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TORONTO -- Wasted season or expensive experimental test run? The much-vaunted 2013 Toronto Blue Jays returned to the drawing board after a season rife with underachieving closed Sunday. Questions abound after the dismal campaign. "We got off to a slow start and obviously it continued the entire year," GM Alex Anthopoulos said by way of understatement. The season opened April 2 with a home sellout of 48,857 fans at Rogers Centre for a 4-1 loss to Cleveland. Fast forward to Sunday and only two players -- shortstop Jose Reyes and catcher J.P. Arencibia -- remained in the starting lineup. And Reyes missed some 66 games inbetween with an ankle injury while Arencibia came into the season finale batting .195 with 21 home runs and 147 strikeouts in 473 at-bats. It seemed fitting that prior to the ceremonial first pitch Sunday, the PA system played "Pick Up the Pieces" by the Average White Band. The Jays finished last in the American League East at 74-88, compared to 73-89 last season when they finished fourth in the division. Fan Appreciation weekend closed out with an exciting but failed comeback in a 7-6 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays before a loud crowd of 44,551. Despite Sundays six-run rally, its has a been a rocky road for the Jays -- and a long long way from the optimism of spring training. "Its an exciting season. Everybodys seen the moves," star outfielder Jose Bautista said back in February. "All the bodies are here now. Its all on us now to perform. "We love that challenge and we have a confident, good group of players together. I think were going to go out and have a lot of fun and hopefully we remain healthy. If all that happens, the season should take care of itself. We should be in the playoffs and hopefully the World Series." Manager John Gibbons was slightly more circumspect back then. "We expect to win some things this year ... Weve just got to step up and answer the bell and fulfil those things. But that wont be easy. Theres a lot of good teams in the league." Owner Rogers dug deep into its expansive wallet to fund the new-look Jays, with the 2013 opening day roster coming in at a season salary cost of US$119.3 million (up from $83.7 million) the previous year. The expected starting rotation -- R.A. Dickey, Mark Buehrle, Brandon Morrow, Josh Johnson and Ricky Romero -- cost $46.75 million alone. It went south quickly, finishing with a combined 30-36 record -- with Dickey and Buehrle accounting for 26 of those wins. "I never would have expected the rotation to be the weak link on this team coming into the year. I would probably have said the bullpen was the area we were most exposed in," said Anthopoulos. Johnsons 2-8 season came at a cost of $13.75 million. Anthopoulos hardly mentioned the big right-hander Sunday, which suggests a qualifying offer might not be forthcoming. He did speak optimistically of Morrow making a return, however. The Toronto GM said he expects to learn his payroll number in October, although the figure will be fluid with case by case re-evaluation. "Were certainly not going to go backwards, from that standpoint," he said of the salary total. "Well continue to move forward." In his end-of-season media meeting, Anthopoulos kept returning to stability of starting rotation, or lack thereof. "Right now we have (pitching) volume. The question is is the quality of that volume enough? .... Were going to look to improve, no doubt about it. We have to." For Anthopoulos, even with great everything else, the team wasnt going to get to the playoffs with the kind of starting pitching it got this year. The Jays starting ERA (4.77 going into play Sunday) ranked 29th in the 30-team majors. And it seemed somehow fitting that pitching coach Pete Walker made a trip to the mound after just two outs in the first inning to speak to Todd Redmond, with a reliever already warming up in the bullpen. The bullpen was far better on the season, ranking 10th in the majors with a 3.39 ERA. Toronto ranked 16th in hitting in the majors, with a .252 average prior to Sunday. The team ranked fourth in homers, with 185. In addition to shoring up the starting rotation, help is needed at second base while the verdict may be out on catcher. And the team needs depth. Its bench was threadbare many games. Injuries certainly cost the Jays. Bautista, Edwin Encarnacion, Melky Cabrera, Brett Cecil, Maicer Izturis, Johnson, Morrow and Colby Rasmus, almost a third of the opening day roster, finished the season on the disabled list. Some of the injuries were of the rare or freak variety. Doctors found a benign tumour on Cabreras spinal cord. Pitcher J.A. Happ was sidelined after getting hit on the head, injuring his knee as he toppled. Rasmus exited after talking an accidental ball in the face from a teammate. The season also started on a disconnect with players missing a chunk of spring training due to the World Baseball Classic. Anthopoulos has decisions to make. He said the team will likely look to improve via trades more than free agency, saying the available menu does not look that strong. He said he has bullpen assets that could be used in trades. Nothing seems off the table. "No one has a no trade clause," the GM noted, adding "If we can improve in any area ... well look to do that." The team has options on Adam Lind, Mark DeRosa, Munenori Kawasaki and Casey Janssen. Topics up for discussion include what can be done to reduce the injuries that have ravaged the team the last two seasons. Also whether anything can be done to improve the artificial turf before the plan to replace it with natural grass is put into place. On the plus side, Gibbons will return as manager with a vote of confidence from Anthopoulos. "His in-game (management) is outstanding. Thats always been a strength of his. I think it comes down to myself as a general manager giving him a better rotation to work with." Ryan Goins and Anthony Gose showed like they belonged in