How Will Morrow and Ricky Fit In The Rotation

Sep 27, 2012; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Brandon Morrow (23) delivers a pitch against the New York Yankees at the Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-US PRESSWIREIt’s impossible to talk, write, read, listen, or watch anything about the Toronto Blue Jays without talking about either the injuries in 2012 or how they desperately need to get starting pitching in the offseason. No one knows the starting pitchers they will acquire or where in the rotation they will fit on Opening Day. No one knows for sure where Brandon Morrow and Ricky Romero will fit in the rotation on Opening Day once the Blue Jays are done acquiring starters.

If you were to guess right now Morrow would definitely be the Opening Day starter. He by far had the best season of all Blue Jays starting pitchers in 2012. Romero had a very poor 2012 season so if you had to guess he would probably be the Blue Jays number 4 or 5 pitcher on Opening Day.

Brandon Morrow established himself as a front line starter in 2012 with 3 complete game shutouts, 108 strikeouts in just 21 starts with a 2.96 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. It would be very difficult for the Blue Jays to find a starter that’s better than Morrow. They should get another starter that’s good enough to at least compete with Morrow for the Opening Day start.

Everyone knows the rotation order on Opening Day isn’t set in stone. It changes based on off days, injuries and bad performances. However the Opening Day rotation order gives you a pretty good sense of how a team ranks it’s starters at the beginning of the season.

Ricky pitched like a number 5 starter in 2012 so the Blue Jays have to act like that’s how he’s going to perform but at the same time still believe he’ll bounce back. The starting pitchers the Blue Jays acquire in the offseason should be number 1-3 starters. It’s less likely they get a number 1 but they all should at least be a number 3 or 2 starter. That’ll allow the Blue Jays to keep Ricky as there number 4 or 5 pitcher on Opening Day. If he returns to being the Ricky he was before 2012 during the season then the Blue Jays will have a very formidable rotation.