Jays and their starting pitching
By chuckt9881
@chuckt9881 (469)
Canada
January 27, 2007 1:24pm CST
I think the Jays should have a good starting rotation this season. Burnett, Halladay and Chacin are healthy, and they should all have a good season. Whoever fills out the rotation should be decent too.
Josh Towers is a big maybe. Last season was horrible. Maybe he can get back on track this season. Thompson had a weak season last year, but he has potential too. Marcum and Janssen could have breakout seasons as well.
One thing to consider in Toronto, when looking at their pitching, is their hitting.
The Jays are one of the best offensive teams in the league, and with the addition of Thomas, the Jays are only getting better. Toronto should be able to provide even mediochre pitchers with high run support, and I'm sure there will be many games that the offence will win all on their own.
5 responses
@chuckt9881 (469)
• Canada
1 Feb 07
Burnett had 10 wins last year in 21 starts. Not too bad. More importantly, he averaged 6.2 innings per game. That's a problem Jays pitching has always had -- making it deep into a game.
People blame the bullpen for losing games, but if the starters consistently can't last half a game, the bullpen will always be playing tired. So of course they're going to lose some.
@vrccan (20)
• Canada
4 Feb 07
Those stats are a bit misleading in a negative sense. Burnett lost at least two of those starts because the Jays only put up two runs - he's got the talent to be better than a below .500 pitcher. Hopefully the work he's done with Arnsberg combined with a more consistent Jays' offense this year will mean better things for Burnett.
1 person likes this
@diamante56 (51)
• United States
19 Feb 07
Burnette will burn you, Thompson fingertips will flare again. National league castoffs.
1 person likes this
@SuperSam (172)
• Canada
9 Apr 07
I agree about burnett I think he has had one good season before becoming a Jay and now he's overrated. When his curve ball doesn't work then he's up the creek with no paddle. Thomson not Thompson is a good pitcher and is where he belongs with the relief spot, again I agree he is a good pitcher.
1 person likes this
@vrccan (20)
• Canada
4 Feb 07
Hm, good pitching, good hitting and high prospects for the season.
Sound familiar? Yeah, last season! lol
Last season the Jays prospects at the start of the season looked *better* than they did this season. With Halladay, Burnett, Chacin, Lilly and a Josh Towers coming off a career year, as well as Russ Adams and Aaron Hill turning in great performances in their rookie campaigns, hopes were very high.
But as always seems to happen whenever hopes are high for a sports team in Toronto, they went out with a fizzle.
This year I'm personally going to reserve my judgement until I see it. Is Frank Thomas enough to overcome what at the current moment are two gaping holes in the starting rotation? I doubt it very much, but I hope I'm wrong.
The Jays made a lot of progress last year by finishing 2nd in the east, hopefully they'll be able to at least equal that this year, but I'm not going to hold my breath (not yet anyway ;)).
@leafsfan360 (16)
• Canada
16 Feb 07
yea i think we might just have a playoff run this year. I just hope that that Matsusaka guy isn't as good as people are saying he is.
@Mike07 (505)
• United States
27 Feb 07
You know Tomo Ohka was not a bad pick up at all. For his major league career, his ERA is just 90%of the League ERA. That's way better than most of the free agent starters this year, like Meche at 105%, Suppan at 99%, Marquis at 106%, Eaton at 108%, and even Vincent Padilla at 94%.
Considering the Jays got Ohka for only $1.5 Million this year, he could be a real bargain, and really help the team, if he's healthy.
1 person likes this
