It already feels like the 2015 ALCS is forever ago. Quite frankly, hockey, football, and basketball don't come close in terms of soothing my Blue Jays baseball withdrawal. But we do have 2016 to think about and this will be an important period of filling some significant roster voids.
We already know that Marco Estrada has signed a 2-year deal. He was arguably the Jays most consistent starter in 2015. There weren't any periods when we considered Estrada to be the Jays' best starter. But all through it, Estrada gave consistent start after start and ended up with some pretty impressive numbers that are up there with league leaders. I've seen some people concerned that there are signs that he will regress. Even if he does regress to some extent and doesn't have the same kind of BABIP "luck" that he had in 2015, he still is a much needed quality starter that will give the Jays lots of innings and a chance to win most outings. Of course, all throughout 2015 everyone was waiting for that regression to happen down the stretch and into the playoffs, and it did not happen. You have to think that if Estrada was after the best financial deal, someone would have offered him a 3-year deal. It seems that he really wanted to stay with the Blue Jays, and hey why not, considering this is where he had his breakout year.
That gives the Jays a starting staff of Stroman, Dickey, Estrada, and possibilities of moving Sanchez, Osuna, and Hendriks from the bullpen. Oh, and I conveniently almost forgot Hutchison. You have to think that the Jays need to add at least one more starter. Of course, if they do move someone from the bullpen to the starting rotation, that would leave a fairly significant void in the bullpen.
Acquiring a quality starter via trade won't be easy. As we know, the Jays spent much of their prospect capital at the 2015 trade deadline. That doesn't mean there is nothing left in the system to trade, but I just can't see the Jays depleting the system more at this point. There's only so much you can do that and we've already heard the rumours of Shapiro "scolding" AA for depleting the system too much. Getting a starter for one of the big bats isn't so easy either. You hear a lot of talk about this on PTS. Trading EE....trading Joey Bats...... If there is a team out there in "go for it" mode that wants to add a big bat with a 1 year contract, they wouldn't be trading a starter off the big league roster.
That probably leaves the free agent market. It's nice to dream that the Jays can sign Price or even Greinke, but it's really just that...a dream. I'd be surprised. There are some other guys that I would expect (hope?) that the Jays go after though. Kazmir....Gallardo....
The bullpen needs some work too. You have to think that adding a lefty in the bullpen is a priority. What happened in the playoffs once Cecil got injured really exposed a lack of lefthanded depth in the bullpen. Loup may find himself again, but he had a terrible season and he should be fighting for a spot on the roster. Beyond that , if you look at the playoff roster as a starting point....Lowe and Hawkins are now gone. Potentially 1 or 2 of Sanchez, Osuna, Hendriks are in the starting staff. That leaves some gaping holes. There may be opportunity to trade for some bullpen help by giving up some of the outfield depth (Revere? Pillar?).
In terms of position players, the only real need is a backup catcher. (The likelihood of signing Navarro as a backup catcher is very low.) This is almost a depth move though, cause you have to think that Thole is still going to be on the roster in Dickey's final season. Keeping Martin from getting too banged up, means Thole catching Dickey.
Fingers crossed that these holes get filled in a way that doesn't leave us scratching our heads. If you remember, last year there was little done to the bullpen, and that ended up being a big weakness in the first half of the season.
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