Music: {allcanada} A hint of what's to come

CHICAGO – The Toronto Blue Jays opened the 2011 season with a healthy dose of roster filler and a hint of promise to come.

They finished the campaign with much of that promise in place on the field, and the foundation of what they believe is a contender.

Turning the grander vision into reality is the next step for general manager Alex Anthopoulos after Wednesday afternoon's comeback victory over the Chicago White Sox, a 3-2 triumph that capped off an 81-81 season that was good for fourth in the gruelling American League East.

There was lots of both good and bad on the field as their playoff drought stretched to 18 years, enough of each for optimists and pessimists to press their case.

Either way, a team that uses 15 rookies – 10 of them making their big-league debuts – over the course of a year in baseball's best division and finishes it at the break-even point has reason to believe better days are ahead.

"We're a .500 team. That's not satisfying, that's just where we are right now," rookie manager John Farrell said before the game. "We've gone through a lot of change and yet at the same time, because we've played in many stretches very well on the road, this team doesn't shy away from challenges or environments that might be hostile for lack of a better term, or not being in the comfort of being at home.

"I think that goes hand in hand with the resiliency and the overall characteristics and personality of the team."

That's important, especially since a team must be especially tough to fight it out with the New York Yankees, Tampa Bay Rays and Boston Red Sox, but it must also be deep and talented.

The Blue Jays improved on that front.

Third baseman Brett Lawrie, catcher J.P. Arencibia, left-fielder Eric Thames, starter Henderson Alvarez, right-handed reliever Joel Carreno and left-hander Luis Perez headlined the club's freshmen class to break through, and all appear ready to be part of the core for 2012 and beyond.

Centre-fielder Colby Rasmus was acquired from St. Louis prior to the July 31 trade deadline to help solidify a core group of players that is fairly set everywhere but left field, where there are plenty of internal candidates for the position, and second base, where there are none.

Right-fielder Jose Bautista, an MVP candidate, leads that group, along with first baseman Adam Lind (who needs to be better prepared for the toll of playing in the field every day next year), and shortstop Yunel Escobar (a strong presence in the leadoff spot).

Wednesday on Sportsnet:

-- Philadelphia at Atlanta, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT (Sportsnet East, Pacific)

-- Boston at Baltimore, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT (Sportsnet ONE)

-- NY Yankees at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT (Sportsnet Ontario)

-- St. Louis at Houston, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT (Sportsnet West)

The pitching is less certain, and that will be a focal point for the Blue Jays this off-season.

"I really feel like when you look at any team that's contending or going into the post-season, their cornerstone is their rotation," said Farrell. "Improvements in that area whether they're internal or external, would be item No. 1."

Ricky Romero blossomed into an ace and all-star in his third season and the starting staff is in good hands with him at the front. It's who follows that is in doubt.

Brandon Morrow, who allowed two runs over six frames against the White Sox and became the fourth Jays pitcher to break the 200 strikeout barrier, established a new career best with 179.1 innings pitched, but his development went closer to sideways than it did forward.

A feather in his cap, however, is he finished the season having allowed just two runs in 21 innings over three starts using a new approach on the mound, and that bodes well.

"More than anything he's learned a lot about himself this year," said Farrell. "The fact that he finished strong, got through this month, didn't have a dropoff in stuff, physically he's felt strong throughout the month. That in and of itself answers a lot of questions."

The same can't be said for left-hander Brett Cecil, who broke the 200-inning barrier but two-fifths of that work came with triple-A Las Vegas, where he spent about two months getting a tuneup.

Kyle Drabek, another rookie, started out strong but was quickly buried by a lack of command and difficulties containing his emotions.

The overall inconsistencies from the staff as a whole led the Blue Jays to use 12 different starters, and they ranked ninth in rotation innings in the American League.

In turn, that overtaxed a bullpen that was also inconsistent and at times, very ineffective.

That's why when asked if his young club needed a few extra veterans around, Farrell replied: "If the veteran presence comes in the form of a starting pitcher, one that has been through the cycle and through the amount of innings we're hopeful to include here, that might be one way."

