The Good
Cito Gaston, in his farewell tour as Blue Jays skipper, and hitting coach Dwayne Murphy preached their version of The Big Bang Theory in 2010 and Toronto batsmen responded with a prodigious display of pop that resulted in a major-league high 257 homers. Jose Bautista(notes) took Gaston and Murphy’s teachings to the greatest heights, leaving behind his utility-guy role to pummeling American League pitching en route to career highs in home runs (54, a Toronto franchise record), RBIs (124) and batting average (.260). Seven guys in the Jays’ lineup belted at least 20 homers, and that doesn’t include the 21 dingers that came from shortstops Alex Gonzalez(notes) and Yunel Escobar(notes), who was acquired in a mid-season deal by general manager Alex Anthopoulos that sent the older Gonzalez to Atlanta.
Young left-handed starters Ricky Romero(notes) and Brett Cecil(notes) combined for 29 wins while Brandon Morrow(notes) (10 wins and a club-high 176 strikeouts) and Kyle Drabek(notes) – acquired in the Halladay deal and the author of a no-hitter at Class AA – give the Jays the kind of depth that convinced Anthopoulos he could send club ace Shaun Marcum(notes) to Milwaukee for hotshot Canadian-born prospect Brett Lawrie in a November trade.
The Bad
Eighty-five wins would have been good enough for a second-place finish in the AL West and third place in the AL Central. Unfortunately, all 85-77 gets you in the AL Beast is fourth place, division bragging rights against only the hopeless Orioles, and a longer off-season vacation (that included watching former Jays ace Roy Halladay(notes) toss a no-no in his first post-season appearance).
The Ugly
The cornucopia of offence, led by Bautista’s power explosion, failed to deliver a bump in attendance as the Blue Jays finished 26th among the 30 MLB teams (only the Pirates, Marlins, Athletics and Indians did worse at the gate in 2010). Whether it’s disinterest stemming back to Ricciardi’s mostly-disappointing reign as GM or the feeling that the Bluebirds are running the bases in tread-less shoes when it comes to chasing the Yankees and Red Sox in the AL East, sports fans in the Greater Toronto Area aren’t quite ready to buy completely into the “new Jays”.
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