Club ends disappointing year with another loss, finishing just one win better than in 2012,
Anthopoulos says this year’s disappointing squad one solid starter short of contending
Less than an hour before the first pitch of the Blue Jays’ final game of the season, GM Alex Anthopoulos held court for more than an hour in a room across the hall from the home clubhouse to explain his point of view on 2014.
The team, he claimed, isn’t far from contending, given the addition of a solid starter in the off-season and the return to health of the rest. He insists future success is all about the rotation. And if the GM ever had twin girls he would surely name them Polly and Anna.
As if to prove his point about starters, Jays right-hander Todd Redmond strode to the mound against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday and coughed up a hairball, surrendering five first-inning runs and putting the Jays in a hole they tried gamely to claw their way out of against lefty Matt Moore.
It was a game the Rays needed to win to remain in the AL wild-card mix and they came through despite a furious comeback by the plucky Jays in front of 44,551 on Fan Appreciation Day, falling short in a 7-6 loss at the Rogers Centre. The Rays live to fight another day — or more.
If one more starter can be added — either via trade or free agency — Anthopoulos believes the rest of his rotation can be filled internally, both in talent and in depth. That belief is open to debate.
“When I talk about the internal improvement, I think we all sat here last year and thought Brandon Morrow was ready to be an all-star-calibre starter,” Anthopoulos said.
“We need him, obviously, to bounce back, (as well as) the guys that went down with Tommy John — (Kyle) Drabek, Drew Hutchison and so on. We’re very high on those guys in terms of talent.
“I would not be surprised to see those guys take a step forward at spring training and get back on track. If you add a starter or two in the off-season, I think the rotation can turn around fast.”
It was pointed out that the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians made quick turnarounds under new managers this season, with both clubs improving from fewer than 70 wins in 2012 to qualify for the post-season in 2013.
“Looking at Cleveland, (Justin) Masterson and (Ubaldo) Jimenez bounced back,” the fourth-year GM pointed out. “They always had talent. Then there was (Scott) Kazmir and (Corey) Kluber. And in Boston, John Lackey was not there last year and pitched like an ace (this year). (Clay) Buchholz and (Jon) Lester bounced back.”
And what about the Yankees? The Bronx Bombers, it could be argued, took more of an injury hit this year than did the Jays and yet, using a seemingly unending string of Toronto castoffs in the lineup, remained in the wild-card mix until the final 10 days of the season. How does the Jays’ GM explain that without resorting to the ghosts of Yankees past or a winning culture?
“The one thing they did have is stability in the rotation,” Anthopoulos said, returning to his touchstone. “You take a guy like CC Sabathia. He didn’t have as good a year as he’s capable of having, but he made all of his starts and stayed in that rotation . . . and (Hiroki) Kuroda. They lost all these players but they lost them on the position player side and not in the rotation.”
So there you have it. Hope! Lord knows the Jays have plenty of healthy candidates for the fourth and fifth spots in the opening-day rotation for 2014 and will likely have R.A. Dickey and Mark Buehrle, each of whom supplied more than 200 innings and 33 starts. But that’s some blind faith being placed in the rest of that contending scenario. And what about that suggested new starter? It’s not that easy.
“Again, just go back over the years, rotations will carry you,” Anthopoulos argued, pointing to the 2010 Jays, who won 85 games with a young, but healthy, starting five.
“Rotations will carry you and it doesn’t mean that you’ll get in the playoffs but they’ll certainly keep you competitive. The one certainty is if you’re towards the bottom rung in terms of starters’ ERA, you have no chance at all. There have been plenty of teams that have been challenged offensively, but with good rotations have been right there.”
Lets’ examine his statistical premise. The Jays used 13 starting pitchers this year, averaging a sad 52⁄ innings per
3 start, with a 4.81 earned run average in 8991⁄ innings. Only the Minnesota
3 Twins had a worse starters’ ERA. The top four teams in the AL in that department — Detroit, Oakland, Boston and Tampa Bay — will all be playing in October.
The top five Blue Jays starters, in terms of games, were Dickey (34), Buehrle (33), Esmil Rogers (20), J.A. Happ (18) and Josh Johnson (16). That’s 121 starts. Anthopoulos compared that underachieving, injury-riddled performance to the 85 wins of the 2010 Jays as a health goal for next year’s starting rotation. Looking back, the 2010 Jays used 11 different starters and posted a 4.30 ERA. The top five guys in that rotation — Ricky Romero, Shaun Marcum, Brett Cecil, Morrow and Marc Rzepczynski — combined for 129 starts.
The question remains, who will Anthopoulos be able to acquire as the final piece of his rotation puzzle? The upper cupboard of the farm system is bare. He said the player could be acquired either through trade or free agency, but that he’s leaning towards a trade.
Even though Jays fans are unlikely to be patient after the extravagant promises of last off-season, Anthopoulos said there is no timeline for a deal. “January, December, October, it makes no difference.” A word of advice, Alex. Sooner is better. In the meantime, Jays castoff Henderson Alvarez threw a final-day nohitter for the lowly Marlins against the AL Central champion Tigers. Alex, you’re on the clock.