Five innings and three runs. That’s not too much to ask, right?
It doesn’t seem like an especially high bar, and it’s not 鈥 that level of production works out to a 5.40 ERA 鈥 but it’s something that the Blue Jays haven’t been able to get from two of their five starters through 65 games this season, or 13 times through the rotation.
Opening day starter Jos茅 Berr铆os began the rotation’s 14th turn Monday night in St. Louis,听throwing 6 2/3 shutout innings,听and while he, Kevin Gausman and Chris Bassitt have been somewhere between great and dependable all season long, that’s where it ends.
Fourth starter Bowden Francis hasn’t been able to go five innings with three or fewer runs allowed in听seven of his last nine starts. The fifth spot? There really isn’t one.
The Jays has听won nine of 11 games going into Monday, putting them into a playoff position in a bunched-up American League, but it’s time to find a solution.
It’s tough to make trades in the second week of June, but the Jays need help now, not in three weeks. Here are a few pitchers on short-term deals with also-ran teams that they could acquire with an aggressive move:
Team:听Chicago White Sox
Stats: 2-1 record, 1.48 ERA
The fit: Shapiro and Atkins should be kicking themselves over this one. Released by Texas in mid-May after posting a 5.03 ERA (but a 1.14 WHIP) in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League, the 32-year-old right-hander was snapped up by the desperate White Sox and has made four starts for them, going at least six innings and allowing one run or fewer three times.
Team:听Washington Nationals
Stats: 3-3, 4.86
The fit: The Calgary native has made six starts since returning from a听biceps strain, throwing 32 innings and allowing 16 runs, an average of just over five innings and just under three runs per start. He’s also struck out a batter an inning and put up a 1.09 WHIP.
Team:听Miami Marlins
Stats: 3-6, 5.63
The fit: It’s been a tough year for the Port Hope, Ont. native, son of former Jay Paul Quantrill, but the right-hander has hit that five-inning, three-run mark in听four of his last six outings. In one of the other two, he was pulled in the fourth having allowed just one run and three hits while throwing only 46 pitches.
Team:听Pittsburgh Pirates
Stats: 3-4, 3.24
The fit: 海角社区官网has coveted the 34-year-old on numerous occasions and he’s having a great year for a bad Pittsburgh team, so the Jays would need to be extra aggressive to land him, especially this early. But the left-hander is exactly what they need: He hasn’t missed a start this season and has only failed to go at least five innings twice. In six of his 13 sorties, he’s pitched into the seventh, though he did听leave his last start with leg cramps.
Internal options
The Jays wanted to give Francis every opportunity to find his form from late 2024, but their patience has to be at a breaking point.
The Jays wanted to give Francis every opportunity to find his form from late 2024, but their patience has to be at a breaking point.
The in-house solutions aren’t especially strong.
Spencer Turnbull, the free-agent right-hander signed in early May and called up after Sunday’s game, doesn’t look like the answer yet. He made five minor-league starts in what was his arm-building spring training, posting a 7.13 ERA and 1.811 WHIP in 17 2/3 innings and allowing a .307 opponents’ batting average. He only gave up one home run, though.
Turnbull is with the big club less because he’s ready and more because of contractual obligation. To rely on him for any kind of length or stability at this point would be a mistake.
Max Scherzer’s return is weeks away, though the Jays said Monday that they’d like him to start a rehab assignment with Triple-A Buffalo at the end of the week.听For听Alek Manoah, it’s months. So the Jays need to be aggressive in a trade market that is just beginning to develop.
You might remember 2021, when the Jays had glaring early-season bullpen issues, running out Tyler Chatwood, Rafael Dolis and others to get lit up on a regular basis before finally trading for Adam Cimber on June 29 and Trevor Richards a week later. The two right-handers stabilized the bullpen, though the Jays missed the playoffs by a single game. An earlier move likely would have made a world of difference.
Any one of Heaney, Houser, Quantrill or Soroka would stabilize the rotation until Turnbull is ready and Scherzer and Manoah come back 鈥 though all three are far from sure things 鈥 and provide insurance in case something should happen to Berr铆os, Gausman or Bassitt.
And of course听Ryan Yarbrough, who was cut loose by the Jays, has thrown at least five innings and allowed two runs or fewer in four of his five starts since the New York Yankees moved him into their rotation in mid-May.
The Jays can’t afford to wait any longer. The spectre of 2021 should be haunting them.听
To join the conversation set a first and last name in your user profile.
Sign in or register for free to join the Conversation