Gil Meche Care’s About Winning

Are the Jays as close to making the playoffs as JP has spun it? Have they ever been in a September race since JP came to town? With the make-up of the core roster, should they be better in 2007 than in 2006? Nope, they’ll probably be about the same, with few young players still peaking, a few players that are beginning to age, and a number of DL candidates.

When a free agent goes somewhere else, is he not committed to winning? The Jays have a tough fight in their own division, and the AL consists of the Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Twins, Tigers, Indians, A’s, & Angels. Three of these teams will win their division, and 5 of them will battle for the wildcard, along with Toronto.

When Meche walks and signs for $10+ a year, JP “dodges a bullet”. But if Meche signs with the Jays at $8 million, it would be hailed as a great deal by the Toronto brass. “He doesn’t care about winning” blah blah blah. Towards the end of Gil’s contract, the Royals will be in a better position to make the playoffs than the Jays will. Meche has a little foresight, something that is obviously in bad taste…

Let’s look at Meche going to the Royals. While they may not win this year, or maybe even next season, in 2009 they will have full-time and MLB experienced players such as Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Mark Teahan, Chris Lubinski, Ryan Shealy in their lineup. This is a strong core, and Gordon & Butler should be superstars. On the pitching side, which is thin in 2007, they should have 1st overall pick Luke Hocevar & Tyler Lumsden in their rotation. Meche’s contract will have him in a Royals uniform in 2009 and he’d probably be a number four. They’d made strides to improve their bullpen this season, with Dotel & Bale. While the system is weak in relief pitching, this off-season has shown us that a decent bullpen can be built at a relativly low cost (see Baltimore).

The Jays payroll is already at about $90 – $95 million and I don’t think anyone is predicting that their in line for a 2007 playoff berth. So next time JP spouts off about potential players “not being committed to winning”, take it with a grain of salt.