Major League Baseball

Blue Jays' confidence is justified

Published Mar. 3, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

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Ken Rosenthal

If there was a spring-training award for best clubhouse vibe, it just might go to the Toronto Blue Jays.

“You can feel it as soon as you walk in the door,” third baseman Brett Lawrie says.

Right fielder Jose Bautista adds, “I’ve been here a couple of years and I haven’t seen it like this.”

Typical spring-training talk? No doubt. Even lowly teams are confident at this time of year.

The Jays aren’t lowly, but — ahem — they also haven’t reached the postseason since winning the 1993 World Series.

They’re coming off an 81-81 season and fourth consecutive fourth-place finish. The only position players they acquired over the winter were catcher Jeff Mathis, outfielder Ben Francisco and infielder Omar Vizquel. And lest anyone forget, the Jays play in the same division as three of the best teams in the majors — the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays.

Yes, the possibility now exists that the Jays could finish third and qualify for the wild-card play-in. But frankly, their clubhouse was buzzing even before baseball announced that the expansion of the playoffs would start in 2012.

Buzzing even though the Jays failed to land right-hander Yu Darvish, first baseman Prince Fielder or any of the other marquee players to whom they were linked in the offseason.

Buzzing even though the Jays made no changes to a rotation that last season finished 11th in the American League in ERA.

“Everybody felt a similar way last (spring),” Bautista says. “I just see a different type of confidence now. Not so much from the mouth: ‘Yeah, we’re so good, we’re going to do it.’ I hear less talk and more action.”

And, yet, there is plenty for the Jays to talk about:

• The bullpen, thanks to the offseason work of general manager Alex Anthopoulos, should be markedly better than the group that blew 25 saves last season, tying for the major league lead.

Anthopoulos acquired closer Sergio Santos and right-hander Jason Frasor in separate trades with the Chicago White Sox and signed right-hander Francisco Cordero and lefty Darren Oliver as free agents.

• Three midseason additions in 2011 — center fielder Colby Rasmus, third baseman Brett Lawrie and second baseman Kelly Johnson — should be stalwarts in ’12.

Rasmus, who looked lost after joining the club in an 11-player trade last July 27, seems refreshed, upbeat and committed to the lower leg kick that hitting coach Dwayne Murphy recommended.

Lawrie, whose debut was delayed until last Aug. 5 because of a fracture left hand, could be a future MVP. And Johnson, who arrived in a trade from the Arizona Diamondbacks last Aug. 23, has hit 47 homers over the past two seasons.

• The rotation, while lacking a Roy Halladay-type ace, appears more talented and deeper than in recent seasons.

Lefty Ricky Romero is an All-Star. Righty Brandon Morrow could become one. Lefty Brett Cecil lost 38 pounds over the winter. Righty Henderson Alvarez is coming off an impressive 10-start debut. And righty Dustin McGowan, finally healthy, has been the talk of early camp, his bowling-ball sinker exploding through the zone.

Beyond that group, the Jays possess better options than in the past, thanks in part to a farm system that Baseball America ranks fifth in the majors. Right-handers Kyle Drabek, Drew Hutchison, Chad Jenkins and Deck McGuire are among the prospects who could surface this season.

All of that is encouraging, and the Jays also should be more athletic overall and better defensively in the outfield, particularly if Travis Snider beats out Eric Thames for the left-field job.

Still, the Jays would look much more formidable if they had another top-of-the-rotation type to complement Romero and an impact hitter to complement Bautista.

Anthopoulos made a strong run at free-agent outfielder Carlos Beltran in December, even signaling a willingness to sign him to a three-year contract, according to major league sources. But Beltran balked at becoming even a part-time designated hitter and instead signed a two-year, $26 million contract with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The Jays players are undaunted.

“We carry ourselves with a swagger, a chip on our shoulder,” Romero says. “We want to prove everyone wrong. Obviously, we understand what kind of division we’re in. But as I’ve told the guys on our team, you can’t just keep using the division as an excuse.”

Johnson, 30, is still a relative newcomer to the Jays, but he can’t help but notice the almost brazen approach of the team’s younger players, their utter lack of fear.

“They knew how good the Yankees and Red Sox are,” Johnson says. “But it’s also a time and age where 22-year-olds and 23-year-olds, they don’t really care how good the Yankees and Red Sox are or were.

“Maybe another generation could deal with it by looking at them in awe. This generation does not, at all. I just think they look at it totally different than players my age look at it, or grew up looking at it.”

Lawrie, in particular, bows to no one; though he is only 22, his fire, exuberance and Canadian heritage soon could make him the face of the franchise.

But spirit, of course, will take a team only so far.

As Johnson notes, the Jays need look only to the Rays for a blueprint of how to succeed in the AL East. The Rays are coming off their third postseason appearance in four years, and their 2012 club might be their best yet.

Why can’t the Jays achieve the same type of breakthrough?

“It’s obviously going to be a tough task. Everybody knows it,” Johnson says. “But it’s definitely not one where you’re like, ‘We’ve got no shot, we’ll be out of it by August.’

“There is none of that — none. Some fans here, even some media, might look at it like, ‘Why do the Jays even play the games?’

“It’s not at all that way here. It’s the complete opposite. There is no question anymore about being able to compete.”

It’s a good vibe, all right.

The next step is good results.

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