2020 record - 32-28, 3rd place in AL East
Key Addition - George Springer
The Blue Jays signed free agent George Springer to a 6 year $150m contract in January and instantly improved their team. Springer played 7 years in Houston and was a 3 time All Star and 2 time Silver Slugger. Springer quickly earned a reputation as one of the best CF in baseball and has averaged 35 home runs per 162 games played with an OBP of .361. Toronto will appreciate his offensive consistency and solid defence in centerfield.
Not since the days of Jose Bautista have Toronto had an outfielder that they've been this excited about, and they've got good reason to be.
The Blue Jays will, no doubt, rely on his experience to help guide their young core of players through the season and - for them - hopefully the playoffs.
Just missed out - Marcus Semien, Kirby Yates
Key Departure - Taijuan Walker
With so many outstanding young position players but a relative weakness in their rotation, Toronto traded for Walker at the trade deadline last year. He pitched in 6 games for the Blue Jays to a very impressive 1.37 ERA over 26.1 innings as he helped them return to the playoffs.
Starting pitching remains an area where they can improve, and the replacements for those lost to free agency (Walker, Matt Shoemaker, Chase Anderson) are a little underwhelming, especially for a team with playoff hopes in 2021.
They have a bunch of young starters waiting in their minor league system, but it'll be a big ask to expect them to contribute so much so soon.
Just missed out - Matt Shoemaker, Ken Giles
Notable rookie cards - Nate Pearson, Santiago Espinal
The Blue Jays have two rookie card representatives in the Topps 2021 Series 1 set.
Firstly, the flame thrower Nate Pearson is the top Toronto prospect and 10th overall according to MLB Pipeline. The highly regarded righty has dominant stuff but struggled with elbow soreness when he came up last year. His performance this season will likely go a long way to predicting how well the Blue Jays do in 2021.
Secondly, Santiago Espinal played 26 games for Toronto last season, including 2 innings pitched in blowouts. We love it whenever a position player pitches!
He slashed .267/.308/.641 in 2021, but with all the young infield talent that the Blue Jays have, it remains to be seen if Espinal is able to make the Opening Day roster in 2021. We expect that his versatility on the infield will lead to a call-ups at various points throughout the season.
Predicted 2021 Team MVP - Bo Bichette
While coming up through the minor leagues together, Bo Bichette was somewhat in the shadow of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Both sons of former All Stars, Bo Bichette has actually performed better than Vladdy Jr in the big leagues.
Although he has battled with injury in his young career, Bichette has been outstanding for the Blue Jays when he's been on the field.
If he can stay healthy this season, we expect him to be one of the top performing Blue Jays as they aim for a second straight postseason appearance. A .280 average, 25 home runs and 35 doubles aren't out of reach for him.
Player to watch for the future - Austin Martin
Toronto must have been delighted to find that Austin Martin was available with their 5th pick of the 2020 draft because he has 1st overall pick potential. The cancelation of the 2020 minor league season deprived Jays fans of seeing him in action, but in all likelihood, it won't be too long before he's playing at Rogers Centre. Fangraphs has 2022 as his predicted ETA.
Right now, the Blue Jays see him as a third baseman which could lead to a potential 2022 infield of Vlad Jr, Cavan Biggio, Bo Bichette and Martin, which would be a major threat to the AL East for a long time.
Storyline to keep an eye on - Where will they call home?
Last season, the Blue Jays played all of their home games at the home of their AAA affiliate in Buffalo. The brilliant work that they did to turn Sahlen Field into a major league ballpark was really impressive.
But with international travel between the USA and Canada still uncertain, the Blue Jays are facing beginning another season away from Toronto.
As the season progresses and more people have access to a vaccine, we're hopeful that the Blue Jays will be back in Toronto before long.
Until then it seems likely that they'll stay in Florida at their spring training home of Dunedin. It's also possible that they return to Buffalo for another stint if Toronto still isn't an option by the time the harsh Floridian summer comes along.
Prediction for 2021 - 2nd in the AL East
We think that the Blue Jays return to the postseason as a wild card. They have an exciting, young core of players mixed with experienced veterans like Ryu, Springer and Semien. We predict that Toronto will be competitive towards the top of the AL East at the trade deadline and that they trade for a starting pitcher to help them in the stretch.
We think that they'll ultimately finish behind the Yankees, but will continue what we anticipate will be an extended stretch of years reaching the postseason.
Do you agree with our predictions? Or have we got them horribly wrong?
Let us know in the comments or on twitter.
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