Jays Fans Poll Results: “Are you satisfied with the moves..”

I posted this poll just before the new year, at a time that had the Rajai Davis acquisition and the Octavio Dotel signing were the only major moves made by the Jays and GM Alex Anthopoulos. Therefore, the initial results and leanings of the poll in the first few weeks were entirely different than the results we see today, as we close the poll just before spring training.

Here is the question and the results of the poll in question:

“Are you satisfied with the moves made by the Jays so far this off season?”

• Yes, I’m entirely satisfied. (37%, 107 Votes)
• Yes, it’s fine for now, but I wish they would have added more. (30%, 87 Votes)
• Not really, but it’s as much as we can expect due to where the Jays are in terms of development. (26%, 77 Votes)
• No, I’m entirely disappointed with this off season’s moves – or non-moves. (7%, 21 Votes)

Total Voters: 292

First and foremost, thanks to all who voted for making your opinions heard!

It’s interesting how the results changed over time, and mostly after the Vernon Wells trade which took all fans by storm.

Initially, there were very few that were “entirely satisfied” with the moves made. The “Not really, but it’s as much as we can expect due to where the Jays are in terms of development” option led the way for the majority of the first half of the poll time, and seemed to be the likely winner. However, the Vernon Wells deal changed everything. As you can now see above, approximately 37% of voters are entirely satisfied with the deals made by the Jays this off season. That’s nothing to shake a stick at. Very few organizations can claim to have this much support from their fan bases. Maybe a team like the Red Sox could find this much support due to the massive additions they’ve made, but the Jays fit into a different category all together, because they didn’t go out there and buy a few players. Quite the contrary, they trade 2 of the fan favorites away in Shaun Marcum and Vernon Wells, created a few question marks in the process, and still benefit from a ton of support from the fan base who understand what’s taking shape. And there’s the key, the fan base is paying attention, and they trust the direction Alex Anthopoulos is taking the organization into.

That’s quite a statement for fans to make at such a time. Imagine for one second if the Astros had traded Carlos Lee and Wandy Rodriguez from their team in return for a top-prospect, a 4th outfielder, and a closing option for their pen. What would the ramifications be in Houston? I can tell you one thing, they wouldn’t get 37% of “entirely satisfied” support.

Better yet, go ask Yankees fans how their off season is going. Would they get similar results? I’m not so sure. They’ve lost a bunch of pitching, lost their 1st rd pick to the division rival Rays, their GM seems to be fighting the ownership in place, lost out on all of the highest rated FAs aside from Rafael Soriano, and Andy Pettitte is pulling a Brett Favre on them all off season. Add in an annoyed Derek Jeter due to how negotiations went this off season, an injury prone catcher addition in Russell Martin who’ll take time away from top-prospect Jesus Montero, and a soon-to-be 40 DH/part-time catcher that will also take time away from Montero and may hit 20 HRs in 2011 if he’s lucky, and you’ve got a pretty disgruntled and unsettled fan base in NY right now. Who could blame them for feeling that way with all of the issues taking place.

Even though these teams are having issues, many within their fan bases still clamor for their respective teams to go out and sign the high-ticketed free agents to long-term deals. Most fans who ask for such things to be done are only looking at 2011, and maybe 2012. The Toronto Blue Jays, on the other hand, are building for the next decade, and the fans see this happening, understand how it is happening, and have really bought into the idea of a generation of winning instead of a year or two.

And that’s where Jays fans deserve to get the most credit. They understand the process going on in Toronto, they can smell and taste the potential the team is adding through these moves, and they are ready to look at the long-term effects of a deal instead of the immediate ramifications.

And the positives don’t end there.

Only 7% of the votes, 21 overall, went into the entirely negative category, and I can personally tell you that 15 of those came before the Vernon Wells trade because I took note of the votes once the deal took place. That, my friends, is incredible. To have 93% of the fans in favor of what’s going on in Toronto with such important pieces of the Jays leaving after 2010 is outstanding. Even if it is in the “Not really, but it’s as much as we can expect due to where the Jays are in terms of development” category, it still indicates that the fans are supportive of Jays management and their work overall this off season.

What do people think such a poll would have received during the JP Ricciardi ERA, or even last off season when the Jays were forced to deal the best pitcher in their history? I’m 99% positive that the results would lean much more to the negative side. It seems that for the first time in a very long time, the Jays have a leader in place in Alex Anthopoulos that is trusted by fans, who’s moved are making sense to Jays fans overall – even if they do catch many by surprise at the time, and that they are as anxious as I can ever remember them being to see what takes place during an upcoming season due to the potential of the franchise as a whole.

These were outstanding poll results from a well-educated, patient, and understanding fan base. I’m as happy as could be to see that this is the case, and hope that the patience and understanding are rewarded in 2011 and beyond!

I’d also like to announce that we now have a new page available under the “Info” tab entitled “Jays Fans Poll Results” that allows fans to view the results of polls. If you’d like a certain poll topic to be posted, feel free to contact us at any time to chime in with your idea!

– MG

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