darthjon

Just came across this interesting blog article written yesterday that talks about the pitching situation and all the roster implications: http://www.bluejaysfromaway.com/to-stro-or-not-to-stro-or-much-ado-about-pitching/

Like many fans I've been critical of Gibbons since last season (well, actually, since the decision to bring him back) but I'm not sure any manager could succeed with this group. Sure there are holes here and there but the one major, major problem with the team is the mess of a starting rotation. A team will never be competitive in MLB, let alone in the AL, with this kind of starting rotation. Problems: 1) No reliable ace. Dickey was supposed to be it but clearly he isn't cut out for pitching in the AL, especially in a hitter's park. Let's face it, 2012 might have been a fluke for Dickey. He was mediocre before 2012 and he's been mediocre (perhaps even worse than mediocre) since then. Successful teams have that go-to number 1 starter that they can always count on. Buehrle was that guy through his first 4 starts but he's not going to be that guy all season. 2) Young pitchers not living up to their potential. Perhaps there is something seriously wrong with how we develop our pitchers, but we seem to have a long list of young guys with supposedly great stuff who just don't pitch in line with their talent. It's one thing to keep these guys working in the minors, hoping they'll figure it out (Romero) but you can't have 2 or 3 of them in your starting rotation and expect to be competitive. Watching Morrow walk 8 guys in 3 innings was just brutal. Some of these guys just look overmatched in the majors. 3) Aside from Buehrle, no workhorses in the rotation. Having your starters give up 5 or 6 runs can be tolerated if they can be counted on to pitch deep into games. But so far we're seeing a repeat of 2013 with starters consistently failing to make it past the 5th inning, which puts way, way too much pressure on the bullpen. In 2013 the bullpen carried the team until they started running out of gas but over the past couple of weeks the bullpen has looked shell-shocked. As for Gibbons, I find that he often seems to be overthinking the game, sometimes making questionable moves seemingly for the sake of it. There was that one game recently where he ran through the entire bench in the 7th inning playing the lefty-righty chess game, and then didn't have pinch hitters or runners when it mattered. Sometimes he goes to the bullpen earlier than he needs to for the sake of getting the lefty-lefty matchup. And I agree with other comments (including those made by Zaun) about starting innings with your relievers, especially when they've been hit hard and their confidence is shot.