RealGM

If the sun is out, the shadows stretch long across the field in the early mornings when the Toronto Blue Jays emerge to start their days here.

The stadium's a bit of a dump, but it looks beautiful on a bright morning, no matter who's in uniform. It doesn't matter.

It will matter, though -- more than at any time in the franchise's recent memory.

Toronto's off-season shopping spree -- Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, R.A. Dickey, Emilio Bonifacio, Melky Cabrera, manager John Gibbons and so forth -- has been well-documented and the effect on those who were here before is genuine. Ask any longtime Blue Jay if he's more optimistic than he was last year and you get a raised eyebrow.

"That's kind of a question that doesn't need an answer," says catcher J.P. Arencibia, who has been a Jay since 2010. "That's like asking if we need water to stay hydrated."

It's impossible to miss -- there is hope in the air.

The players general manager Alex Anthopoulos brought in bring speed, some power, three very different arms, sagacity, energy and something different. There are still national American writers coming by to check out the possibility of a powerhouse, but the fizz has died away a little in the everyday grind of spring training and now there is just the work. The work and the grand expectations attached to it.

"You can feel as good about yourself as you want to. You just can't bank on that just because you feel good you're gonna win," says Jose Bautista, who has been here since 2008 and who remains the team's fulcrum.

"You always take expectations and predictions for what they are and you don't think they're going to equate to wins and losses. Expectations to me are constructed because people think you're capable of doing something.

"Pressure matters, but I don't think expectations create pressure."