As for the Jays' hopes this year, Im gonna be optimistic. Last year our pitching kept us competitive, until the end of the year, when our bats got hot and the Jays flirted with the post season for about a minute.
People (the media) tend to forget just how useless Gibby was at manufacturing runs. Now we get a full season of Cito. The way I see it is that Rolen and Overbay will be the X-Factor on this team. If they hit better than last season (which they are both more than capable of), or even match their output from down the stretch (imagine?!?), the Jays could surprise a lot of teams with their offense. Snyder. Lind. a healthy Aaron Hill. Oh yea, and Wells and Rios.
As for pitching, the Jays still have their bullpen intact (except for Ryan) which is a good thing to say the least. If starters 3 through 5 can get through 5 innings(which isn't a ridiculous possibility!) on most nights, we do still have one of the, if not, best BP's in the league.
The media has already written this year's team off, which is fine. McGowan and Marcum are HUGE losses, this is true, but last year the same "experts" had the Jays competing for the Wild Card and division before they even knew who these guys were.
All Im saying is don't count these guys out just yet...and cheers to opening day!