On Monday in Toronto, Blue Jays brass will give its State of the Franchise address and odds are the message won't be nearly as warmly received as the one delivered a year ago.
At the team’s annual event for season-ticket holders 12 months ago, general manager Alex Anthopoulos could seemingly do no wrong in the eyes of Blue Jays supporters. The team was coming off a surprise 85-win season in 2010 and he had just dealt Vernon Wells and his hefty contract to the Los Angeles Angels.
He had also traded away 2010 opening day starter Shaun Marcum for the talented, yet unproven Brett Lawrie, but that didn't matter to those who had bought into the patient, methodical plan that Anthopoulos had sold them on.
"We're really pleased, we're happy, we're excited about the direction," Anthopoulos said following last year's event of the message he had received in conversations with fans. "I said, 'Well, a lot of it is possible because fans do understand what we're doing.' They're not always going to agree with it, but they understand the process."
But as Anthopoulos, president and CEO Paul Beeston and manager John Farrell prepare to face the fanbase again on Monday they must be asking themselves: "What happened to that understanding?"
Live stream: Catch the Blue Jays' State of the Franchise address on sportsnet.ca, Monday at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT. http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/blue-j ... franchise/
Blue Jays fans are largely an impatient bunch these days. Despite winning four fewer games in 2011 than they did in 2010, hopes were sky high entering this off-season that Anthopoulos would push the team into contender status by either swinging a deal for a top of the rotation starter and/or further dipping into the Rogers Communications coffers by adding protection for Jose Bautista in the lineup via free agency.
Neither have occurred and Blue Jays fans' disappointment over losing out on Yu Darvish and their frustration with the team's unwillingness to even acknowledge their level of interest in the Japanese ace, has in some quarters, turned into outright anger.
But rewind to a year ago and Anthopoulos warned them that building a contender wasn't going to be easy, or quick.
"We want to get [to the playoffs] as fast as we can. What we won't do is short cut," he said, "because once we get it there, it will be a freight train and it's not going to stop."
Sound familiar? It should because Anthopoulos has consistently repeated the refrain over the past year.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/baseball/2012/0 ... thopoulos/
aka Don't even think about it.
