How worried are you about the starting rotation?

We are four times through the rotation (plus a spot start from Joe Biagini), so I thought I’d ask how worried you are about about our starting pitchers. .

We expected the Blue Jays rotation to be a strength of the team, but it really hasn’t been, to this point. Our starters have a 5.23 ERA. They’ve averaged 5.6 innings per start, which is actually fourth most in the AL, which surprises me. They have 7 Quality Starts, right around the middle of the league.

Let’s look at the starters:

Aaron Sanchez: 3.86 ERA (4.36 FIP). Batters are hitting .258/.367/.387 against him. 3 of his four starts have been Quality Starts.

Aaron has been our best starter. He’s gone 6 innings in 3 of the 4 starts, the other he went 5.2. His strike out to walk rate isn’t pretty, 13 walks and 15 strikeouts. But, he hasn’t given up much that has been hard hit. It would be nice if he could get a strikeout when he needed one. He had our best start, going 7 no-hit innings, finishing with 8 innings, 3 hits, 5 walks and 4 strikeouts.

J.A. Happ: 4.50 ERA (4.66 FIP). Batters are hitting .241/.320/.437. 1 of his 4 starts was a Quality Start.

J.A.’s pitched 22 innings in the 4 starts (we have won 3 of those starts). He has 31 strikeouts in those 22 innings, with just 7 walks. I always wish he could pitch later into games. His best start was 6 innings, against the Orioles, allowing 5 hits, 3 walks with 9 strikeouts.

Marco Estrada: 5.32 (6.16 FIP). Batters are hitting .259/.319/.541.

Marco’s first couple of starts were very good (13 innings, 4 earned, both Quality Starts), his last two starts weren’t good (9 innings, 9 earned). The 6 home runs aren’t good, 5 of them were in 2 starts against the Yankees.

Marcus Stroman: 8.55 ERA (4.46 FIP). Batters are hitting .280/.381/.427 against him.

Marcus hasn’t made it through the 6th inning yet. He is getting strikeouts (21 in 20 innings) but he’s also giving up a lot of walks 14. There have been good moments mixed into his starts, but he can’t seem to put it together for a few innings at a go.

Jaime Garcia: 4.57 ERA (5.42 FIP). Batters are hitting .288/.367/.563.

His first start was hit best, 6 innings, just 1 earned, 4 hits, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts. He’s getting over a strikeout an inning (23 in 21.2 innings) and he isn’t giving up many walks (8). But then he’s giving up a lot of home runs (5). He’s finished out 6 innings once. Yesterday’s game I had the pleasure of listening to the Yankees radio people. They kept going on about how Jaime is an inning’s eater. Averaging 5.4 innings a start isn’t eating enough innings.