Ricky Romero

At first glance, it would appear as if the Toronto Blue Jays have had a quiet offseason.

There were no big contracts, no major deals, no guys named Greinke or Ramirez. 

In fact, they seemed to lose more players than they acquired: Scott Downs, Brian Tallet, Kevin Gregg, All-Star catcher John Buck and first baseman Lyle Overbay have all signed elsewhere. 

Oh, and they traded Shaun Marcum, their Opening Day starter, for prospect Brett Lawrie.

Alex Anthopoulos finally made it official by announcing the Blue Jays have hired John Farrell, the former pitching coach of the Boston Red Sox, to be the twelfth manager in Blue Jays history. Farrell was considered one of the best minds available. In fact, Terry Francona stated it was not a question of whether he became a bench boss, or even how long (he knew it would be this year), it was a question of where.

After a successful debut in 2009 with the Blue Jays, starting pitcher Ricky Romero improved in almost every conceivable way in 2010. With two full seasons under his belt at the big league level and still just twenty-five years old, Romero has established himself as one of the game's best young starters.

The 2010 edition of the Toronto Blue Jays was full of surprises, and provided many promising glimpses into the team's future. Whether or not anyone besides Blue Jays fans noticed is another matter entirely.

The Jays were widely expected to finish at the bottom of baseball's toughest, deepest division, the mighty AL East. They only wound up one spot above the basement, but they also went 85-77, the kind of thing that can only happen in the AL East.

Roy Halladay is known as perhaps the greatest pitcher to ever pull on a Blue Jays uniform; some would say that it is without a doubt that he is.

That could be quite intimidating for a young pitcher in the rotation with him.

It has been a year of excitement and disappointment for the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Toronto Blue Jays play in the most competitive division in baseball, yet have assembled a five-man rotation, who all have potential fantasy upside. 

Let’s take a look at the candidates in order to determine the potential long-term success:

Brandon Morrow

The 17-strikeout game aside, Morrow has a ton of potential and might just now be scraping the surface of his ability. 

With Ricky Romero recently signing a new 5-year, $30.1 million contract extension, there have been comparisons drawn to Jon Lester ($30 million) and Yovani Gallardo ($30.1 million), both of whom have signed similar contracts in recent years.  Those two have developed into the elite class of starting pitchers in Major League Baseball, so should we expect Romero to follow?

The Blue Jays signed 25-year-old former top-10 pick Ricky Romero to a five year, $30.1 million contract that will keep him signed with the team through 2015 on Saturday.

Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports has reported that Alex Anthopoulos has signed Ricky Romero to a five year $30.1 million contract extension. This is very odd for Anthopoulos, as he normally gives a bit less money in the early years of his contracts with options for big money later. In this case he gave Romero reasonable money, but this is the largest amount given to a player with less than two years of major league service.