Blue Jays Increase Budget

[shack]

A part of the Blue Jays press release today, which actually has relevance as opposed to the name of the stadium (does it really matter?), is that the team said they'd probably have a budget of around $210 million for the next 3 year period, $70 mil/yr.

I'm glad to hear that and hopefully Ricciardi can get results with the extra cash, but it also bugs me more that they let Delgado go and only offered him $6 mil/yr.

Even increasing the budget to 70mil, it's still less than half of the Yankees and miles below Boston. They'll need some career years from at least several guys.

 

[the_big_E]

It's still good to know they're committed to something. But it sucks being in the toughest division, it will be years before they make the playoffs. Even the Orioles are stacked now, even though they have no pitching...

 

[matrix2004]

I'm also glad to hear about the increase (albeit modest) in team payroll. But being in this division still presents a major challenge. The Sosa to Baltimore deal got approved, so now the Orioles have one of the fiercest 3-4-5 combos in the league. Tejada, Sosa and Lopez could easily hit 40 HR's each. Even without the pitching, they might outslug enough teams to finish 3rd in the East.

But hey, anything can happen- maybe the Bosox get ravaged w/ injuries and the Jays can over perform and sneak in as a wild card. Stranger things have happened. As a fan, you gotta be optimistic.

 

[Toronto Passions]

It's still good to know they're committed to something. But it sucks being in the toughest division, it will be years before they make the playoffs. Even the Orioles are stacked now, even though they have no pitching...

They should make the season start a week earlier, finish a week later, and double up with some double header games to allow time for the top 8 in the NL and the top 8 in the AL to make the playoffs. (just like the NBA and NHL) Just make the first 2 series 3 out of 5. More fan interest for longer into the season for more teams. This would solve so many problems in todays MLB market.

 

[emperor]

They did say 210 million for the next 3 years, but I think that also includes the cost of upgrading skydome.

 

[to-guy69]

This additional cash means absolutely nothing in the American League against the rest of the heavy hitters. We had 3 players with career years a couple of years ago and we still only managed 87 wins. That's not going to get it done against the Yankees, Boston and Baltimore.

 

[shack]

They did say 210 million for the next 3 years, but I think that also includes the cost of upgrading skydome.

No. I believe that 210 is strictly payroll. Seeing as most of the free agents were signed by the time the Jays made the announcement, they probably won't get it up to 70mil this year, but they'll have more to spend in '06 and '07 which just happens to be the last year of J.P.'s contract. Coincidence?

 

[emperor]

No. I believe that 210 is strictly payroll. Seeing as most of the free agents were signed by the time the Jays made the announcement, they probably won't get it up to 70mil this year, but they'll have more to spend in '06 and '07 which just happens to be the last year of J.P.'s contract. Coincidence?

you know, i am a little disapointed that they did not sign carlos delgado. he was asking for about 13 million a year. we could have signed him.

i did like the other moves Richardi has made. the only thing we are missing is power hitter. this season, we will probably see a lot of national league ball in Toronto. stealing bases, sac bunts, hit and run. we will have trouble advancing the runner due to our lack of power hitting(no delgado). Vernon, Cattalanatto, Hallenbrand will be our main hitting. Vernon Wells is a 30 HR a year at best and it will all depend on balanced power.

Pitching wise, Miguel Batista was a good pickup, look for a 13-10 type season for him. Roy Holladay is gotta bounce back from a disapointing season. Ted Lilly might have been a fluke last year, but we have nothing to lose on him. I would say Ted Lilly will be a .500 pitcher. We got Billy Koch back, so hopefully no more Blown saves like last season.

They Jays are overdue. I thought they were going to get Clement during the off season but that's done with. Anymore magic tricks from Richardi to come???? let's hold our breadth

 

[emperor]

With Billy Koch, there could be more blown saves! That is why he has bounced from team to team. The inconsistency from game to game bodes not well for a manager.

well, in that case it will be a surprise either way. however, he did have that one season where he had 38 saves. let's see if he can repeat that/

 

[Esco!]

Is that 210 million canadian or american dollars?????
I'm assuming yankee bucks

 

[shack]

Is that 210 million canadian or american dollars?????
I'm assuming yankee bucks

There's only one kind of currency when you're talking baseball.

 

[Ref]

I'm glad to hear that and hopefully Ricciardi can get results with the extra cash, but it also bugs me more that they let Delgado go and only offered him $6 mil/yr.

Even increasing the budget to 70mil, it's still less than half of the Yankees and miles below Boston. They'll need some career years from at least several guys.

I think that letting Delgado go was a good move. I would rather invest the money into pitching and making sure that the club is strong up the middle.

If you have strong pitching, starting & relief, plus a ball club that plays smart and has the speed to manufacture runs, then it will buy you a shot at a play-off spot.

 

[emperor]

I think that letting Delgado go was a good move. I would rather invest the money into pitching and making sure that the club is strong up the middle.

If you have strong pitching, starting & relief, plus a ball club that plays smart and has the speed to manufacture runs, then it will buy you a shot at a play-off spot.

I agree with the spending more money on pitching part. But I don't think you can find previous team that was in the playoffs that did not have a good clean-up hitter.

 

[emperor]

You have to define - Delgado good? I think the Marlins may have qualified as a team without a top shelf cleanup hitter - and the Arizonia Diamondbacks maybe another.


bbk

Delgado did stink up the joint to some people last year. I mean, they guy missed how many games and still managed to get 99 RBIs? He did have some bad stretches and when he finally got over the slump, the season didn't matter anymore. Still, he would have been a solid 40 HR and 115 RBI man for the Jays, which we don't have. He could have got these number last season if he played the full season, we all know that. I thought he was going to ask for 15 million a season but 13 million a season is reasonable.

I am not dramatically upset that he was gone, but I feel that keeping him wouldn't have been such bad of a move either.

If we kept Josh Phelps it wouldn't have been so bad. Seriously though, I think the Bullpine and the starting rotation will improve but look at our offense, no power whatsoever. It's going to be our Archilles Heel.