In his article Jay Walking, Tracy Ringolsby ripped into the Blue Jays, and more specifically, their manager JP Riccardi. No one can deny that the Blue Jays have been playing third fiddle to the Yankees and Red Sox for the last decade plus, put to put the blame on Riccardi for a few bad draft picks and his "small" payroll is unfair. Althoough Ringolsby didn't mention it, its hard to get around the fact that the Jays play in Toronto, and given the options most top tier free agents get, they probably dont light up at the idea of moving to Toronto. Also, if you take a look at Toronto's roster, it happens to be pretty good. They have a number of strong power hitters, a strong rotation and a solid back of the bullpen.
Well, if they have so many good players, why do they struggle? Well, when projected starters like Vernon Wells, Lyle Overbay and Troy Glaus underperform and suffer from injuries, teams usually find themselves in deep holes. Wells, fresh off a huge extension, played like garbage. He was moved up and down the order, but nothing really shook him out of his funk. Overbay, a solid slugger and a strong on base guy, couldnt shake off his injuries and never got on a roll. Troy Glaus posted really good numbers in his 385 Ab's, but missed too many games. Alex RIos, Frank Thomas and Aaron Hill all did their best to make up for their gimpy teammates, but in the end they finished well behind Boston and New York.
As far as their pitching goes, Jays fans have real reason for optimism. Halladay was his usual self and the same goes for Burnett, although he missed his usual ten games or so. But starters Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan and Jesse Litsch al had really impressive seasons. McGowan, in his first "full" season, pitched well very well in 27 starts. He struck out almost a batter per inning and ended the year with a 4.08 ERA and only 14 HR's allowed. Marcum posted similar numbers overall, but he struck out 20 less batters and gave up 27 HR's. Still his WHIP and BAA were very respectable. The main difference between Marcum and McGowan was that McGowan improved in the second half, while Marcum regressed quite a bit. Litsch, the youngest of the trio at only 22 years of age, pitched brilliantly in his 20 starts. Hes more of a finesse pitcher and seems to already have a firm grasp on how to pitch, as opposed to young fireballers who really just try to throw by batters. I see no reason why this staff shouldnt be better than the one the Yankees will trot out next year, barring injuries of course.
The third component of the Jays, their pen, also looks to be strong. Although they lost Ryan early on in the year, they saw just how good Jeremy Accardo is. Accardo got much, much better as the season rolled on, showing that he learned from experience and should be really good next year. If Ryan returns to form, that should be a 1-2 punch just a shade behind that of Papelbon and Okajima. Scott Downs and Casey Janssen were also brilliant last year. If their starters can get to the sixth or seventh with the lead, there is no better bullpen in the game more capable at bringing home a W.
All in all, i dont think the Blue Jays are in as much trouble as Ringolsby does. Again, barring injury, i don't see why they cant compete with the Yankees and Red Sox for the division title or with intraleague foes for the wild card.

At a time when almost any baseball achievment, whether it be pitching related or hitting related, raises questions of steroids, it is strange that the players that have been clean(can we really know for sure?) dont get lauded more often. I may not have been old enough to remember just how good Frank Thomas was during his peak years, just the fact that he was an MVP candidate last season at the age of 38 is quite remarkable. Even more remarkable is that he had such a good year despite playing terribly for the first month or two last year. While others that have taken steroids are breaking down and forced into retirement(Sammy Soa had to take off almost two full years to rest up and get back into shape), Thomas is still around and slugging home runs at a respectable pace. He has started off slow this season but that should change soon just like last season.

The man was an absolute beast during the 1990's. In just his first full season in the majors he batted .318, slammed 32 hr's and knocked in 109 RBI. With time he would only get better. He batted .353 with 38 hr's and 101 RBI in just 113 GAMES in the strike season of 1994. If Thomas's 2001, 2004 and 2005 seasons hadn't been ruined by injuries he could be heading towards 600 hr's this season and be considerd one of the all time greats. The idea that a player that toiled so long for one time could be treated as badly as Thomas was towards the end of his tenure as a White Sock is pretty rediculous. He was tossed out of Chicago in a classless manner by GM Kenny Williams and manager Ozzie Guillen as well as badmouthed by the both of them. If the Sox management had been a bit wiser they could have hung onto him, kept fan favorite Aaron Rowand(who everyone in Chicago is clamoring to have bak by the way) and used Thoms at the DH and he would have produced as well if not better than Jim Thome. Remeber that the White Sox have maybe the best hitter's ball park to call home and Thomas would have definietely used that to his advantage.

EIther way, i think it is only right that if so much negative light is going to brought upon players who have cheated and pumped steroids "unknowingly" into their backsides then positive light should be shed upon players who have played the game right and did a damn good job while doing so.