Which Pitchers are you pulling for this spring?
by Tom Dakers on Feb 21, 2010 6:23 PM EST
in Toronto Blue Jays Analysis
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PrintYeah, all of them, I know. But which ones in particular are you interested in watching. Three for me are:
Brett Cecil: Cecil doesn't seem to be on many of the 'projected' starting rotations that I've seen, mostly because of the 5.30 ERA he had last year. But, he did get left out to be shelled a few times last year, which didn't help his ERA and he was only 22 with just a couple of years of starting experience in the minors, after having been a closer in college. The Jays have been building up his innings pitched a little each year, he threw 142 last year between Vegas and the majors, so this year he'll be looking to play pretty much a full season, I doubt the team will be shutting him down at the end of this year. He was number 2 on our prospect list last year, there is lots of potential there and Buster Olney twitted that the Jays were happy with his condition coming into camp (not sure if that was a shot at how he came into camp last year).
Dustin McGowan: Every time his name came up last season someone was sure to tell us his career was over, and they may still be right but boy I hope he proves them wrong. Everyone has the story about how he is throwing without pain spring: The Star, Globe and Mail and Jordan Bastian. All are careful to mention that the Jays haven't put a radar gun on him yet, a good move because he hurt his arm trying to impress the gun. He is out of options, so he can't be sent down to the minors without clearing options and there is no way he'd clear options. He could start the year on the DL, perhaps in the minors on a rehab assignment, but then he would have to go along with it. If he's healthy and says he's healthy he'd have to stay on the build league team. If healthy he has all sorts of talent and he turns just 28 in March.
Scott Richmond: With 'shoulder impingement' he's going to get a later start to spring training, which is too bad, he needs to show well to have a shot at making the team. Scott has options left which also likely works against his chances for making the team. He had a terrific start to last season, winning AL Rookie pitcher of the Month for April and had a 3.69 ERA for the first half of the year. The second half didn't go well. He does need a pitch to get lefties out with or, barring that, he needs a role in the bullpen where he can face mainly right-handed batters. We all know his backstory, so it is easy to pull for him and I'm a Canuk enough to like the idea of a Canadian on the team. Odds are long for him with all the pitchers on the team but I'm hoping for him.
Anyway which pitchers are you pulling for this spring?
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Rzepczynski, Romero and Tallet, just to see what kind of awesome facial hair Tallet is sporting.
Ball.
Rooting for the pitching coaches more than anything else
That they realize Cecil tips his pitches, anyone not named David Ortiz can steal off Mcgowan, and the other last names starting with M are walking time bombs. Arnsberg did his job teaching them how to pitch, now someone else needs to fix how they pitch.
Dusty and Janssen were always my favourite pitchers.
I’m also really, really hoping that Romero can replicate or build on last season. Then, of course, im pulling for the younger guys ilke Cecil and Scrabble.
Im pulling for McGowan, he was my favourite pitcher (not named Roy) when he was pitching. I was always excited to see him pitch and i was sorry to hear about him all broken. People would say they dont think he would ever pitch again, and that his career may be over. I hope he comes out like a beast and tears it up (the competetion)
Im also pulling for Cecil. Lots of guys are bashing him for a bad rookie year so i hope he comes back and pitches well. i like him and i think this year he’s be a lot better.
Ill also be in Morrow’s corner. He’s coming over from a place where he was bashed and remined how he isnt as good as Linceicum (well who is). I hope he pitches the best he can, and i hope he doesnt feel the need to do to much. I think if he calms down and just pitches his game he’ll be pretty good.
Finally im rooting for Carlson, i liked him in his rookie year and then he went out and had a bad second year. I want him to return to his rookie season form, and i think he can get back there.
I’m rooting for them all, but it sure would be nice to see Marcum and McGowan back in ‘08 form. If I’m not mistaken, the Jays have 2 years left of McGowan before he can hit free agency, so I hope we get to seen him a lot in those 2 years.
Then, I’m rooting for Morrow. I think this guy can be awesome and I can’t wait to see him.
My 4-5 guys would be Romero and Zep. Romero looked just awesome early last year, and Zep is a personal favorite of mine, for no particular reason.
I’m also curious to see if Litsch can make it back to the rotation. If you look at what Litsch has done in the AL East (with a pretty good sample size), it’s really impressive.
I’d be OK with Cecil in AAA until he proves a little more. I thought he was rushed, in that he never performed particularly well in AAA.
Pulling for our young guys as well as a few "vets"
Definitely pulling for Dusty Mac. We had high aspirations for him before injury put him out of action for a year and a half. It would be great to see him bounce back.
Pulling for the Chef too. A lot of scouts projected him low because he doesn’t throw 95. Well guess what, Tom Glavine didn’t throw 95 either, and he’s a HOFer.
I would like to see Romero do well too, and prove that he isn’t a 1st round bust in the 05 draft class of guys like Tulowitzski, Cameron Maybin, Jay Bruce, 5-tool player Colby Rasmus, Ellssbury, and Andrew McCutchhen; all of whom were picked “after” Ricky.
I also hope Morrow can finally control his devastating arsenal that includes a 97 mph FB and take hitters to town.
HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THEM, I PRESS DOWN MAH GUNS!
Why did you put after in quotations?
Are you implying they were picked before?
I put quotations for emphasis
He needs to prove that he was worth picking before those aforementioned talented players. A lot of CFs in that draft. Guess we passed on them because we had Vernon coming off strong seasons.
HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THEM, I PRESS DOWN MAH GUNS!
I’ll be happy of course to see any and all of them succeed. That said, I’ll be pulling for Romero, as I’d really like to see him build on his breakthrough season last year and firmly establish himself at or near the top of the rotation. I’ll be keen to see what some of our injured starters can do, particularly Litsch and McGowan. On the underdog side, I’m a big fan of Tallet, who don’t think gets enough respect, and also pulling for Accardo, who really didn’t get any respect last year. Lastly, I’m always interested in reclamation jobs, such as Gregg and particularly Morrow with his potentially large upside.
Naturally, the walking wounded: Mutton Chops and His Chubbyness (McGowan and Litsch)
However – realistically neither of them will be ready for April. McGowan – despite his early “success” is still not nearly ready enough.
As to the rest – they’ll be interesting to watch – BUT – it appears to me that Drabek, Stewart, Morrow and Jenkins will be 4/5ths of our starting 5 by mid-2011 AT THE LATEST – so we’re really looking to see which ONE or maybe TWO of Scrabble, Cecil, Romero, Richmond, Mills, McGowan, Litsch, Ray, Perez and Tallet (and others) make the cut for the long term. In the short term this Spring training should be a wild affair.
But going forward – as I see it – we’ll have LOTS of pitching to trade by the All-Star break in 2011.
I am hoping the three young arms, Romera, Rzep and Cecil will become the new core of the Jays SP. (3 musketeers) That said, I would be happy to see strong performances from Morrow, Marcum and McGowan. (3M)
Richmond, as indicated in the write-up, I expect will start off in minors, but that is ok. No need to rush him back. Personally, I would be happy to wait until 2011 before he makes it back to the bigs in hopes he returns to early 2009 form. Speaking of delayed returns, why rush Litsch back if we have so many pitching options? There may not be a real compelling reason to rush him back before 2011 either.
I am seriously worried that Janssen could be near done. From what I saw last year, he just did not seem to have his mojo back. We shall see, but in such a crowded field of potential pitchers, I really have a hard time seeing him make the cut.
I would also like to see Carlson come back strong.
It will be interesting to see if Ray has made much progress. The lack of colour on the nature of his injury last year was a bit perplexing. A bit more visibility into his progress could be interesting.
Roenicke had some good outings last year. I hope he can improve his consistency because he seems like a potentially valuable non-closing reliever.
Marcum
I see him as the ‘ace’; the guy you build your rotation around. He’s not the live arm that McGowan was, but Marcum has good stuff, is crafty, and does everything well off the mounds; pitching, fielding, controlling the running game. I can really see him evolving through the Glavine style of approach, finding success by having good stuff and outthinking the opposition.
Marcum and McGowan were always pitchers I really enjoyed watching, so I’d love to see those two guys make the rotation, though I hope the Jays are as conservative as they can be, particularly with McGowan. Out of the mix of younger guys, I think they will all get a chance at some point during the season, so spring isn’t a make-or-break thing for any of them. For the somewhat older pitchers who have had injury concerns like Richmond, Ray, and Janssen, though, their windows may be closing so it’d be nice to see one or more of them have a strong season.
"Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our closed rooms... The game of ball is glorious." - Walt Whitman
Rotation
I think the 5 that will make it out of spring, barring injury of course, will be Marcum, McGowan, Romero, Rzep, and Tallet.
I also believe that it won’t take long for Morrow and Cecil to crack the rotation and Romero will unfortunately be a huge bust. Why? Look no further than his 72/49 K/BB ratio he posted in the second half last year, and his 86/63 K/BB ratio against right handed hitters for the season. I see these two stats as MAJOR warning flags for 2010 and beyond.
Rotation
Pulling for McGowan & Janssen & Scrabble the most. Believe Romero, Marcum, Morrow, Scrabble, & Tallet end up in the rotation at least at the outset. It would be nice if Janssen can crack the rotation, as I think we are deep enough in the pen & his experience would be beneficial as a starter. However, if he can pitch out of the pen like he did 2 or 3 years ago, that wouldn’t be the end of the world either. If I were making the decisions, I would let Cecil & Janssen & Ray & McGowan start in Vegas & dominate as starters in AAA. Then we can mix & match as the season goes on. The rotation will be a revolving door anyways. Best case scenario is a .500 season, which would really be good with a rotation lacking the way it is. More likely result is a 65-75 win season. I would be really surprised if a 100 loss season was in the offing, as I think there is too much talent & potential here for that to happen. Disasters health wise however…
Go Jays Go! :)
I am cheering for David Purcey
Power lefty just needs to sort out his control and could be great. i know, we have heard this all before, but historically, power pitchers take a long time to develop control… so… Purcey could still work out.
Also, I will be rooting for Morrow (same reasons as Purcey, really) and of course McGowan, who, if healthy, could transform this season from very little hope to a possible winning season (or better).
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