An Expectations-Shattering 2010 Season

The Three Greatest Moments of the surprising 2010 Blue Jays Baseball Season:

1. Cito Gaston’s last game as Blue Jays Manager (1989-1997, 2008-2010)
2. Bautista going from a 16-Hr hitter a year before to post 54, breaking George Bells record. Helping the Blue Jays establish the lead as team homerun leaders, and break into the top 3 for all-time homeruns by a team in a single season.
3. An 85-77 finish, drawing conclusions that if Halladay was never traded, and the he posted an average season in wins, Division championship and Playoffs would not have been out of reach.

All that bad?

For almost all of 2010, sports reporters have been using Toronto as an example of a city where the market share and size are there, but the winning simply is not. I believe that this situation really is becoming falsified! On the heels of seasons where the city’s NBA and NHL teams falling a game short and an extremely long-shot away, respectively, from postseason play - I think that this summer could be the start of a good fall in the province’s capital.

The Jays, the team I have loved for years, is full of amazing and up-and-coming young talent to fill the voids of the Roy Holladay’s and Joe Carters that brought so much excitement and winning of championships. The team is legitimately in the mix for the AL Wildcard spot at the end of the season and is holding ground in the most serious division in sports today: the AL East (Yankees, Sox, Rays). The team is on track for 85 wins and a winning record in the toughest division in their league, and has shown much progress in the now-obvious rebuilding phase from the second Doc left the office.

Raptors, eerily the Blue Jays down the road, have lost their perennial stars Bosh and Turkoglu, who are now hated beyond the likes of Vince Carter around the area - but have a young core ready to run for the postseason.  Although ESPN projects they fall extremely far from a seeding position in April, there is much anticipation that this team should provide the most exciting style of play seen in recent years. Should the team, based on pride and sheer athletic power (Johnson, DeRozan, Weems) hold the 2nd spot in the Atlantic without the stars of last year, it would make for an interesting tweet to @chrisbosh.

The Maple Leafs seem to have the team put together to make a serious run this year with the likes of Phaneuf as captain, Burke making huge moves (catching Versteeg, Armstrong) and Kaberle set to return. This team could be the wildcard of the East and surprise in the Playoffs for the first time in too-many years as the league’s most valuable team.

In other notes, the Argos? and TFC could be in the playoffs this year, so with so many Toronto teams with the right signs, why all the pessimism?

The Raptors Offseason thus far..

After loosing their career guy in Chris Bosh (who is now the number 3 guy in Miami with Wade and James, and in hindsight much less of a difference maker than Vince was) it is now looking like the type of Raptors team that could still be very much a player in the Easter Conference Playoff picture next season.  I can see this team fighting with New York/Cleveland/Charlotte for that 8th spot.

As of this morning the depth Chart is looking like it will be this:

Toronto Raptors 2010/11

Point Guard: Jarret Jack - Bobby Brown

Shooting Guard: DeMar DeRozan - Leandro Barbosa - Marco Belinelli

Small Forward: Matt Barnes - Sonny Weems - Linas Kleiza*

Power Forward: Amir Johnson - Ed Davis - Reggie Evans

Center: Andrea Bargnani - Joey Dorsey

I would really love to see Reggie Evans kept for the continued mentoring of Davis and Johnson, as well as Marco Belinelli for the compliment to Bargnani at his new position at the 4th spot.

As for the next to leave, i’d say it is a good a bet as any that Calderon, Banks and Jones (Acquired with Barbosa) are shown the door in exchange for added depth at the wing (Klezia*), a starting centre (to move Bargnani to the 4th spot ahead of Johnson) or a legititmate back-up point guard in Bobby Brown.

I see this team as being young in the right places to build for future years as well as possessing the right peices to rebuild and generate playoff hype in the short-term.

Toronto Raptors At the Half

Watching this team lately has been nothing short of entertaining! A solid run to close out the half (2nd hottest in the league as of late), a dominant dunk performance by their Rookie, and a statement by their star, has fans and the organization thinking big things come April.

And then theres this issue, with such a dominant showing by Bosh, and the possiblity that his team could fall short, will the soon-to-be free agent flee? This was the conversation last time he was in Dallas for a regular season loss:

“As recently as mid-September, I think it’s fair to say the consensus was that Bosh was the big name most likely to leave his current team in the summer. But all of our checking with Raptors insiders suggests otherwise…to predict what will happen with Bosh next summer, I say he stays. Every indication I get is that Bosh likes his current setup in Canada much more than we Yankee outsiders imagine.” Marc Stein/ESPN.com

TS: After a solid All-Star performance and regular season that has really hyped up in his favour, I think this same article would be more affimative - i think its Guaranteed he will stay if his team makes second round, or takes one of the East’s perrenial teams to a solid 7-game series in the First.  It would take a complete meltdown at this point for the Raptors to fall short of a berth, as ESPN predicts a 90% + chance of this team making it at this point.