It was a good season for the Toronto Blue Jays. They Finished the year with 91-71 record, they have a candidate for the Cy Young award in Robbie Ray, they have a candidate for the A.L MVP award in Vladimir Guerrero Jr, and Marcus Semien, set a record for the most home runs hit by a second basemen in a single season. Those are just some of the highlights from this past year, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to get the Jays into the post season. Toronto fell 1 game short of both the Red Sox and the Yankees, but the Jays were in the mix all season. There are a lot of positives to take from this season, mainly how good their record finished even with George Springer missing so many games.
Like GM’s have to do at the end of every season, they have to look too better their team and retain the successful pieces of the puzzle that may walk in free agency. Ross Atkins has two main issues he has to deal with.
After this past season, I think it’s safe to say that the batting order for the Jays is legit. From the lead off hitter, to the number 9, they are all tough outs. If Adkins can keep that line up the same, that would be a big win. The area they need to improve is the bullpen. Jordan Romano showed he’s capable of being a closer, but he is not elite by any stretch. Adding some bullpen depth would really help out this ball club.
The other huge task Ross Adkins will have is locking up Robbie Ray and Marcus Semien. These are two guys that performed unbelievably this season for Toronto, and Adkins will be under fire to retain them. If he can’t, it’ll be hard to replace the 248 strikeouts that Ray had, and the 45 home runs that Semien hit. The turnaround for some teams are huge year to year, but Adkins must do everything in his power to keep at least one of these two stars.
Another season in the books, and this one was tough to take. With the Jays finishing so close to a playoff spot, all we can do now as Jays’ fans, is look forward to the offseason, and hope the kids keep developing at the rate they are. Thank you to the incredibly entertaining 2021 version of the Toronto Blue Jays, who showed they can hang with the big boys. Until next season…
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Here is the latest episode of the Chtib and Zhang show, where the boys are breaking down week 4 in the NFL, previewing week 5, and course, some Habs talk.