On March 23, 2011 the Blue Jays home opener was officially sold out. Of course, many of CC bloggers were there in full drunken support of our boys of summer. The Jays won, hangovers settled in the next morning and the 2011 season unfolded in front of us. A .500 season that left with us with optimism for the future with the sexyness of such a young energetic roster that seems to get along like a band of brothers.
I don' think that anyone can deny that we were all jazzed for what the off-season COULD have held for the Jays with Free Agents like Pujols, Fielder, Madson, Papeldouche, and some guy named Yu available via free agency. Were these players realistically available to the Jays? Perhaps, but not in a world where the brass has a game plan and the contracts required to acquire said players would go against their philosophy. We should have known that the chances of any type of 'Big Name' player being signed by AA and the Beest were slim. As a result of the lack of acquisitions, 'fans' became enraged and spilled their anger all over Social Networking sites and tried to make themselves sound like experts like they truly knew what was best for the club. Perhaps the most ignorant 'fans' are those that post on the TSN site after articles. I can no longer read that banter as it fills me with Bruce Banner like rage.
'Fans' were furious that AA's biggest move was to get Sergio Santos. Dude is nasty and has such a friendly contract for the club. I don't know how someone can argue that Chicago won that trade. I digress...stay focused, Johnny O!
Spring Training officially gets under way today with the official first full squad workout (64 players as of now with one yet to arrive due to VISA issues, ugh) Every team in baseball comes to Spring Training with the optimism a plenty, and the Jays are no exception. A significant number of the players have been settled into their bunks in Florida for weeks and have been preparing and bonding ahead of the arrival time. Tweets from multiple players have been posted talking about their excitement inundating us with hashtags a plenty like: #getitdone, #oneteamonegoal, and #doiiiiittttttt (guess which player owns that last one) As I get older, I've found myself becoming more and more obsessed with baseball and more specifically (obviously) the Jays. Last season we were given goosebumps by the awesome production behind the 'Comin' home' teaser for the home opener. I feel like I'm already at that state with this years season. Something feels different this year. Perhaps its the infectious optimism by the youth, and key veterans on the team. When you take a look at the Jays roster with names like Bautista, Romero, Lawrie, Arencibia, Santos and a slew of other 'up and comers', how can you not be pumped at what this season (and beyond for that matter) could hold for the club. Yes, I know that Toronto could not be in a tougher division. We're geographically cursed, deal with it. Do people think that we'll make the playoffs? No. Are we projected to finish above .500 this year? Not by many. But at this time of the year, my response to both of those questions is the opposite. Why not? I think that the players on 2012's roster truly believe that they are going to achieve great things, but unlike the naysayers, they aren't looking at 2014 as their 'arrival'. To them, its this year. This is the year that they will make the baseball world take notice, and I can't help but feel the same way. I love this game, I love this team. One team, one goal. Gentlemen, our seats are waiting for us...#letsgetitdone !
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