The Jays Need To Get Younger Now

Monday night was Christmas in June for many of us prospect lovers, some of whom might actually enjoy watching the Jays’ affiliates more than the Jays. Not that it’s hard to do that these days. And the MLB Draft delivered some excitement into our lives on what would have otherwise been a pretty boring evening.

Many of us were surprised by the off-the-big-time-board 12^th selection Steve Sanders and company took by drafting Jordan Groshans. And the truth is not too many baseball fans really know anything about these young players being drafted anyway.

We read what Baseball America says about these different top prospects, but most of us haven’t had eyes on them – or can speak in depth about their talent. Yet, we gush because it’s fun. And we dream on them because that’s fun, too.

The draft is random. And as fans, we can only hope that top picks don’t go the way of Travis Snider. And we pray that the Jays don’t miss out on a Chris Sale with a Deck McGuire pick. There’s no way of knowing this kind of stuff, and it’s easy to look back on players the Jays passed on and make dumb comments.

In 2016, the Jays took T.J. Zeuch in the first round, 21^st overall and Bo Bichette in the second round 66^th overall – which is crazy to think about now. Zeuch has been good this year and was promoted from Dunedin to New Hampshire, as many of us already know. But, Bichette has been the real noisemaker. Bichette is a part of the ‘Cats’ ‘Bloodline Bashers’. Bichette looks to be a big time part of the ‘future is bright’ years.

So, we don’t know a heck of a lot about Groshans, but we do know that Steve Sanders thinks that he could be a middle of the lineup hitter – cool shit. And we know that the Jays second pick is joining the bloodline gang and Jeff Conine…I mean, Griffin Conine is the newest addition to the bloodline kids in the Jays’ system.

The Jays will continue to feed talent into this pipeline and add to the 9^th best farm in the MLB as the draft pushes on – not bad at all. The thing is that we’re all staring into a fully loaded pipeline and we really should be excited about it. And as the Jays continue to play shitty baseball, the front office should really think about making this team younger now.

I know ‘Buster Bust’ said some kind of something on Tuesday about the Jays selling early as Cam wrote about yesterday, and, sure, I’m down. I’m not sure that other teams are down to buy yet though. But, I’m still down for the sake of being down.

I think once the Jays are finished loading up the farm with their draft picks, the Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins regime should get their hands dirty and do what they have wanted to do all along, which is blow this shit up.

Trade Happ and Estrada and whoever the hell else and load up on more prospects and call up the ones that are ready now. It’s time to let go of 2015 and ’16 and build for the future that will have to play hardball against the dumb good Yankees and Red Sox for years to come.

Don’t give me this it’s early June blah blah blah shit because that’s trash. The Jays aren’t going to win the World Series this year, so get what you can to add to a future team that might. And don’t play the dumb what the Jays record was in June 2015 and ’16 nonsense either because those were very different times folks.

The Dome is going to remain pretty empty this season. And who knows, maybe if the brass called up every prospect that deserves to be on this roster, they might sell more tickets. And holy shit, they might win more ball games, too.

It’s time to call up Danny Jansen. It’s time to call up Ryan Borucki. It’s time to call up Vlad. And call up Biggio, too. It’s time to bring up these younger pieces in the system and let them succeed and struggle at the MLB level. Let them set foot every day on the carpet in the Dome. And it’s time to let some of these costly players go, even if you have to choke on the fat contracts.

You can call me crazy for thinking that it’s time for Mark Shapiro and Ross Atkins to unload everyone and anyone they can. And you can call me crazy for thinking that there is talent in the system ready to fill in the holes. And you can call me crazy for thinking that getting anything you can for players like Happ is the proper play this year. But, I think it’s crazy if you’re not thinking like this. It’s crazy to think that this team has a chance. There have been too many shitty yesterdays and there isn’t enough time to pile up good tomorrows.

The Jays might have to wait until the first or second week of July to unload some of these current players and load up on some prospects. But, I’m ready for it now. And I’m ready to watch some of these kids who have been doing great things down in Buffalo and New Hampshire. I’m ready to see them do fun things in Toronto now. I’m kind of over the cute little Luke Maile storyline. I’m over waiting for this team to get going. I’m over this ‘Wild Card pipe dream’ that needs to be fired into the 2018 sun.

And if they do manage to get hot in June and July and I’m wrong and they go on some winning streak, I’m fine with all of you telling me how dumb I am. It’s just that it’s time to smash this stupid shitty Wild Card whatever. And get excited for the reality around the corner. It’s time to give some of these kids in the farm a chance. That would give Jays fans a reason to watch baseball this summer.