RealGM

One more year, two at the most.

Unless that pesky Mayan calendar is correct, and the Earth drifts into a black hole or is attacked by a higher species we never knew existed, Joey Votto will be with the Toronto Blue Jays in the very near future. When that inevitable acquisition is finalized, they will have the full attention of the American League for the first time since the early 1990s.

Votto, the 2010 National League MVP, is the perfect piece to complete Alex Anthopoulos’s upgrading of a team that had averaged 80 victories during the eight seasons J.P. Ricciardi was in the general manager's office. Ricciardi took over for Gord Ash, who had the misfortune of taking over for Hall of Famer Pat Gillick.

Anthopoulos, with a scout-heavy approach that is in sharp contrast to Ricciardi's streamlined operation, has created more excitement in his two-plus years on the job than there has been at Rogers Centre since Joe Carter stepped in to face Mitch Williams in Game 6 of the 1993 World Series.

He has benefited heavily from Ricciardi's most inspired move — trading catcher Robinzon Diaz to the Pirates for Jose Bautista — but showed an ability to make a tough call in trading Roy Halladay and Shaun Marcum for badly needed flexibility and four prospects, including third baseman Brett Lawrie, catcher Travis d'Arnaud (.914 OPS last year in Double-A) and pitcher Kyle Drabek. The Blue Jays need to hit on all those players — potentially creating a great bargaining chip when d'Arnaud starts pushing J.P. Arencibia, who as a rookie started 118 games and hit 23 home runs last year — to close the gap between themselves and the three powers in the AL East.

Anthopoulos has created a glut of top pitching prospects in the Blue Jays' system, the best of which are lefties Daniel Norris and Justin Nicolino and right-handers Aaron Sanchez, Noah Syndergaard, Deck McGuire, Drew Hutchison and Asher Wojciechowski, according to Baseball America. The inventory is so deep Baseball America had rated control freak right-hander Nestor Molina, sent to the White Sox even up for 30-save closer Sergio Santos, as the Blue Jays' 18th best minor-leaguer.

And all roads lead to Votto.

gei wrote:I think the fan base has exactly 0 faith in Rogers actually shelling out money for any decent player. Any 'excitement' this article is referring to is long gone. Unless the Jays get off to some sort of fantastic start next season, I can see attendance dwindling pretty quickly - and rightfully so.

Michael Bradley wrote:Votto is going to want more than five years and a huge amount of dollars. He will be 30 when he is a free agent. I highly doubt AA is going to shell out the amount of money and years it will take to get Votto.

ahollz wrote:Honest to pastafaraian, fans who expect Rogers to dole at big bucks when the jays sit at 25th in league attendance are hypocritical.