Blue Jays need to refurnish the nest

The Senior Management of the Toronto Blue Jays was very optimistic this spring about the team, even knowing it would not have Mike Sirotka who was supposed to replace David Wells as the lead man in the Blue Jays rotation.

The team was excited about cable tycoon Ted Rogers buying the club and increasing the payroll, Paul Godfrey taking over as team president (and in case you don't know who Paul Godfrey is, his last job was head of Sun Media Corp., one the two largest newspaper chains in Canada. He also serves as the unofficial leader of trying to bring a National Football League team to Toronto.), and most of all, about new field Manager Buck Martinez.

Everyone was singing from the same sheet, and with the Blue Jays potent offense, the pitching only had to be average in order for the Jays to contend.

April started with a bang. The pitching was doing a lot better than expected, and the offense was right on course. But, as we all know, baseball is a marathon not a sprint. The pitching quickly headed south, and much to the shock of everyone so did the offense. Everyone started to wait for the return of the high-flying, high scoring Birds of last year and of April. Here it is August and they are still waiting.

As with every struggling team, people start looking at the manager or coach. Fans and media began to question Buck Martinez's ability as a Manager and what did he do to the offense.

I'll answer the second question first. Martinez has not changed the offense at all from last season. In fact, Cito Gaston is still the Jays hitting coach.

Now the first question -- is Buck Martinez a competent Manager? I think it is still far too early to tell. One thing I do know, though, is that this is the third time in four years that questions are being raised about a Blue Jays Manager. First there was Tim Johnson, who without a doubt, had to go. He had told so many lies, not even he new what was the truth anymore. Then came Jim Fregosi, who I feel actually did a very good job with what was available to him, and now Buck Martinez. I think it is time that the fans and media stop looking in the dugout for what is wrong with the Blue Jays, and start looking at the man who has hired them -- General Manager Gord Ash.

Since Gord Ash replaced Pat Gillick as Blue Jays GM, this team seems to be spinning their wheels. They are not moving forward at all and they are not going backward at all. They are standing still, and this has had a dramatic effect on the Blue Jays fan base.

Gone are the days of 50,000 people cramming into the Sky Dome. Now with a team that has not made the playoffs since 1993, attendance is in the 22,000-25,000 range. The number two team behind the Maple Leafs in the city of Toronto is no longer the Blue Jays, it is now the Raptors. Today the city is abuzz with talk about Vince Carter, the Dream and the upcoming NBA season, much the same as it was eight or nine years ago about Robereto Alomar and Dave Winfield or Paul Molitor.

If, when Gord Ash took over from Pat Gillick, he announced that the team was going to rebuild and go in a new direction that would take three to five years to get to, I think Toronto fans would have bought in. Instead, Ash tried unsuccessfully to tinker here and there to get back to the playoffs. Ash believes to this day, that all this team needs is some tinkering. Unfortunately, what this team needs is an overhaul -- starting with Gord Ash.

The question I have to ask is this -- will Toronto fans stand behind a rebuilding process that should have started 1996 when the Jays were three years removed from the playoffs and the team was heading south, or will the Blue Jays suffer the same consequences as the Montreal Expos for providing years of mediocrity?

In Part two, we will look at which players need to go, and where the Blue Jays can look to get help.