Blue Jays still a team full of 'if'

[LittleOzzy]

The signing of Dotel is an indication that, despite the optimism inspired by Toronto's strong young rotation and last year's surprising 85-win season, Anthopoulos is not ready to go all in.

He has traded rotation mainstay Shaun Marcum and let Scott Downs and John Buck depart as free agents. His major additions have been outfielder Rajai Davis, third baseman-turned-designated hitter Edwin Encarnacion, 20-year-old prospect Brett Lawrie and, now, Dotel.

Anthopoulos is fond of saying players will decide when they are ready and he is taking the same approach with his team.

For Toronto to make a great leap forward in 2011, many things need to go right. Adam Lind and Aaron Hill both need to rebound from poor seasons; rookie J.P. Arencibia has to prove himself a capable everyday catcher; Vernon Wells needs to stay healthy again; and Jose Bautista must show he is at least something in between the player who hit a major league-leading 54 home runs and the one who hit 59 in his career before last season.

And, as Anthopoulos knows better than anyone, his pitching rotation must continue to progress. Ricky Romero, Brett Cecil and Brandon Morrow tantalized with strong 2010 seasons, but the general manager has pointed out that none have made a habit of making 30 starts and pitching 200 innings.

Together they are more of a Medium Three than a Big Three right now. Rookie Kyle Drabek, is also likely to see significant time in the rotation.

In other words, Toronto is a team full of ifs.

"You don't know until you let these guys play [and] at the same time you try to reassure yourself if they do fail," Anthopoulos said at the winter meetings. "The realist in you knows that young players ... how many of them do stick?"

http://www.theprovince.com/sports/amate ... story.html

[Chevy Chase]

When has this team not been a team of if? It costs big bucks to know more. And there's no such thing as a sure thing.

As much as it will pain me to take a step back from the progress we made last year, long term this is probably a better approach.

[northernlight]

I like AA's approach particularly resisting the urge to add a splashy, expensive free agent before the team is ready. He's expanded the scouting staff, stockpiling draft choices and taking calculated risks in adding players with huge upside. When a couple of these moves pay off it will be time to wade into the free agent market and not before.

For the "how not to" see BB or BC.

[SCF99]

One of the big IF's that i would look at is the Adam Lind and the Aaron Hill, to have any type of a bounce back year.IF they do it will go a long way in moving this team forward. Having these 2 guys get a few more key hits here and there like 2 years ago would instill that "we can do it " mentality in all the young players we are centering around which would be key in develolping a team that is able to get past the hated yanks and red socks