Time to look forward. Any more post mortems can go in the 2017 thread.
Personally, I think this off-season will determine whether we will be a team with legitimate aspirations or we go into a long rebuild mode.
Shapeero has told the players and Atkins has told the fans that the Jays intend to "go for it" next year. IMO, it all depends on their definition of "going for it". If it means stocking up on a few below market, mid level free agents and hoping a few of them stick to the wall and hoping our prospects to mature rapidly and hoping the pitching can rebound and Smoak repeats, without making at least one major signing then I think we, the fans will be dealing with some hurt for a while.
If Shapeero spends the way a big market team should spend, and make some big moves so that the prospects can make some improvement without placing too much pressure on them, we could stay in contention for a number of years. Is his goal to field a decent/.500 team on the cheap for the dual purpose of maintaining fan interest while saving money for his bosses or is it to prove to the fans that he is sincere about fielding a winner sooner rather than later?
Personally, I think this off-season will determine whether we will be a team with legitimate aspirations or we go into a long rebuild mode.
Shapeero has told the players and Atkins has told the fans that the Jays intend to "go for it" next year. IMO, it all depends on their definition of "going for it". If it means stocking up on a few below market, mid level free agents and hoping a few of them stick to the wall and hoping our prospects to mature rapidly and hoping the pitching can rebound and Smoak repeats, without making at least one major signing then I think we, the fans will be dealing with some hurt for a while.
If Shapeero spends the way a big market team should spend, and make some big moves so that the prospects can make some improvement without placing too much pressure on them, we could stay in contention for a number of years. Is his goal to field a decent/.500 team on the cheap for the dual purpose of maintaining fan interest while saving money for his bosses or is it to prove to the fans that he is sincere about fielding a winner sooner rather than later?