Encarnación signing with Cleveland right before Christmas didn't help the mood of doom. Among other things, it made considering the highlights of the Jays 2016 season a little rough. If this isn't the top moment, it's one of them:
It's part of the reason that year end "Jays top moment retrospectives" are a bit dull and repetitive. The top moment is either EE's homer in the Wild Card game or Donaldson's Ignite branded dash to win the ALDS. I give the slight edge to Donaldson's just because the Odor error that allowed the dash is just so delicious I could eat it with a spoon.
Part of the issue I have considering this team at this time is I don't really know what direction the relatively new Toronto front office is taking the team. They have already used the words "competitive" in their chats with the media, which stops my heart.
To my traumatized Toronto sports fan brain, "competitive" sounds like "a cost effective, 84 wins, let's trade Donaldson in July to 'rebuild the farm'." Good enough to sell tickets, but not actually good enough to win. It's the Toronto Maple Leafs.
I acknowledge that there is no real solid evidence that that's what they mean, it just feels that way. And remember, in 2016, we learned that feelings are more important than facts. I feel it, so it must be true.
If it actually is true, let me beg this of the Jays front office- don't half step with this. Either go all in with this group of players that finished just short of the World Series two years in a row, and actually run the table for another season or two with Martin, Donaldson and Tulowitzki as your core leader/elders. Do not be concerned with "picks".
Or bite the bullet and rebuild. If you truly think this group can't get it done, keep the babies and jettison the rest. Don't make it a 20 year rebuild. A five year window. The memory of the bat flip should still be very, very fresh. Aaron Sanchez should not be graying.
It would be tough to sell, of course. This, by the way, is the most popular of my tweets recently:
Most popular, by a wide margin.
Tricky times.