Mark Beuhrle is proving his value...

[JohnnyLonghorn]

I would just like to state that I was as skeptical as anyone over the aquisition of Mark Beuhrle this offseason. No doubt it can be disputed that he is being drastically overpaid for a soft leftly pitcher on the back of of his career. However, one thing that kept being reiterated by Jays fans and sports columnists alike is that this guy is sure-shot 200+ innings eater, and a craftly veterin presence in the locker room.

 

I would just like to state that after a disasterous April and a less than spectacular May, Mark has really found his groove and has given this team 4 consecutive quality starts over the past couple weeks. In typical Jays' fashion, our starting rotation has been absoloutely ravaged by injuries, and three out of our five starting pitchers (Morrow, Johnson, Happ) have missed significant playing time in the first half of the season with the fourth (Dickey) playing at less than 100% as well. How nice is it to have a guy with such uncanny DURABILITY, who is ready to go each and every time is name is up for the start?

 

By no means am I suggesting Mark Buehrle is deserving of the monstrous contract we took on with him, but it sure has been nice to have at least one of our starting pitchers stay healthy and consistenly be good for 5-6 innings per start, even on an off night. I'm looking forward to watching Beuhrle pitch for the remainder of the season and I sure hope he can emulate the success he has been having this June. Most definitely he has played a significant role in this hot stretch we are currently riding, and his value to this team at this point cannot be understated.

 

Thoughts anyone?

[Metallijay]

He is, he has been our best pitcher for over a month..............So much for the "He can't pitch in the AL" crowd. too bad about the bad start, this team would be in real good shape if not for the nightmare that was April

[Olerud363]

I would just like to state that I was as skeptical as anyone over the aquisition of Mark Beuhrle this offseason. No doubt it can be disputed that he is being drastically overpaid for a soft leftly pitcher on the back of of his career. However, one thing that kept being reiterated by Jays fans and sports columnists alike is that this guy is sure-shot 200+ innings eater, and a craftly veterin presence in the locker room.

 

I would just like to state that after a disasterous April and a less than spectacular May, Mark has really found his groove and has given this team 4 consecutive quality starts over the past couple weeks. In typical Jays' fashion, our starting rotation has been absoloutely ravaged by injuries, and three out of our five starting pitchers (Morrow, Johnson, Happ) have missed significant playing time in the first half of the season with the fourth (Dickey) playing at less than 100% as well. How nice is it to have a guy with such uncanny DURABILITY, who is ready to go each and every time is name is up for the start?

 

By no means am I suggesting Mark Buehrle is deserving of the monstrous contract we took on with him, but it sure has been nice to have at least one of our starting pitchers stay healthy and consistenly be good for 5-6 innings per start, even on an off night. I'm looking forward to watching Beuhrle pitch for the remainder of the season and I sure hope he can emulate the success he has been having this June. Most definitely he has played a significant role in this hot stretch we are currently riding, and his value to this team at this point cannot be understated.

 

Thoughts anyone?

 

He has impressed me for the last month for sure. Did Wilner predict this would happen? I slammed him as much as anyone, questioning the wisdom of building a staff around a couple of junk ballers.. still an open issue.

 

Remind us again of this in a few weeks. If required I am willing to issue a full-page apology to Mr. Paul Beeston, his consultants, Mr. AA, Mr. Wilner, and any posters on here who predicted a Buerhle bounce back. An apology that will be truly heartfelt and humble.

 

Since this will be a bit embarassing I am going to hold off a few weeks. I'd hate to apolagize to all these folks, only to see Buerhle get smoked 5 consecutive starts, then have to retract my apology and re-slam Beeston etc. al.

 

However I am currently working on my Buerhle apology letter... will issue it Aug 1st if required. Also working on various "this is the worst organization in baseball" letters... also keeping these in reserve if needed.

 

I am prepared for anything at this point.

[bzapple]

Good post.

 

Buehrle is giving the Jays exactly what anyone should have expected; he basically has the same season every year. His xFIP is down to 4.24, in line with his career norms. It was laughable how some people were writing off one of the most consistent pitchers in the game after one month.

[connorp]

Good post.

 

Buehrle is giving the Jays exactly what anyone should have expected; he basically has the same season every year. His xFIP is down to 4.24, in line with his career norms. It was laughable how some people were writing off one of the most consistent pitchers in the game after one month.

 

In fairness to those of us that questioned him.. it wasn't that I thinking he had changed for the worse. It was more a park factor/division change thing.

 

If Jays were out of it though, I would still look to shed the contract if I knew it meant Rogers would re-invest in another way.. however, even with this last off-season, its still questionable if that money would go back into the team.. so I guess I would ride out the ship maybe. Still possible it goes the other way though.

