With a young team and an injury-riddled starting rotation, the Toronto Blue Jays are on a downward spiral for last in the division. With veterans possibly being traded later this year, could the Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles for the worst record in the A.L. East?
Even with the arrival of prospects Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Cavan Biggio, the Toronto Blue Jays are struggling to win games in a stacked A.L. East Division.
While the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays, and Boston Red Sox duke it out for first, the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays will be racing to the bottom.
To be completely honest, this was kind of expected for the Jays this year.
The team was getting younger and focusing on bringing up and developing prospects within the farm systems. Even when the young players arrived, they hit their growing pains and took a while to adjust to the system of MLB caliber baseball (Biggio is still adjusting, give him a moment).
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Veterans such as Kendrys Morales and Russell Martin were sent packing to allow the younger players more breathing room on the major league level.
There is the possibility we could see Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez traded later this year or next for younger, more controllable prospects as well (I hope they don’t but Shapiro and Atkins are weird like that).
Injuries have also riddled the starting rotation, making the team rely on an unreliable veteran in Edwin Jackson because they literally have nobody else in the system.
Long story short: the Blue Jays suck this year, just like it was predicted before the season started.
They suck so bad, they are starting to catch up to the Baltimore Orioles, who started the season very well but are now last in the division (where they were predicted to be). They are currently 20.5 games back while the Blue Jays are 17.5.
Both teams have similar stories: veterans were traded away, younger players coming up in the system, yadda yadda yadda.
It will be interesting to see come September where the teams will be standing. There is a possibility that the Blue Jays could finish last in the division, and possibly last in the American League division as well.
The young guns could get tired, the pitching could get worse.
Fans will continue to avoid the Rogers Centre and the tandem of Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins will be blamed by fans for another poor year (whether it is their fault or not, you be the judge).
Is it too early to celebrate that the #1 draft pick in the 2020 amateur draft may be held by the Toronto Blue Jays next year?