2003 Toronto Blue Jays season
| 2003 Toronto Blue Jays | |
|---|---|
| Major League affiliations | |
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| Location | |
| Results | |
| Record | 86–76 (.531) |
| Divisional place | 3rd |
| Other information | |
| Owner(s) | Rogers; Paul Godfrey (CEO) |
| General manager(s) | J. P. Ricciardi |
| Manager(s) | Carlos Tosca |
| Local television |
The Sports Network (Pat Tabler, Rod Black) Rogers Sportsnet (Rob Faulds, Tom Candiotti, John Cerutti) |
| Local radio |
CJCL (AM) (Jerry Howarth, Tom Cheek) |
| < Previous season Next season > | |
The 2003 Toronto Blue Jays season was the franchise's twenty-seventh season of Major League Baseball. It resulted in the Blue Jays finishing third in the American League East with a record of 86 wins and 76 losses.
The 2003 season was a surprise to both team management and baseball analysts. After a poor April, the team had its most successful month ever in May. The offense was mainly responsible for the stunning turnaround. Delgado took over the major league lead in runs batted in, followed closely by Wells. The middle infield positions remained a gametime decision – Bordick played shortstop and third base, Dave Berg second base and third base, Chris Woodward shortstop and Orlando Hudson second base. Minor league call-up Howie Clark entered the mix as a utility player after Hinske underwent surgery to repair a broken hamate bone in his right hand, which he had tried to play through for the first six weeks.
Despite their hitting successes, poor pitching continued to plague the team. Roy Halladay was spectacular in winning his first Cy Young Award, going 22–7, with a 3.25 ERA, but he didn't get much help from his fellow pitchers, although he had a poor start himself. Rookie Aquilino López was a pleasant surprise out of the bullpen. Kelvim Escobar and former NBA player Mark Hendrickson were inserted into the rotation with their places in the bullpen filled by waiver acquisitions Doug Davis and Josh Towers, who went 8–1 after being called up from Triple-A Syracuse. The closer role was a season-long revolving door, with nobody able to take hold of the reins. Trade speculation had focussed on the acquisitions of pitching at the expense of hitters, but in the end the team simply divested itself of impending free agent Shannon Stewart without getting a pitcher in return. Instead Bobby Kielty, another outfielder with a much lower batting average than Stewart's, was obtained from the Minnesota Twins and later traded in November 2003 to the Oakland Athletics for starter Ted Lilly. The top four pitchers for the projected 2004 rotation would include Halladay, Lilly, free agent Miguel Batista, and the return of Pat Hentgen.
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