[SPTO]

Quote: Originally Posted by Majingir

If that's actually his mentality, then it's JP Ricciardi all over again. Not letting this team rebuild, but not being good either. Being the ultimate .500 team. This isn't the NBA Eastern Conference, .500 doesn't get you in playoffs. Either go for playoffs or develop young talent. If they actually decide to just be a middle team again, then that's even worse than rebuilding. At least rebuilding fans will know your plan and know you're trying to get better for the future(look at the Leafs and how much fans jumped on that rebuilding bandwagon. Fans have never had more fun losing because they believed in the Leafs plan for the future).. Just hope this doesn't hurt baseball in Toronto. Really don't know if this market can take another decade or two with being a non playoff team. Bad enough going 2 decades without a playoff berth, but possibly having those 15-16 seasons being the only playoffs in a 30-40 year timespan....The market can't survive that can they?

I think the main difference is that Shapiro comes from a development background and has already done a lot of good in restocking the farm system. The economics are also quite different as well since Rogers has tasted the success of huge attendance and being in the postseason they're going to be willing to have a big payroll. The situation is also a bit different than Ricciardi's time frame in that this has been a very successful team for the last couple years. It's a lot older than the Jays team that Ricciardi inherited so going younger and more athletic is actually a need rather than some kind of preconceived plan on Shapiro's part.

Let's see what happens over the next year and a half before we start doom and glooming.