Winter of my Discontent returns

It could I have covered this ground before, but comments attributed to GM Alex Anthopolous suggest that we should not hold outr collective breaths that free agents or further deals be made, at least not those that would increase the payroll.

So to sum things up for theis off season, here are the changes.

Traded  a AA pitching prospect for Sergio Santos, should be a good move.
Signed Jeff Mathis as the back up catcher, Jeff batting average is not the reason for his acquisition.
Signed Ben Fransisco as a potential 4rth/5th outfielder.
Signed Darren Oliver to a 2 year deal ( 2nd year a club option )

Also, played cat and mouse with fans and media over Yu Darvish, and feigned marginal interest in Prince Fielder if he was interested at all.

All in all a real haul this off season. Matt Garza talks stalled due to incredible demands by the Cubs, and I suspect a similar set of demands from Oakland for Gio Gonzalez.

I feel like we are out in the cold this off season myself. 

Still we have a great "potential" rotation, and a great "potential" line up.

Emphasis on "potential ".

Fans might have been hoping for more, but as a small market team with limited resources (Rogers) we should not expect they had the ability to land marquee talent.   I can hardly wait for Paul Beeston to come on talk radio stations and admit to listeners that all Alex Anthopolous has to do is ask for money and it is there.  Also come July if the Jays are in the hunt, that we will take on payroll.   

Good for you Socks, come July you will be summering in the Kawartha's and making the trip to the park to see how many empty seats we have with a sub .500 record.  Then as usual, there will some comment on the lack of fan support, and that translating into a lack of revenue divided by the square root of "I don't give a crap".

Another year where we have to hope for maturation of Brett Cecil, Brandon Morrow, Henderson Alvarez and Luis Perez, or Kyle Drabek.  A bullpen with a 41 year old spot lefty, and well the same cast of characters as last year. No, there is no Jon Rauch or Franky McFrank Frank, but they have been replaced with cheaper less experienced dudes.

If I sound bitter, I am. This sham has gone on long enough, and I do think the bloom is off the rose for Alex.

Press conferences that he runs had better not start with payroll balancing, or cost certainty, or they will get ugly.