The Jays' offense has the look of a playoff team.

A full season of Jose Bautista, the new Edwin Encarnacion and an electric leadoff hitter adds up to a whole lot of runs.

When you look at the team's lineup, it suddenly dawns on you why Melky Cabrera so quickly signed with the team after Anthopoulos pulled off the 12-player deal with the Marlins.

He'll be hitting behind Jose Reyes and in front of Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion.

Opposing pitchers will have to make sure they throw strikes against Cabrera. If Reyes manages to get on base with consistency, the pitcher will give Cabrera fastballs to cover the steal, and they will be throwing strikes to avoid facing Bautista and Encarnacion with runners on.

To recap: A batter who hit .346 last year will be seeing plenty of fastballs for strikes.

The position battle for second base seems to have been put on the shelf while Brett Lawrie is injured, as Maicer Izturis and Mark DeRosa will have to fill in at third.

After a brilliant spring training, DeRosa will play third against lefties, but on April 2, Izturis will start against Justin Masterson. DeRosa is a nice comeback story and may turn out to be a hugely valuable veteran piece on the superstar-laden Toronto roster.

Henry Blanco beat out Josh Thole for the backup catcher role, as J.P. Arencibia and R.A. Dickey developed chemistry at the World Baseball Classic. Doubts that Arencibia could properly catch Dickey's knuckleball have been effectively eliminated.

1. Jose Reyes, SS

2. Melky Cabrera, LF

3. Jose Bautista, RF

4. Edwin Encarnacion, 1B

5. Adam Lind, DH

6. J.P. Arencibia, C

7. Colby Rasmus, CF

8. Emilio Bonifacio, 2B

9. Maicer Izturis, 3B

Bench: Henry Blanco, C, Rajai Davis, OF, Mark DeRosa, IF

Disabled List: Brett Lawrie, 3B