[eastcoastjaysfan]

He was pretty terrible last night. All that junk was up in the zone. Very lucky.

[Arkadium]

I'm getting a little tired of hearing the whole 'he will provide you 200+ innings' BS..... while that's nice to have, it's also been over-blown. If the guy is going to give you 5+ ERA, who cares if it's from one guy ore more than one guy. Granted this argument is only valid if you have some pitching depth, which the Jays do not - they are hanging on by thin strings right now with Wang, etc.

[Metallijay]

I'm getting a little tired of hearing the whole 'he will provide you 200+ innings' BS..... while that's nice to have, it's also been over-blown. If the guy is going to give you 5+ ERA, who cares if it's from one guy ore more than one guy. Granted this argument is only valid if you have some pitching depth, which the Jays do not - they are hanging on by thin strings right now with Wang, etc.

 

But he has been pitching well for a month or more now, it's not just innings....................

[Sammy225]

I'm getting a little tired of hearing the whole 'he will provide you 200+ innings' BS..... while that's nice to have, it's also been over-blown. If the guy is going to give you 5+ ERA, who cares if it's from one guy ore more than one guy. Granted this argument is only valid if you have some pitching depth, which the Jays do not - they are hanging on by thin strings right now with Wang, etc.

 

That and right now he is not 5+ he is Mid 4 and going down. Other than JJ I don't know who if there is another guy on this rotation that I would trust more with the ball right now. I would say by seasons end you will see consistent MB numbers which are 200+ Innings with a .350-.400 ERA. I would almost be willing to bet on that.

[Arkadium]

But he has been pitching well for a month or more now, it's not just innings....................

 

I know, I'm not correlating the two on purpose (for the sake of argument).

[Chappy]

I remember when a lot of people were predicting Romero would be better than Buehrle this year and that Buehrle would be nothing more than a #5 coming to the ALE. Look how that turned out.

[Captain Adama]

I remember when a lot of people were predicting Romero would be better than Buehrle this year and that Buehrle would be nothing more than a #5 coming to the ALE. Look how that turned out.

 

I'm legitimately curious to find out who said this, lots of regulars, myself included, had written off Romero before the year even began.

[saskjayfan]

He was pretty terrible last night. All that junk was up in the zone. Very lucky.

 

Yeah....i'm sure he was never unlucky earlier in the season....you can't acknowledge one without the other....Buehrle didn't have his best stuff last night and he grinded it out. He threw a few great changeups last night that got him strikeouts and out of jams. His previous start he was dynamite and didn't need any luck. He's a pro who has a track record. You just don't like AA..lol

[Chappy]

I'm legitimately curious to find out who said this, lots of regulars, myself included, had written off Romero before the year even began.

 

There were a few regulars for sure which I can recall. The same guys who thought I was crazy for suggesting Happ make the team over Romero.

[GD]

There were a few regulars for sure which I can recall. The same guys who thought I was crazy for suggesting Happ make the team over Romero.

 

Crazy? I don't think I would have had Romero over Happ until he imploded in ST, but calling you crazy for that is wrong.

[Chappy]

Crazy? I don't think I would have had Romero over Happ until he imploded in ST, but calling you crazy for that is wrong.

 

I think some just get blinded by the raw talent and forget that players actually have to perform as well.

[GD]

I think some just get blinded by the raw talent and forget that players actually have to perform as well.

 

I see their point at a glance, it's only one bad year, and the reward would be higher than with Happ. Not the greatest train of thought but meh.

[Chappy]

I see their point at a glance, it's only one bad year, and the reward would be higher than with Happ. Not the greatest train of thought but meh.

 

Sure they have a point, but when a team is expected to contend and has players who are performing you can't just give players an infinite amount of time to figure it out. Romero had an entire season and a spring and he looked like s***. I hope he can work his way back, but while this team is expected to contend there is no room to allow players to figure things out at the big league level.

[Chappy]

I was of the thinking it was his job to lose in the Spring, oh and he did.... I'm happy to see Romero starting to turn the brakes on this trainwreck lately, but he has a long way to go.

 

If Romero can pitch solid overall for 10+ starts in the minors then I think he becomes an option for injury replacement. Right now we have 4 guys in our rotation that should be able to give us innings and then Rogers who at some point is going to max out of he sticks in the rotation. He pitched 110 total innings (majors and minors) in 2011 and 78.2 innings last season. Not sure what his max will be but he may need to be shut down at some point. Who knows whats going to happen with Morrow and Happ may be ready around the ASB. So it looks like Romero could quickly move right behind Happ or even pass him on the depths charts if he can get his s*** together over his next 8-10 starts.