The 2021 Toronto Blue Jays were perhaps the best baseball team in the Majors. Although they fell one game short of making the playoffs, they had a ridiculous runs scored - runs allowed compared to other teams around the League. We had seven men hammer 20+Home-runs this year and four men drive in 100+ RBI's. Vlad Guerrero Jr. led the way as the igniter of the most potent offence in baseball alongside Marcus Semien, George Springer, Teoscar Hernandez, Bo Bichette, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Alejandro Kirk, Cavan Biggio, and Randal Grichuk. An offence of the ages setting a team record for most home-runs in a season with 258 dingers. The 2021 Blue Jays were a shining example of how to run an offence. They also have speed on the base-paths encouraged by the likes of Bichette, Semien, Hernandez (and Biggio in the future). The team defense is above par and will likely take home Gold Glove at second base in one Marcus Semien and possibly one for Lourdes Gurriel Jr. who had 16 outfield assists in leftfield.
The starting staff was spectacular this year and had we not had breakdowns in the bullpen throughout the year we would have won 100 games easily. With Robbie Ray the Jays have a legitimate Cy Young Pitcher, with other southpaws Hyun Jin Ryu and Steven Matz the Jays are three southpaw deep in the starting staff, something no other team in baseball can claim. With Alek Manoah we have perhaps the best young arm in baseball. With Manoah's pedigree he's right where Roger Clemens was in 1985 in his development as a young gun and producer at this stage of his career. With the acquisition of Jose Berrios the Jays are truly five deep in their rotation. The problem the Jays were having this year came down to the seventh and eight inning men. Until we acquired Trevor Richards and Adam Cimber at the trade deadline we had no solution to the problem. We probably lost 12 games this year to that deficiency. Injuries hurt our bullpen as aside from an impressive year by first year closer Jordan Romano, we lost Julian Merryweather, David Phelps, and A.J. Cole all early in the year to injury. These were guys that we were expecting big things from early on in the year. Our bullpen southpaw situation was pretty good with Tim Mayza carrying most of the load. Ryan Borucki will be back strong next year after an injury plagued season, and between Kirby Snead and Tayler Saucedo as the third lefty in the mix could be dominant.
The Jays had a strong bench with Santiago Espinal filling in admirably for Biggio when he went down to injury. Breyvic Valera was a pleasant surprise when Espinal got injured and the Jays had enormous depth at the Cather Position with Danny Jansen, Alejandro Kirk, and Reese McGuire. Ironically the best Catcher in the Jays chain is Double A New Hampshire standout Gabriel Moreno. Bo Bichette claims Moreno to be the most promising hitter in the Jays Farm System as evidenced by his .373 batting average alongside 45 RBI's in only 126 At-Bats this year before getting injured. Just returning from injury a couple of weeks ago, Moreno was promoted to Triple A affiliate Buffalo and the Jays are considering fast racking him through the 2022 Spring Training as a viable number one to start next year. Moreno is the best defensive catcher we have by far having thrown out 38% basestealers in his minor league career to date and there is no reason to doubt his batting prowess (even at the Major League Level). The problem the Jays will have in Spring Training is how to treat the endowment of our catching situation. We've got four capable catchers for two spots. My picks would be Moreno and Kirk.
In terms of intangibles and Coaching the Jays are going to be a powerhouse for years to come. I was most impressed by the work of Pete Walker in instilling a starting staff that refused to walk batters. Charlie Montoyo worked magically with our youth in the clubhouse to get them to believe in themselves and has a legitimate shot at winning Manager of the Year for his role. What is truly impressive about this team is how many things they do well. Hit for power, hit for average, high OPS %, high RBI rates, high stolen base %, high Batting Average with men in scoring position, the Jays were at the top of the leader-board in every category.
With the future looming it will be interesting to see if the Jays will pay Marcus Semien's asking price on a long term contract. Personally I would offer Semien $22-$25 Mil U.S.D/year for four years with a performance clause in his contract that redeems a fifth year @ $30-$35 Mil U.S if he achieves the teams goals. I would draft up; Scenerio One - Should Semien win the Gold Glove at second and/or win A.L MVP and/or hit 40+ Home-runs in a year and/or steal 20+ bases - in other words create provisions to increase the dollar amount of the contract should Semien meet or exceed expectations. The problem is that current performance clauses are somewhat limiting in their rewards (compared to what I'm proposing). The upside of a player like Semien is that should he exceed expectations in each year of the contract, pay him $35 Mil U.S.D in the fifth year - he'd be worth it at that point. The reality is that Toronto is a wealthy city and can afford to spend money on their superstars.
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