Getting the Jays out of the AL East.

[LieCheatSteal]

The problem with trying to "outscout" or "out develop" the Yanks and Sox is that there's no reason they can't beat us at that game, too. They can hire all the top scouts and coaches. It's not like we can do something they can't.

Also, we can't compare to the Brewers or Pirates. Those are real small markets. The 80's and early 90's showed that this town can draw 50,000 a night for winning baseball. And then even without all those fans, this team can put up a $100M payroll.

Sadly, as of this point, the Yanks and Sox are outscouting and out developing the Jays right now. I think that has more to do with management (such as JP's philosophy of not drafting high school players for several years) more than anything else. Unfortunately, improving the farm system is the only way besides putting out 200+ (which the Yanks and Sox get close to doing) million in order to compete. So the Jays need to put more care and effort into development and not be (Please Use More Appropriate Word) like JP to disregard a large talent pool as he did years ago before the last couple of years. This includes scouting more internationally (which he's started doing now, way, way after the Yanks).

In terms of the number of people that will actually watch baseball or go see a baseball game, we can compare to the Brewers or Pirates. Don't you remember a year ago, on tsn, on one of the game's highlights, they showed an Asian couple sleeping during a baseball game? The demographics in Toronto has changed to the point that that number of people represented more or less by that sleeping Asian couple is the majority in this city. That demographic (not singling out asians here but more about people of ethnicity, new immigrants or otherwise) don't watch baseball or don't even know the first thing about it (the flip side is that, because of this same demographic, basketball is gaining popularity in Toronto, with a study showing that that sport will surpass hockey in popularity in a decade or so). So, if those numbers are even 50% of the population of Toronto, that cuts potential baseball paying fans down by 1/2, probably bringing it down to the levels of a small market like the Brewers and Pirates. Sure, the team could be buoyed by corporate sponsorship more so than Pittsburgh and Milwaukee but sponsorship is based on the demand from the public. So, basically, if 50% of people in Toronto don't give a crap about baseball, then there goes a large chunk of potential sponsors, which will then bring Toronto down to the levels of Pittsburgh and Milwaukee in regards to market size for baseball. So, in other words, yeah, we can compare to those small markets.

[dirtybird]

The Jays had their chance, but blew it: they had the choice of being the team to go to the NL Central but turned it down (and the Brewers went instead). Instead of crying about how tough the AL East, how about this organization and their fans suck it up, quick complaining about the need to get out of this division, and figure out a way to succeed in it. It's not close to being as tough as JP and some fans are implying. The first thing that's needed is to believe that you can do it, the next is to have people making the decisions who have a clue as to what they're doing.

[dirtybird]

The problem with trying to "outscout" or "out develop" the Yanks and Sox is that there's no reason they can't beat us at that game, too. They can hire all the top scouts and coaches. It's not like we can do something they can't.

Also, we can't compare to the Brewers or Pirates. Those are real small markets. The 80's and early 90's showed that this town can draw 50,000 a night for winning baseball. And then even without all those fans, this team can put up a $100M payroll.

Scouts, GM's, and front office personnel in general make peanuts relatively speaking. The higher paid GM's make the same annual as JMac. So, it's much cheaper to compete in that regard. Scouts tend to make much less. So it's very possible to compete with big market teams in that regard. Say what you will about the Marlins, but they have been doing this for years under Beinfest (and have been retaining their staff too).