I can already hear the objections to those points. People will say they did not get the players they needed because there was no one to trade and that Janssen and Bautista were wrong. Guess what? They were not wrong. Both of them among other plyaers came out and said this team needed more pieces, saying even another bat would have helped. Well now it sure looks that way doesn't it? Both of those players are leaders in the locker room and both would likely know the team best as far as players go. They both said the team needed pieces and the team did not get pieces. Low and behold the team does not make any major moves and suffers an epic collapse which has pushed them out of hte playoffs. How can anyone say those guys were wrong? As for the argument that there was no one to trade, well take a look at Billy Beane and some of the other best GMs in the league.
The best general managers in the league can always come up with a trade. All Anthropoulos would have to do is think outside the box a little bit. For as cheap as some of the players went on trade deadline day it should not have been that hard for him to come up with something. Even if it was more difficult for him than other teams, really good GMs find a trade and can sometimes pull talent from nowhere. When was the last time Antropolous pulled a rabbit out of a hat? He didn't get this team the pieces he needed. It doesn't only fall on him however, as John Gibbons should have had enough talent to work with and still fell short.
Melky Cabrera, R.A. Dickey, Mark Buerhle, Jose Reyes, Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, etc, etc, etc. To be honest I'm sort of sick about hearing the stats these guys put up, and how many all star games they've been to. When can they win? However, it isn't only these guys for not coming through it falls on John Gibbons as well. Past managers like Joe Torre and Tony La Russa knew how to get the most out of their players and to win games. John Gibbons does not seem to have that quality as down the stretch the Blue Jays could not string together the victories it needed. The team imploded and it seems like Gibbons did almost nothing to help. He did not get the most out of his players and he was not able to stop a long skid. He has to take at least some of the blame for that. Some people will still say the Jays improved under Gibbons. True, but they still did not make the playoffs.As I said earlier, yes this season was an improvement on last year. However, when this team was put together after the block buster trade, the immediate expectation was playoffs. Now the second season has almost been complete and the playoffs still have not happened. How can it be considered successful if the goals set for the team have not been achieved? Which is just another reason to blame Gibbons. The goal for this team was playoffs and he has yet to get them there. This whole team has failed to meet the goals and expectations of the fan base and therefore neither the team nor the fans should be happy with this result.
In conclusion this Blue Jays season has not been successful. They did not get pieces they needed when they needed them. The players did not play as well as they needed to and the manager could not get what they needed out of this team. Just because they were better than last year does not make this season a success because when the core of this team was assembled the expectation was playoffs. That has not happened.
-Darren
What are your thoughts on the Jays season this year? Either comment below this post or find me on twitter @thewildman111
Photo taken from thestar.com
No comments:
Post a Comment