Blue

Poutine can stick, always.

Here are some numbers, because numbers: 2013-2014 MLB pitchers with >=240 innings pitched -> 114 sample size Why this set? I want to look at an average starter based on ML performance, not subject to what-ifs and optimistic sprinkles and sunshine. Injury-prone? Tough luck, you basically rang up medical bills rather than opposing batters. "Established" vet on the decline? Pfft, sit in the bullpen where you belong, don't get any of your middling stench of middle relief on the promising ones. Young and talented in the minors? So what, you're not helping me win Games That Matter When It Matters (aka Now). Onto Dickey: how he ranks in various stats out of the 114: What does this mean? Hell if I know, I just wanted to write something about sprinkles and sunshine.

It's a risk, but well calculated: AA firmly believes Osuna/Castro gives the team the best chance to win, specifically, racking up those wins early in the year with a tough schedule, mostly against division rivals. The two have a hot spring to transition into the first month of real games; momentum and confidence do matter, not just for players, but the collective hive mind of the Baseball Team. The early season opposition have less information (i.e. stats, video, scouting reports, personal experience) on them to make adjustments out of the gate. This is less true should they start in the minors before being brought up in the standard "need" (e.g. injury or ineffectiveness of other pitchers). Is this enough incremental runs/wins over Delabar/Drabek/Francis/etc.? In the immediate short term, AA says yes, and I can see the argument for it. Having the duo start the season in the majors does not mean they will be up for whole season. Merely 20 days in the minors per season is needed to save a year of control. That will be relatively easy to do should they indeed falter in relief or justified if/when they are called upon to take up a starting job and sent down to "stretch out". In either case, the Jays aren't going anywhere in 2015, those days riding the minor league buses between Small Towns USA are inevitable. Even if there is an IP limit, I'll buy getting 40-60 big league innings out of them now when they are worth the most, then send them down to finish up as starters. Needless to say, exceptional baseball players are the exception to general convention of baseball history. The Jays clearly evaluate Osuna/Castro as outliers, and experts are often wrong, especially in baseball, but they are experts. If they are gambling anything, it's that Osuna/Castro do not have the "makeup" today to be major league relief pitchers, but out of anything I expect these experts to be vastly superior to Average Joe Fan, it's evaluating the mental aspects of their assets. Exceptional players should not drop off the face of the baseball world just because of adversity when they are 20; if they struggle, they are resilient and only take those battered lessons to be ready the next time. As others have stated, young pitchers break our hearts... particularly when they break their arms. Might as well squeeze WAR or whatever comes out of them before that happens. Of course, management could very well could simply be trying to save their jobs, in which case, the above are merely rationalizations for preconceived, selfish, notions. That admitted, their job description includes winning within parameters. We are not privy to those parameters, but suffice it to say, "Flags Fly Forever" is a common thread that we can all relate to, parameters be damned.