Forget about winning the treacherous American League East. The Blue Jays will have a tough time fending off the Baltimore Orioles for last place in the division.

"People can look on paper and say, 'Wow, we've lost some guys,' or whatever," Toronto third baseman Scott Rolen said. "True, everything's true.

"Let's play first. Let's see how it goes. We started off slow last year. Maybe we start off well this year, get a jump on people and take some of the pressure off."

With the Blue Jays' 2009 campaign set to begin at Rogers Centre on Monday night against the Detroit Tigers, Toronto is still trying to package playoff optimism - for 2010.

"It's not a rebuilding year, it's a reloading year," said Paul Beeston, interim president of the Blue Jays.

With team owner Rogers Communications Inc. feeling the pinch of the declining economy and reducing the Blue Jays' payroll by $13-million (all currency U.S.) to around $85-million, general manager J.P. Ricciardi's hands were effectively tied during the off-season.

Unable to bid for any of the top-tier free-agent pitchers, Ricciardi dipped heavily into the minor-league system to try to bolster the Jays' major-league roster.

Burnett's defection to the New York Yankees, and injuries to Marcum and McGowan, robbed the Blue Jays of three-fifths of their standout rotation. Anchored by the steady Roy Halladay, the Jays led all starting pitchers in the major leagues with a 3.72 earned-run average in 2008.

Marcum is gone for the season after elbow surgery, and McGowan may also miss the year after an operation on his shoulder.

Together, that trio accounted for 33 of Toronto's 86 wins in 2008 and consumed close to 500 innings.

This year, the starting staff is long on hope and short on experience beyond Halladay, a perennial Cy Young Award candidate, a throwback pitcher whose 34 complete games since 2003 surpasses the totals for 20 major-league teams.

After Halladay, the most experienced hand is Jesse Litsch, 24, who is embarking on his third major-league season.

Then comes David Purcey, whose big-league experience amounts to 65 innings. He is followed by rookies Ricky Romero, the Jays' top draft choice (sixth overall) from 2005, and Scott Richmond, the British Columbian who started five games for the Jays last season.

It marks the first time in Toronto's 33-year history that the starting pitching staff has included two rookies to begin a season.

"We like our young kids," Ricciardi said, "but they are young kids and this is a tough division to break them in. But there's a means to an end. They need to get their experience and I think once they get the experience, they'll be better off for it."

Halladay, 31, who went 20-11 last season with a 2.78 ERA, made it clear he wants no part in mentoring the younger charges.

"I've never been a huge fan of mentoring," said Halladay, a steely competitor who prefers his own private space within the often boisterous Blue Jays clubhouse.

"I feel like you should be learning together as teammates," he added. "Any time you get caught up in mentoring, you may lose sight of what you're supposed to be doing and the job at hand."

The hope is that the young starters, with ample support from a bullpen that also led the majors last year with a 2.94 ERA, can somehow keep the Jays close in games and the fans interested.

In 2010, with the anticipated return of Marcum and McGowan, the Jays believe they will be positioned to contend in their division.

It's a risky proposition, and Beeston knows there is a chance that the club could alienate some of its supporters if the Jays should somehow find themselves out of the playoff picture by the All-Star Game break.

"We're going to sell exciting Baseball," Beeston said. "We're going to sell hustle, we're going to sell dedication and we're going to sell guys that try."

The starting pitching is not the only concern. So, too, is the Jays' offence, which last season sputtered with a .264 team batting average (10th overall in the AL) while scoring an average of 4.4 runs a game (11th).

Through 30 Grapefruit League games, the Jays were batting a collective .265, 24th out of 30 teams.

The offence should get a boost with the return of Aaron Hill, a smooth fielding second baseman who has some pop in his bat. He missed the last four months of the season last year after suffering a concussion.

Also expected to help the offence is Travis Snider, the burly, power-hitting outfielder who is considered a rookie-of-the-year candidate.

The Jays are hoping for rebound years from Vernon Wells, whose production has slipped following two injury-marred seasons, and Alex Rios, who hit just 15 homers while driving in 79 runs last season.

Rolen's hitting appears to be back in tune after he altered his swing to lessen the strain on his surgically repaired left shoulder, but there remains concern about first baseman Lyle Overbay, who was hitting .179 through 14 spring-training games.