the final weeks of the season. And Toronto has a choice of arms when it comes to fifth starters and beyond. But while there is an upside to those pitchers, says Anthopoulos, theres isnt a level of certainty. And there was a buzz about the team, with Kawasaki becoming an unlikely fan favourite for his quirks and occasionally timely hitting. Season attendance at the Rogers Centre was 2,536,562, up 436,899 from 2012. "Support has been great ... Whats been proven to everybody is this is definitely a baseball town," said Anthopoulos. "It has tremendous interest in the game." The question is what will the team need to do next year to keep the fans coming back? Marcin Gortat Jersey .Y. -- Mike Zigomaniss goal at 5:53 of the third period stood up as the winner as the Rochester Americans hung on to defeat the visiting Hamilton Bulldogs 3-2 on Saturday in American Hockey League action. Patrick Beverley Jersey . Better still, its in the same team and there are 13 races left for it to develop. http://www.clippersnbateamshop.info/austin-rivers-clippers-jersey/ . As each game passes (each has played close with the exception of last night) it becomes clearer just how evenly matched these two teams are and how one mistake, or one bad inning, is likely to sway the result. Wesley Johnson Jersey . In Europe, top teams seem to be largely happy with their squads after spending nearly $1 billion in the off-season. And although English league clubs are unlikely to splash cash in January, Arsenal and Chelsea could be tempted to strengthen their squads with new strikers. Luc Mbah a Moute Jersey . Patty Mills scored 15 points, Tim Duncan had 10 points and 11 rebounds in limited minutes, and San Antonio trailed for only 11 seconds late in the first quarter of a 103-90 victory over Portland on Wednesday night.PHILADELPHIA - Boston Celtics coach Brad Stevens might talk to Kelly Olynyk about playing hard before every game.Olynyk scored a career-high 30 points after a pep talk from his coach, leading the Celtics to a 105-87 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.I talked to coach a couple of days ago, Olynyk said, and he said, We need you to be aggressive. You need to stay aggressive. Thats when youre at your best. Thats when youre helping us. Thats something Im really focusing on and really been working on dialing in my shot and getting in a groove and its feeling good.Olynyk, a reserve, entered averaging 10.3 points per game but just 7.5 over his last 10 contests. But he came out with a scorers mentality against Philadelphia, tallying 18 points in the first half on 7-of-9 shooting before ending 12 for 17 from the field, including 3 of 5 from behind the arc.You need him to be aggressive every night, Stevens said. We need him to make shots. Our team depends on it. Hes a skill guy who can stretch the floor and we need him to do that.Stevens believes Olynyk can be a regular, big-time scorer.What I want him to do is believe in himself the way we believe in him, he said. I think hes really good and think he could be a really good player. You want to (go from) being a player whos very capable of doing it and does it on multiple nights to a player that does it every single night.Avery Bradley had 15 points, and Brandon Bass and Jeff Green added 14 apiece for Boston (8-14), which snapped a three-game skid.Rookie Nerlens Noel had a career-high 19 points for the 76ers (2-22), who dropped to 0-13 at home this season. Philadelphia moved closer to the NBA mark for worst home start to a season, set in the 1993-94 season when the Mavericks began 0-19.Its a fact that you do lay an egg from time to time in the NBA over 82 games, and tonight we laid an egg, Sixers coach Bret Brown said. It was the first time for me personally in a while where youre trying to search for answers and I didnt have any.The 76ers were coming off a late collapse in Saturdays 120-1155 overtime home loss to Memphis when they gave up an 18-point lead with 7:39 left in the fourth quarter.ddddddddddddMaybe it was a letdown from the last game, I dont know, Brown said. We cant afford to have those types of letdowns.Tony Wroten, who entered leading Philadelphia in scoring at 17.5 points a game, went scoreless.Boston rebounded after Fridays 101-95 loss to the Knicks, a game in which New York snapped its 10-game skid. Rajon Rondo had two points in that defeat and Jared Sullinger was scoreless.The duo improved slightly against Philadelphia, tallying five points apiece. But they werent needed much against the offensively challenged 76ers, who entered averaging a league-low 91.4 points. Philadelphia managed just 13 points in the second quarter and entered the break trailing 57-38.Boston fell into an early hole by missing its first nine field goals before settling in. Olynyks 14 points helped Boston go in front 30-25 at the end of the first quarter.Philadelphia never cut the margin under double-digits after halftime.SCORING DROUGHTThe 76ers scored below 90 points for the third time in the last four games and 11th time this season.SUPER SUBOlynyks 30 points came in 31 minutes off the bench, marking the first time a Celtics sub had 30 or more points in 31 or fewer minutes since Xavier McDaniel had 30 points in 29 minutes on Feb. 28, 1993 against Portland.TIP-INSCeltics: Marcus Smart (Achilles) and Marcus Thornton (calf) were out for Boston. ... Boston improved to 2-0 against the Sixers this season, including its 101-90 victory in Philadelphia on Nov. 19. . Boston outscored Philadelphia 25-1 in fast-break points.76ers: Signed Turkish power forward Furkan Aldemir and waived Ronald Roberts. . Philadelphia Phillies left-hander Cole Hamels sat courtside next to 76ers owner Josh Harris. . Philadelphia last won at home on April 14 of last season against Boston. . F K.J. McDaniels returned to the lineup after missing Saturdays game due to an ankle injury.UP NEXTPhiladelphia hosts Memphis on Friday.Boston hosts Orlando on Wednesday. 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