Certainly.

Best use of money and talent to use? That I give to Florida, as much as I hate fire sales.

Best team in the east? No clue, but I wouldn't bet against them in a 7 game series.

B.J. Ryan will really make little difference, as he'll pitch 70 innings and the bullpen was quite strong in '05.  And Molina is little better than Zaun (if at all).  I was surprised to see how much I and many others had overrated Bengie, his numbers aren't all that great, especially in OBP.

That said, Glaus and Burnett are excellent and actually underrated... if they stay healthy.

The Mets probably improved more, as Wagner is as good as Ryan (Billy's got a better track record, though he's also older), and I'd take Delgado over Glaus any day.

The Red Sox got Beckett and basically totally remade their bullpen.

The White Sox getting Thome and Vazquez makes them a better team than last year's.

Even the Rangers did pretty well with Millwood (for this year, anyway) and Wilkerson for Soriano is a surprisingly good deal.

And of course a lot of teams did pretty well mostly by letting their young guys play or get a year better, like the Brewers and As and Twins.

But all that said, I guess you can make as good a case for the Jays as anyone.

Well, I said this in another post about best signings, but I think the Dodgers did a fantastic job of addressing their holes with good, not-overpriced, and not-geriatric ballplayers this off-season.  

To me, the most questionable deals they made where giving up on Bradley, but they lived with him and you gotta go with what you believe.  And trading seemingly good prospects for Baez.  But they needed Baez, so it helped them this year.

So, when you consider the tidal wave of injuries from last year is mostly past them, and then consider all the good players they brought in at or near their peaks, I think this team is going to be very much improved.

That said, the Jays were actually in the race in 2005, even after Halladay was out for a month.  They were 52-50 when McGowan got his first start, only 5 games out.  If they can hang that close with the team they had and the injuries they had, they should be respectable this year.  They will miss Hudson more than most people think, though.

Outside of one year where he murdered lefties (last year), he's been an awful hitter and his defense is just average despite his lofty reputation. Zaun actually has better career numbers. I hope JP keeps sinking money into these kinds of players.

Ryan is an upgrade, although moving from an adequate closer to a likely very good closer is not a huge move.

Glaus is an upgrade, although not as big of one as many presume. I think sabernar has it about right. Glaus over the last 2 years in 39 runs above average in 745 ABs. Koskie is 18 runs above average in 776 ABs. So Glaus is worth about 10 runs a season with the bat over Koskie. The glove difference gives back half of that, meaning Glaus is worth about a half win for the Jays. If he is healthy.

Overbay is a marginal upgrade over Hinske (284 vs 271 EqA). Maybe another win on the plus side.

Now for the bad news.

Losing Hudson was huge. He is one of the best defensive players in all of baseball. I think he represents more of a loss than any of the players gained are plusses.

Burnett replaces Bush in the rotation. Huge upgrade right? NO!
To adjust for park, league, etc. I look at normalized runs allowed (BP NRA). Over the last 2 years, Bush has put up 3.78 and 4.41 numbers. Meanwhile, hidden by his park, Burnett has put up 3.88 and 4.35. I call it a wash. Maybe Burnett will harness that awesome arm to actually become a star pitcher. But at 29, he is more likely to lose the arm than harness it. Meanwhile, at 26, Bush is likely to still be improving.

Then comes Molina. I can't figure out why anyone wants him. 29 GMs seemed to have figured that out as well. He was a valuable hitter last year and if he can repeat that, he has some value. But he has a career 239 EqA. That is Alex Cora territory. Meanwhile Greg Zaun has a 248 career EqA. His worst year in the last 3 equals Molina's second best year in his entire career. And Molina at this point is too fat to be an effective catcher. Just on offense, this is about as much of a downgrade as Overbay represents of offense. Including fielding and hitting, Molina is as much of a downgrade as Overbay and Glaus combine to be an upgrade. Maybe the team will be smart enough to bench him by midseason when it becomes clear that last season was a fluke. But by that time, damage will be done.

If Moline plays at career norms and is given the entire season, I think the offseason moves, despite the $, leave the jays worse than last year.

Their best hope for improvement is a healthy Halladay. A full, typical season of Halladay would be a bigger upgrade than all the positive above combined. Wells could also easily improve his game notably. Of course, a Chacin returns to his expected level of play will offset part of that.

Someone at BP, can't remember who at the moment, described the Jays as more "reshuffled" than improved, at least on offense.  I agree with that for the most part.  BJ Ryan really helps, assuming his arm stays on for the duration of that contract.  Glaus is better than whatever they had at third and/or DH last year, but not by all that much.  Overbay's gonna look pretty Koskie-esque from here on out, and I'm not really sure that Aaron Hill is a significantly better hitter than Orlando Hudson.  They still don't have much of an outfield, particularly if Rios doesn't develop, and when Molina reverts to being Molina he's not really all that much better than Zaun anyway.  Burnett...  I'm not a Burnett fan.  He's a somewhat above average pitcher who's not particularly consistent or particularly durable.  Frankly they could have gotten a similar net performance out of David Bush for like 1/10 the money.

The way this all works out though is if they see something that can be tweaked with Burnett to make him the dominant force people think he should be, have a way to keep Glaus and Molina healthy and productive, and think Overbay can rebound and stay an above-average player for a while yet.  Overbay's a decent bet to out-hit Hinske, and if Hill improves his offense he may even out with Hudson.  Hill is younger, and Hudson may lose a ton of his value quickly when he loses half a step, so perhaps it was best to cash out early, and getting a proven power hitter is one way to do that.  Hill's bat plays a lot better at second as well.

Then they've gotta hope that Wells stays healthy, and that Rios and Adams figure things out.

Meh, it's a lot of money down the tubes, and while they may be competetive with the Red Sox in their current state I think it's highly unlikely that they have the horses to take the East from them and the Yankees this year or next, which would appear to be the goal of these machinations.

Ryan is a huge addition. Look at Batistas number. 8 blown saves. 8 losses. 4.10 era. 6 blown saves after all-star break when Jays were actually contending. He might be ok closer on a losing team but doesn't have either the ability or mentality to cut it on a winner.

Glaus - poor defence. Big bat. Not as good as he used to be but will help. Also, it moves Aaron Hill to 2B where he belongs. I wouldn't be suprised if Aaron Hill matches Hudson value if his bat improves. Probably a little lower but close.

Overbay - solid player. Not a star but will be a decent upgrade.

Burnett - Will be solid with potential. This one baffles me when I listen to people. Beckett was considered the steal of the off-season and Burnett is considered worse than Bush? I like David Bush. But the Jays were not making the playoffs with him. They may win with Burnett. They need him to pitch like last year, if he does they will be in the hunt.

Molina - ok signing and only 1 year. It gives them protection in case Zaun totally disappears this year. Certainly better signing than Reggie Sanders for 2 years, lol.