Alvarez and Dustin McGowan provided the rotation with a boost late in the year, while Anthopoulos feels the talented double-A foursome of Chad Jenkins, Deck McGuire, Drew Hutchison and Nestor Molina will each "factor in" to the 2012 staff.

The bullpen's struggles were well documented, particularly the 25 blown saves in 58 opportunities. The Blue Jays lost 13 times when leading after six innings, 10 times when leading after seven, and seven times when leading after eight, and were 8-17 in the games when they blew a save.

Frank Francisco led the team with 17 saves in 21 chances, but some better execution late in the game certainly would have changed the outlook on 2011. Farrell feels he might have been partly to blame for that in a candid bit of navel-gazing.

"When a given person wasn't performing well, we went to the next option, so it might have created a little inconsistency in their mindset," said Farrell. "That change, whether it was Frankie as the closer, (Jon) Rauch as the closer, (Octavio) Dotel as an available guy, in hindsight I wish I had done a better job with that group.

"If that would have led to more consistency on the whole season, as I look back, I could have done a better job in that area."

Francisco, the sole member of that trio to finish the season with the Blue Jays, will be a free agent at season's end and his return is no certainty. The free-agent market potentially features a handful of high-end closers, including Jonathan Papelbon, whom Farrell knows well from their time together in Boston, but the answer may come internally as well from one of several starters who don't crack the rotation.

Asked who might be an internal candidate for the job, however, and Farrell went in another direction.

"Casey Janssen to me has taken a very solid step forward from my view of him, not only from this season but my knowledge and understanding of him previously," he said of the set-up man. "Whether or not that means he can be a closer, that remains to be seen, but he's done an exceptional job as far as I'm concerned.

"When you look at a late-inning guy, you want them to have the ability to attack left-handers and right-handers equally, he has that, yet there is room for improvement for his attack of right-handed hitters. If there was a guy who would be equipped to do that, control the running game, throw strikes, attack both lefties and righties, he has done that this year."

How will the Blue Jays push things forward?

"Stay tuned," said Farrell.

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WALK THIS WAY: The Blue Jays rallied with a pair of runs in the ninth inning off Chris Sale (2-2) to beat the White Sox (79-83).

Kelly Johnson opened the inning with a double, David Cooper followed with a single, and after a Colby Rasmus sacrifice bunt – intended as a safety squeeze—three straight walks by J.P. Arencibia, Mark Teahen and Adam Loewen, the latter two driving in runs, knotted things up.

Shawn Camp pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his fifth win of the month and finish the year at 6-3.

"It's a credit to our offence, I was just in the right spot at the right time," said Camp, who is bound for free agency. "The biggest emotion is with Papi (pitching coach Bruce Walton). Tearfully, I've been so close to him for four years and I owe a lot of credit to him for revamping my career, as far as coming up with a gameplan and doing the little things to be a better pitcher.

"That's the one guy I'm going to miss a lot if I happen to not be back here."

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MR. K: Morrow struck out seven, pushing his season total to 203 and making him just the fourth Blue Jays pitcher to break the 200 barrier. The others were Roger Clemens, Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett.

"It's something I was looking to, especially this last game, I knew I needed four and I think that kind of led to some of the walks early in the game," said Morrow. "I settled myself down and ended up getting it and a few more, so it was a good day."

Morrow's strong stretch to finish out the season came after a challenging run in which he lost seven of eight outings. Starting with the eight shutout innings he threw against the Yankees on Sept. 18, he decided to push up the tempo of his delivery and found success with it.

"The memory of it and the aggressiveness with all my pitches," he said when asked what he'll take from the approach. "It's not necessarily throwing as hard as you can every pitch but being aggressive with that curveball, I think that was a big difference-maker the last three starts. It just made everything else better."

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2011 Blue Jays by the numbers;

Record: 81-81 (85-77 in 2010)

Home: 42-39

Road: 39-42

Arbitration eligible: Brandon Morrow; Colby Rasmus; Casey Janssen; Dustin McGowan; Jesse Litsch; Carlos Villanueva; Dewayne Wise; Jesse Carlson.

Free agents: Frank Francisco; Kelly Johnson; Shawn Camp; Jose Molina; Edwin Encarnacion (team option); Jon Rauch (team option); Chris Woodward.