Going Deep: Blue Jays’ winter makeover began with overhaul of starting staff
After almost two decades of mediocrity playing in the tough American League East, the Toronto Blue Jays are going for it in 2013. That was evident in the two major moves general manager Alex Anthooulos made this offseason. And in both cases, he targeted starting pitching.
Shortstop Jose Reyes was obviously a key part of the blockbuster trade with the Miami Marlins, but the real statement was made in acquiring pitchers Mark Buerhle and Josh Johnson from the Marlins, and R.A. Dickey from the New York Mets.
By adding three former All-Stars and the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner, the Blue Jays instantly had one of the top rotations in baseball.
Dickey, the new ace and Opening Day starter, is 38 years old but had the best season of his career in 2012 when he won 20 games for the Mets. He is poised to become a superstar in Toronto both for his performance on the field and his personality off it.
Buerhle, 34, is another veteran and returns to the American League after his one season in Miami. He pitched for the Chicago White Sox for 12 seasons and in addition to being known for working quickly, is an innings eater. He has pitched more than 200 innings in each of his 12 full seasons. That kind of durability will be a benefit to the Blue Jays bullpen.
Johnson is a two-time All-Star who was on his way to becoming a superstar with the Marlins before injuries slowed him down. Johnson had Tommy John surgery in 2007 and missed most of the 2011 season with a shoulder injury. But he returned to make 31 starts in 2012 and has had an impressive spring, raising expectations for 2013.
“We are all getting used to each other,” Johnson said of his new team. “I’m feeling good about it and so is everyone else. The difference between here and last season [in Miami] is tremendous. This was like a family as soon as we started.”
Lost in the excitement of the new additions was the Blue Jays’ best starter in 2012, Brandon Morrow. Morrow was on his way to an All-Star season before sustaining an oblique injury that sidelined him for much of the summer. The hard-throwing righty struck out 203 batters in 2011, and despite the new stars, is slated in as the team’s No. 2 starter behind Dickey.
The only question marks and controversy in the Blue Jays’ rotation were around the No. 5 starter. Ricky Romero, an All-Star in 2011 and the Opening Day starter a year ago, struggled badly last season. Still, the Blue Jays braintrust had him pegged as the fifth starter. But his performance at spring training showed little improvement over a trying 2012 campaign.
He again struggled with command and under the supervision of his coaches began to change his pitching mechanics. The team’s patience finally ran out in the final two weeks of spring training when they announced Romero would remain in Florida with Single-A Dunedin to continue his transition.
“We ran out of time,” Anthopoulos said. “He’s working on something that he hasn’t completed yet. We didn’t have enough time to get him to get him to complete it. It’s hard to work on things at the big-league level. It’s so results oriented.”
That left J.A. Happ as the Blue Jays’ fifth starter. The 30-year-old was acquired from the Houston Astros last July and had a solid spring training. He was even vocal about his not wanting to go Triple-A Buffalo if Romero remained with the team.
He got his wish and now must deliver on huge expectations in 2013, along with the rest of the staff.