National Post

POWER OUTAGE SABOTAGING JAYS’ PITCHING STAFF

TORONTO’S OFFENSIVE IMPOTENCE PUTTING ADDED PRESSURE ON SHORT-HANDED STARTING ROTATION

- ROB LONGLEY

The two most recent Toronto Blue Jays defeats — excruciati­ng, frustratin­g, hard to watch offensive duds — were symptomati­c of what’s been happening with such regularity that they’re starting to be seen as routine.

But has the lagging offence begun to heap even more pressure on a superb starting rotation that has been short-handed for most of the past year?

It’s starting to feel that way.

It was certainly an angry Chris Bassitt who threw five no-hit innings against the Royals, wobbled in the sixth when he allowed three runs and then had to live with the inevitable: That his team had no chance because on too many nights, the offence barely registers a pulse.

The previous night, the script was similar. Jose Berrios pitched seven innings and allowed just two runs only to see the offence fail — and flail — again.

The power outage has left manager John Schneider sounding like a desperate (and repetitive) man who night after night seems obliged to promise that the hits eventually will come.

Instead, we’re looking at a team that scores runs so sparingly that sterling starting efforts from the pitching staff are wasted. After Monday’s one-run effort, the Jays have been held to a single score or fewer seven times already in 32 games.

It’s hard to fathom how a team that was so prolific at the plate just two seasons ago has veered into the current abyss that has muted expectatio­ns and heightened concern for the future.

Feel free to chime in now, “it’s early” crowd, but until there’s signs of consistent offensive output, the concerns will remain high. How did it happen?

George Springer started playing like he was an aging veteran on the final season of a six-year, US$130 million contract that remains the richest in club history, but did so three seasons early.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. went from phenom of 2021 to very ordinary in each of the past three seasons and it seemingly happened just like that.

Teoscar Hernandez was allowed to walk via free agency and is fitting in nicely with a powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers offence.

And to top it off, the normally reliable Bo Bichette is stuck in one of the worst funks of his career.

In his brilliance, general manager Ross Atkins went from overseeing a powerful and potent offence with seemingly limitless potential to declaring that run prevention would be the emphasis.

That declaratio­n, boldly and repeatedly made before the 2023 season, raised some eyebrows and before long elevated the ire of the team’s fans as the Jays struggled to score and were trapped in far too many tight contests.

Modest harvests in two consecutiv­e off-seasons have only exacerbate­d those concerns.

A run prevented is as good as a run scored was the mantra, bunk we don’t hear as often from a front office void of solutions for a team that has played just shy of 20 per cent of its season and is on pace to win just 76 games. What can fix it? Quite simply, if the Jays don’t get production from the top of the order — and soon — they could well be doomed.

It’s difficult to imagine sticking with Springer hitting leadoff, even with the usual (and by now tired) reasoning that he’s a notorious slow starter to the season (it’s May now, people) and that he’s the best leadoff hitter in the game (it’s 2024 now, not 2017).

With an average of .212 and a .617 OPS, can manager John Schneider really afford to keep Springer there for much longer? Nope, not with the diminished bat speed that opposing pitchers are feasting on.

And then there’s Guerrero, whose inability to hit anywhere near that 2021 season of brilliance that crowned him as one of the brightest young hitters in the game, is a stunning source of trouble within the organizati­on. At this point, who knows what the solution might be?

The options for immediate help aren’t exactly overflowin­g either, as a weakening of organizati­onal depth has been an issue — as have the pitching options beyond the excellent group already on the big league roster.

Is lack of offence ruining the rotation?

Perhaps not that dramatical­ly, but quite clearly the dearth of run support piles on the pressure and the frustratio­n is starting to wear on the four-man rotation that has essentiall­y carried this team for the past 15 months.

Take those two most recent outings, where Bassitt and Berrios are saying the right things but surely feeling something quite different. How excruciati­ng for a starter to know if he surrenders two runs early, it might be ball game?

“A lot of guys are frustrated with where we’re at right now,” a typically surly postloss Bassitt said after Wednesday’s 6-1 felling at the hands off the Royals. “I’m beyond frustrated with what the hell is going on.”

A night earlier, Berrios spoke about the mental challenges of toiling on a fourman rotation, a reality that the group of him, Bassitt, Kevin Gausman and Yusei Kikuchi have been dealing with for too long.

UNSIGHTLY SIDE-EFFECTS

The offensive impotence rears its ugliness in many ways, starting with the standings. The Blue Jays hit Thursday’s off-day with a 1315 record and only a pair of moribund teams had scored fewer runs per game — the Oakland Athletics and Chicago White Sox.

In 28 games, the Jays have scored five runs or fewer, the most in the majors in that category and hardly material for the endless series of “come buy tickets” promotions the team incessantl­y rolls out.

As they were for much of last season, the Jays are a difficult team to watch and the angst of the fan base is escalating accordingl­y.

Should the current mediocre malaise continue, the consequenc­es could pile up, starting with the willingnes­s of a loyal group of fans to support the $400 million Rogers Centre renovation­s by buying overpriced tickets for a team flirting with a .500 record rather than World Series contention.

Zooming out, the big picture future, once so bright, has dimmed considerab­ly. What to do with Guerrero and Bichette long term? Where are complement­ary and primary bats going to come from? How is the front office going to make this team one worth being excited about again?

 ?? CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS ?? The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reacts after striking out in front of Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez during MLB action in Toronto Wednesday.
CHRIS YOUNG / THE CANADIAN PRESS The Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. reacts after striking out in front of Kansas City Royals catcher Salvador Perez during MLB action in Toronto Wednesday.

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