Jays to add over 35 million in payroll next year?

[raptorsfan29]

i think right now it got bumped down to around 80 million with the burnett departure. I am happy as a fan that the ownership is showing more committment to putting a winning team on the field. the current team should win around 85-90 games (IMHO)

Question for maine and others, what do you think the jays should address with the extra 35 million. i think more offense a slugger or two would be fine with me. i feel content with the pitching and bullpen. i like Purcey (which cito mentioned in another article could be the #2) Cecil could be a solid #4, Halladay, Marcum, and McGowan filling out the other spots, at least until Marcum, and Mcgowan get healthy. should be earlier than the 35 million boost.



Here's a little bit of hope Toronto Blue Jays fans can cling to during what might potentially be a long, trying summer: The money for a payroll boost to US$120 million will be there, good economy or not, when the team feels it's ready for a serious run.

"I don't think there's any question about that," interim CEO Paul Beeston said Thursday, adding that he's not sure when that will be but that now was not that time. "If I said the money (should) have been there this year it would have been there, I just didn't believe it in my own mind.

"If I'd say, `We should do this, we should spend that,' I just didn't believe that one or two new players were going to put this team where we want it to be. And if we believe in our farm system, why would we want all these long-term contracts?"

So with that, bring on 2009 for the Blue Jays, a team most likely not quite good enough to contend in the stacked American League East and not quite bad enough to blow up, stuck in the ever dangerous no-man's land of baseball.

The payroll will be around $85 million this season and with No. 2 starter A.J. Burnett lured away by New York Yankee riches, No. 3 and 4 starters Dustin McGowan and Shaun Marcum shelved by injuries and an offence as questionable as the American auto industry's future, it's hard to argue against Beeston's outlook.

The Yankees loaded up by signing Burnett, CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira, the Boston Red Sox aren't going anywhere and the defending AL East champion Tampa Bay Rays, if their pitching holds up, might even be better than they were a year ago.

So, if there's ever a time to start integrating the team's hyped prospects, this is probably it.

Ricky Romero, the much-maligned sixth overall pick in 2005, won a spot in the starting rotation this spring, and he joins fellow lefty David Purcey, the 2004 first rounder, Scott Richmond, the 29-year-old rookie from North Vancouver, B.C., and Jesse Litsch, a relative veteran by comparison, behind ace Roy Halladay.

Travis Snider, a future cornerstone, starts the season in left field with the ever-promising Adam Lind slated to get some time in the outfield and at DH.

Looming on the farm and likely to see time in the majors this season are pitchers Brad Mills, Brett Cecil, Casey Janssen (who is still recovering from shoulder surgery), and catchers J.P. Arencibia and Brian Jeroloman.

Infielders David Cooper, Brad Eamus and Scott Campbell are coming quick, too.

Beeston didn't want to block their path by signing high-priced veterans to long-term deals and their progress is why the current 25-man roster may have a very transient feel to it.

"This is the club we've picked for April," said GM J.P. Ricciardi. "There could be some different pieces in May, June and July as we go through the season. We're going to try and go month to month and see what's the best fit for us to compete."

How's that for a marketing slogan in trying economic times?

The team's current plan also makes a lot of sense given that Beeston's leadership remains interim in title.

He said the search for his replacement is making progress and that he would "still prefer to be out of here sooner rather than later only because I think it's the right thing for the organization."

The long-awaited executive will "have a lot of consistent philosophies" in terms of building the team, so it sounds like fans shouldn't expect a major U-turn once that person is in place.

Beeston's replacement will inherit a team facing ticket sales that are "down marginally," and that has to be worrying given how hard it is to get people to part with their discretionary dollars, particularly when you're selling a team thin on established pitching and with a questionable offence.

A pitching staff that was baseball's best last season will have a very tough time repeating given the losses of Burnett, McGowan and Marcum.

The latter two may or may not be back this year but, either way, a rotation that helped keep the bullpen fresh by routinely going six or seven innings is a thing of the past.

The relief corps, led by closer B.J. Ryan (despite concerns about a drop in his velocity) is likely to get more than its fair share of work.

A lineup that nearly perfected the art of not coming through in the clutch returns mostly intact and there's hope for improvement from within there.

Centre-fielder Vernon Wells needs to stay healthy and hit to his ability, and the same goes for Alex Rios, who has the talent to be a perennial all-star.

Much more is needed from first baseman Lyle Overbay and third baseman Scott Rolen, while Snider and Lind both need to hit the ground running.

Manager Cito Gaston will also have his hands full trying to keep his veterans focused on 2009, even though there's been so much talk about how the team is positioning itself for 2010, while developing his youngsters at the same time.

"Veterans realize what they have to do and they go out and get it done," said Gaston. "There's always going to be some things you handle a little differently with (the young) guys, the main thing is you want them to know you're behind them.

"I think guys just over-manage people sometimes; just let them go out and play and the cream will come to the top."

The Blue Jays will certainly need to show some hopeful signs, both to keep an increasingly restive fan base interested and to make Halladay believe there is a future here.

His contract expires after the 2010 season and, if the team goes into the dumper, talk of dealing him for prospects will likely pick up. Such a move would likely signal that the team doesn't think it will be ready for a run next season.

In the interim, the team is refusing to see itself as a basket case in baseball's most brutal division. It is still spring after all, and the cold realities of the regular season have yet to set in.

"It doesn't matter what goes on in the off-season, who you bring in or who leaves," said Wells. "You know the teams that are always going to be most active are in our division, Boston and New York, they went out and made changes.

"But I think we have some guys in house that either, one, were hurt, or two, didn't perform up to expectations. We have an opportunity, we have to go out and play and see what happens."

[MaineDolFan]

Toronto needs to start sinking that money into the player development if they really want to turn a corner.  In order to attract a quality FA they'll need to overspend (see Burnett and Ryan) and then that doesn't come with a promise that the FA will be around in two-three years (see Burnett voiding his contract and Ryan's arm falling off).

If the Jays were smart they would deal Halladay for a king's ransom of prospects.  They would take those prospects and turn them into more.  Then they would start dumping any money slotted for future FA's and put it right into their player development and scouting.  The only way the Jays will be successful again is by taking the route Tampa Bay did.  Build within and supplement the youth with the occasional Cliff Floyd like signing.