Getting Glaus Makes Jays Legit

So, after a week of awful news for Yankee haters, we get a bit of good news for a change. The Blue Jays' acquisition of Troy Glaus is certainly not enough to take away the awful tastes in our mouths from seeing Johnny Damon in Junkee pinstripes, but getting Glaus perhaps brings us one step closer to a Yankee-free October.

When the Jays got Burnett and Ryan, I was happy to see that there was finally a shift in the AL East's balance of power, but was disappointed that the Jays did not address what I thought was their most pressing need last year: a big bat in the lineup. Without Delgado, nobody scared you in that lineup. Maybe Vernon Wells, and that's being generous.

But now, the Jays haven't looked this solid since the good old days of Henderson, Molitor, and Joe Carter. The rotation is deep; not only do Halladay and Burnett give them a solid 1-2 punch, but the guys in the back of the rotation, Chacin, Towers, and Lilly, are no slouches. Towers quietly put together a solid year, posting a 3.71 ERA. These days, that's very good for a #3 or #4 starter.

And their pen was pretty good last year, too. No-names Frasor, Speier, and Chulk put together some fine numbers. Toronto had a lower bullpen ERA than the Junkees and the Red Sox, and getting B.J. Ryan will just make the pen even better.

And that lineup now looks mighty fine. The lack of a big bopper didn't stop the Jays from scoring the 5th-most runs in the AL in '05. And getting Glaus and Overbay makes them all the better. The only thing I find puzzling is J.P. Riccardi's corner infielder fetish; when you add in Hillenbrand, Koskie, and Hinske, that gives them 5 1B-3B types. Weird. But it does give them leverage to make a trade and perhaps add even more depth.