(Photo by: Nick Laham/Getty Images)
The Toronto Blue Jays enter the 2009 uncertain of where they stand in the competitive AL East. The Yankees and Red Sox, both spent millions of dollars in free agency to ensure that they are competitive once again.
Last year’s darlings, the Tampa Bay Rays made the jump from the perennial losers to World Series runners-up and the Baltimore Orioles have lots of young prospects that are on the verge of developing into all-stars.
Where does this leave the Jays? Well for the most part it leaves them as an afterthought in playoff talk. Baseball Prospectus puts them on track for 81 wins. A .500 season after being 10 games above that mark last year isn’t the progress that fans and management is looking for.
Manager Cito Gaston must now try to engage his players and get a whole season of production like he did during the second half of last year after replacing John Gibbons.
The Jays 2009 fate hinges on a few select players. The one player that needs to return to All-Star form for the Jays to have any success is Vernon Wells.
The Jays' center fielder has the ability to hit for average and power (20 HR, .300 AVR. in 2008), but his numbers have dipped considerably since his 2006 season (32 HR, 106 RBI), where just by coincidence he was playing for a new contract.
If the Jays are to contend this year, Wells needs to get back to those numbers of 30 plus home runs, 100 runs batted in and the .300 average. Wells has also battled the injury bug in recent seasons, a variety of ailments including, pulled hamstrings, shoulder problems, and bad wrists have plagued him.
This spring Wells has again been hampered by injury. With only a couple of weeks before the season starts, Vernon Wells has just started to see big league pitching again. A notoriously slow starter in April and May, this could delay him rounding into form until June or July.
That would no doubt put an early end to any plans for October.
Wells’ outfield partner Alex Rios
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