MLB Preview: Toronto Blue Jays

The 2007 was an all to familiar season for the Blue Jays as they finished in third place in the Al East once again behind the Yankees and Red Sox. The Blue Jays have been a sligthly better than .500 team throughout the tenure of J.P. Ricciardi's six years as GM in Toronto.

The team is hoping the 2008 season will be a breakout season of sorts, as the Yankees appear to be somewhat vulnerable in their pitching rotation. The Jays made very little noise in the off-season as they acquired two St. Louis Cardinals infielders in David Eckstein and Scott Rolen.

Now it's time to look at three pressing questions about the 2008 Toronto Blue Jays.

(1) Is this the last chance for Ricciardi to get the Blue Jays in the playoffs?

When Ricciardi took over the Blue Jays six years ago he thought he could turn the same trick the Oakland A's did in the AL West. Unfortunately for him the AL West does not include the titans of baseball in the Red Sox and the Yankees. The Blue Jays have been competitive in the division, as they have yet to bottom out, but the team is still not at the same level with those two teams.

The window does appear to be closing on this corpse of Blue Jays as A.J Burnett is in the last year of his contract with the club, and Frank Thomas, and catcher Greg Zaun are also at the end of their contracts. The Jays also will be looking behind them for the first time in years as the Rays will be significiantly improved this season, and will only get better as their assortment of young players reaches the majors.

Although the Yankees may be vulnerable this season, they won't be in future years as they have many young arms in their rotation that will play an increasing role in their success. The Yankees also have an assortment of young prospects in the minors that will keep the team competitive for years to come.

The Jays still have many strenghts on their team and if Alex Rios blossoms into a superstar, and not just a good player, this team may have the necessary talent to win this season.

(2) Did the Blue Jays do enough in the off-season to catch up to the Yankees and Red Sox?

The answer to this question is a simple let's wait and see, but it appears as if Toronto could have done more. The team acquired David Eckstein to play shortstop, which should help the lineup a little bit, as Russ Adams and Royce Clayton were ineffective last season. The big move the team made was trading one injury prone third baseman Troy Glaus for another Scott Rolen.

Glaus had been productive with the Blue Jays, but frustrated the club with a rash assortment of injuries during his brief career in Toronto. Glaus also didn't endear himself to the Toronto organization by being named in the Mitchell report as the Steroids controversy was the news of the off-season in the MLB.

In acquiring Scott Rolen, the Jays get a player who is happy to have a change of scenery. Rolen did not endear himself with Tony La Russa last season, and the two were barely on speaking terms for much of the season. Unfortunately for Toronto, Rolen has already been stricken with the injury bug, it is a finger injury so he should be able to recover before the beginning of May. The injury is still an ominous sign for the Jays as they can't afford to lose Rolen for a significiant period of time.

(3) Do the Blue Jays have the deepest pitching staff in the Majors?

The club entered spring training with a glut of starting pitchers and some extreme depth in their bullpen. That depth took a hit as Casey Janssen suffered a season ending injury in Spring Training. The Jays are the one team that can afford to lose a pitcher of Janssen's caliber and be able to move on. The team is expecting closer B.J Ryan back early this season as he still is recovering from Tommy John surgery. The Jays also found out that Jeremy Accardo can fill the void left by Ryan if it takes him longer to recover from his injury. Accardo filled in nicely last season as he saved 30 games for the Jays.

The bullpen depth will play a key factor in the Jays success this year, as many of the Jays starting pitchers do have an injury history, and the bullpen may be required to pitch more innings as a result. If the Jays rotation stays healthy they could easily find themselves in contention this season. AJ Burnett and Roy Halladay have not been healthy together for a sustained period of time since the Jays signed Burnett, but if they are they could form one of the league's best duos.

The best thing to happen for the Jays organization last season was the emergence of Dustan McGowan as he posted an ERA barely over 4, and won 12 games for the Jays last season. The Jays also received an added boost by the emergence of Shaun Marcum. Marcum came out of the bullpen in the middle of the season last year to also win 12 games for the Jays. Jesse Litch should close out the rotation for the Jays, and although he doesn't have the upside as some of the aforementioned hurlers, he should be serviceable in the #5 spot.

The Blue Jays depth in their pitching staff will be a tremendous asset for them over the 162 game season grind, and if they get some career years from the regulars in their lineup there is no reason why this team can't catch the Yankees this season. Vernon Wells will have to rebound from his subpar performance, and become the player he was in 2006 when he hit over 30 home runs for the Jays.

The Jays still do have some significiant questions, but those questions will have to be answered this year as the team simply doesn't have enough talent in the farm system to match with the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rays in 2009, 0r 10.