AL 2nd Wild Card Projections: Summary
The Daily Jay has completed breaking down the AL 2nd wild card contenders position-by-position and you can find links to the articles below.
When I set about writing this series I wanted to get a deeper look into how these teams compared. Anybody could have looked at the projections for themselves, but I wanted to see whether those projections were more or less likely to be achieved as well as what teams would do if their projected starting players struggled or went down with injuries.
The first thing that became apparent early in the series was the Blue Jays' emphasis on depth. Not only did their starting players have high projections, they have quality back-ups. In 2017 the team's depth was tested and it came up short. There were many times throughout the season where they were fielding a team that had as many as 4 replacement level players in the starting lineup. Not only did their roster have poor depth, the team struggled to replace missing production in their rotation.
The Blue Jays have the high-end talent needed to be competitive. Josh Donaldson anchors the lineup, Stroman leads a quality rotation and Roberto Osuna is among the game's best relievers. The front office has done a fine job this off-season surrounding those players with average or better supporting players.
The Angels have a lot of high-end players of their own, but lack the depth. If one of their starting players goes down with injury they will have a tough time replacing the lost production. The Twins have more depth than the Angels, but their overall star power is less. The Mariners have significant holes at first base and in the outfield and their starting pitching is suspect. The Rangers have quality players up and down their roster, but their season could be derailed by injuries to a few key players. The Athletics could be the surprise team on the list. Matt Olson and Matt Chapman have star potential and if their young rotation takes a step forward the Athletics could find themselves in playoff contention. The Rays still have good pitching depth even after losing a number of pitchers to trade and injury, but their lineup is nothing but question marks from top-to-bottom and they would need a perfect storm of breakout performances to reach the playoffs.
The Jays will need their star players to play up to their abilities and miss very little time if they hope to make the playoffs. However, the same can be said for the other teams. Based on the talent level throughout the roster the Jays have more wiggle room than the others.
Blue Jays fans should be excited about the state of this team considering the position they are in. Their elite core of Jose Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion and Josh Donaldson has been dismantled. Their window was expected to be closed by now, but through a series of shrewd depth moves the front office has managed to fashion a roster that has a decent shot at contention. A lot could go wrong, but the talent is there. The projections have the Blue Jays as the front runner for the second wild card and a closer look suggests that standing is just.
