The Blue Jays open their 2019 season Thursday afternoon in Toronto.
Hopes are high, of course. That’s the nature of the game.
Everybody’s even on Opening Day, they say (forgetting, as we must this year, that two games have already been played this season–last week (!!!) in Japan, where Seattle and Oakland split two games in what was the noble Ichiro Suzuki’s final bow).
Charlie Montoyo, the new Jays manager, is helped into his jersey by General Manager Ross Atkins at a news conference in Toronto in October. Like a lot of other things about the 2019 Jays, it remains to be seen what Montoyo’s presence will bring. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)
So Thursday afternoon, the long, long slog of another season begins.
Where the Jays finish is anyone’s guess and let’s be clear: it really is anyone’s guess.
That’s why they play the games.
Last season, it didn’t go so well.
As they once used to ask in the Esquire Dubious Achievement Awards all those years ago. “Why is this man laughing?” Maybe because he’s got a big-league managing jobs and one of his mentors is Felipe Alou, about as good as it gets in any clubhouse of dugout. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn)
The Jays limped to the finish line at 73-89, a tough place to be in the always strong American League East.
Will this year be any better?
There are questions to be asked:
Is new manager Charlie Montoyo up to the job?
Can Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez pitch up their once high-end potential?
If the Blue Jays are going to go anywhere this season, Marcus Stroman, left, and Aaron Sanchez will have to live up to the potential everybody says they have. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
Are any among what seemed like an endless parade of young infielders who came to play in 2018 going to get a whole lot better?
What about Brandon Drury at third base? He sure looked good this spring.
And what about Vlady Guerrero’s son, Vlady Jr.?
Is he going to be as good an everyone says?
We’ll be waiting awhile before we begin to find out as Junior is injured right now and–for contract reasons–faces a stint at AAA Buffalo before he can even begin to make his presence felt in the majors.
Vlady Jr. has the charisma. Does he have the game to go with it? (Nathan Denette/The CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette)
For years, we have discussed the Blue Jays with Toronto Star baseball columnist Richard Griffin, a long-time friend of RCI.
That’s over now, at least the Star part.
Griffin now holds the title Director, Media Relations, for the Blue Jays.
No longer a scribe, he must now pull any punches he might have up his sleeve when it comes to talking Blue Jays.
Still, one last time can never hurt.
I spoke with Griffin on Tuesday when he was in Montreal with the Blue Jays for their two-game exhibition game series against Milwaukee at Olympic Stadium.
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