The fact that the Toronto Blue Jays were able to conclude the year with a winning report (85-77) in the tough Al East last year was an accomplishment in itself. Still, it isn't likely they will end a near-two decade playoff drought. Toronto topped the Majors with an splendid 257 home runs last season, but will struggle to come anywhere close to that number in 2011. Plus, their pitching staff lacks a shutdown Ace, but Brandon Morrow and Kyle Drabek are two up-and-coming candidates. Find out how the Blue Jays will fare in the group this season with our Mlb predictions below.
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[b]Blu Ray Player[/b]
Projected Lineup
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Toronto lost a big chunk of their power with the departure of Vernon Wells to the Angels, but will more than likely still showcase one of the great offenses in the league again this season. The Blue Jays will be hoping for a similar season from Jose Bautista, who exploded for 54 home runs and 124 Rbis in 2010. Bautista will be making the switch from the outfield to third base this season, and Toronto will be happy with anyone close to the stats he put up last year. Adam Lind is another player the Blue Jays will be relying on for a solid year, as he takes over at fist base. Lind is coming off a season where he hit just.237 with 23 home runs, but needs to bounce back and come to be the hitter he was in 2009 when he hit.305 with 35 home runs. Second baseman Aaron Hill also struggled to get going in 2010 after a solid 2009 season, where he hit.286 with 36 home runs and 108 Rbis. Edwin Encarnacion will make the move from third base to Dh this season, as he made a ton of errors at the hot corner. Encarnacion also had trouble staying healthy, which exiguous him to just 332 at-bats, but he still managed to hit 21 home runs. Toronto also has high hopes for newly acquired town fielder Rajai Davis, who has 91 stolen bases over the last two seasons, and should be a productive leadoff hitter for this organization. Catcher J.P. Arencibia got off to a great start with two home runs in his debut last August, but categorically struggled after that. Arencibia did win the Pacific Coast League Mvp, and it figures to be only a matter of time before he is a big force in this lineup. Toronto got Juan Rivera in the Wells trade, and are hoping he can accomplish like he did in 2009 when he hit.287 with 25 home runs and 88 Rbis. Shortstop Yunel Escobar and right fielder Travis Snider are two up-and-coming players, who could have a escape season in 2011.
Projected Rotation
With Shaun Marcum now a member of the Brewers, Toronto has a ton of interrogate marks surrounding their pitching staff, and for them to follow this year, they need even great years from both Ricky Romero and Brandon Morrow. Romero is 27-18 with a 3.99 Era in his first two seasons, and showed improvement with a 3.73 Era in 2010. Morrow went 10-7 with a 4.49 Era in his first full season as a starter, and posted a 10.9 So/9 mark, which could mean big things in 2011. Brett Cecil went 15-7 with a 4.22 Era, but benefited from the offense scoring 5.9 runs per game in his starts. Kyle Drabek is another guy who could categorically turn it on this season. Drabek went 0-3 in three starts with Toronto last year, but will get his chance to display what he can do over a full season. Jesse Litsch and Marc Rzepczynski will battle it out for the fifth and final spot in the rotation.
2011 Projection: 4th Place Al East
The Blue Jays seem to have direction and a coherent strategy for the first time in quite some time. A lot of prestige needs to be given to normal owner Alex Anthopoulos has done an splendid job, and we categorically like the hiring of new owner John Farrell. Toronto can slug it out with the Yankees and Red Sox, but they can't compete with whether team or the Rays in pitching. At least it doesn't appear that way, though there is a ton of possible here in Drabek, Morrow, Romero and Cecil who are all steadily improving.
2011 Toronto Blue Jays Season Preview and Predictions
