If Ricky Was Here

Sep 27, 2012; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Ricky Romero (24) looks on from the dugout against the New York Yankees at the Rogers Centre. The Blue Jays beat the Yankees 6-0. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY SportsThe Toronto Blue Jays lost a game to the Yankees that Aaron Laffey started. Mostly everyone saw this loss coming. The only hope the Jays had was that the inconsistent Ivan Nova who started for the Yankees would be worse than Laffey. The game ended up being way more competitive than fans probably thought it would be. Partly because both starters were gone by the 4th inning!

But maybe the game could have been even more competitive and been a game the Jays could have won.

A couple of hours before the Toronto Blue Jays started Aaron Laffey in a game I was cursing out Josh Johnson for getting injured and dreading watching Laffey get knocked around by the Yankees.

Then another thought crossed my mind. It would be easy to blame Johnson and Laffey but it would even easier to blame Ricky Romero.

In a world where Ricky Romero doesn’t magically turn into a bad pitcher J.A. Happ would have been the one making the spot start for Johnson.

In fact with pre-2012 Ricky MAYBE the Jays have a slightly better record and a more rested bullpen?

Maybe the Jays could afford to skip R.A. Dickey in the rotation instead of letting him pitch with a bad back.

Maybe Josh Johnson could just go on the DL instead of the wait and see game the Jays are playing right now.

Maybe the Jays have Happ coming out of the bullpen to be their long reliever and swing man. So there’s no need for 8 man bullpens that include Edgar Gonzalez, Ramon Ortiz or Brad Lincoln. So the Jays could have a normal 4 man bench.

This is all really just a long way of saying Ricky get your act together and come back from the minors and be pre-2012 Ricky Romero as soon as possible!