ColdPint

Earlier this year Masai Ujiri stated that his Raptors would not be caught in "no man's land" - not good enough to get to the playoffs and not bad enough to get a top pick. Different sport, different situation here but I still think this mindset should apply. After 190 games since the big moves meant to make us contenders the results have proven everything but. It's absolutely, without reasonable debate, a failure. It's time to look towards the future and start to trade our "stars" while they're still performing at a high level. I have very little faith that this FO will do what needs to be done though, they'd rather stick their heads in the sand and hold on to their assertions that this will be a contending team. I wish MLSE was in charge of the Jays, Tim Lieweke very much looks to be the type of personality, and the type of leader that we need in the AL East. Instead, we have a FO that does nothing but be accepting of failure year after year, with excuses about not being able to bring in free agents, dealing with the payrolls of the NYY and BOS, etc etc.

#lovethisteam!

What??? No no, they're a victim of circumstance and bad luck. Nobody is at fault, just let it run it's course. Remember, Beest said we're good for 3 playoffs in 5 years.

Are we still waiting on AA's ability to despair to fill these holes? f***, it's frustrating.

This is nothing short of embarrassing. Honestly, I hope attendance takes a nosedive, forcing a business decision to be made to bring fans back. I've never felt so negative in 21 years of futility. At some point someone needs to step up and take responsibility.

Wow, Barry Davis just posted a photo of Doc on twitter, in the media scrum before the game, and he looks REALLY thin. Doesn't look like Doc. Hope the health issues he retired for aren't serious.

Fair enough......which was two years ago. It's easy to exude confidence when things are going well. Mound presence shouldn't come and go start to start.

He just doesn't seem to have any mound presence and the body language is horrible. I know Buerhle's pace wouldn't work for everyone but in watching Morrow it's tough to stay interested from pitch to pitch because of the inconsistency, bad control and apparent lack of focus.

Watching Morrow pitch drives me crazy. He struggles to put anyone away with two strikes, and he is constantly stepping off the mound and walking around. Get the ball, pitch the ball.

Jesus, for as much as Buck and Tabby are on Lawrie's nuts about how much better his bats are this year it would be nice to see him make some solid contact at least.

Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that Drew is THE answer to saving this season. He hasn't exactly been durable either and is just as injury prone as Reyes. Last year he played in 124 games, by far the most games he's played in since 2010. Now with that said, he's a massive upgrade over the current options of Goins/Izturis/Kawa/Diaz. I've given up trying to wrap my head around how this team has operated since the big moves of 2013, whether it's complete ignorance on the part of the FO as to the roster deficiencies or some other unknown reason why we did nothing to improve. As a long time Jays supporter it's frustrating, to say the least.

Without Reyes the Jays lineup goes from looking potentially very dangerous to being average. If the top of the lineup doesn't hit the ground running this season that bottom third is looking anemic and runs will be hard to come by.

Yeah, but will the Jays beat the 3/39 deal Drew has on the table from the "mystery team"?

It's beyond my understanding how we did absolutely nothing to improve our well known shortcomings during the offseason. A middle infield of Goins and Izturis for at least the next two weeks......

Lots of despair just 2 innings in to game 1.

Not at all a fan of Navarro being in the 5 spot. Whether or not you believe in the stat, Rasmus was far and away our most clutch hitter with men on base last year and should be batting behind EE. Lawrie even. I know it's just game 1 but I thought Sierra's role on the team was to be the DH against LHs? If not what purpose does he serve on the roster?

You take your best right out of the gate and give Happ the chance to work out his issues in Buffalo. If he refuses you release him and eat the salary. At what point is negative WAR worth $5 million in a year of supposed contention? It's a culture problem that this is even a decision the Jays are struggling with, assuming they are.

In what is supposed to be a "contending" year, regardless of how realistic that is, you absolutely make each and every roster decision with wins and losses in mind. If you're making a decision to appease Happ at the detriment of the team it will send a clear message that winning is not priority #1. Happ's sense of entitlement to a rotation spot is nothing short of ridiculous.

I feel like I think the exact same thing every time spring training rolls around.

Good point on Synder......I've just tried my hardest to block out the fact that he could have been part of a very promising young Jays rotation. That said, I'm still not sold on either Sanchez or Stroman, until they prove themselves up here they're still unrealized potential. On the position player side of things the Jays have produced next to nothing resembling star talent since when? Who would you consider to be the last homegrown star?

The Jays inability to develop anything resembling homegrown talent since Lind speaks volumes to changes that need to be made in philosophy - whether it be drafting the wrong types of players or the development of those players once they enter the system it's pretty obvious there's a pretty large disconnect. You would think we would have at least "lucked out" on a prospect or two over the years. When AA started his tenure by restaffing the scouting and player development departments that JPR tore down I thought it was the start of the change we needed. Shouldn't we be seeing the dividends by now?