Dustin McGowan Returns!

Sep 6, 2011; Toronto, ON, Canada; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Dustin McGowan (29) against the Boston Red Sox at the Rogers Centre. The Red Sox beat the Blue Jays 14-0. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Blue Jays have optioned Todd Redmond back to the minor leagues and Dustin McGowan has been called up to the big leagues to pitch out of the bullpen.

McGowan hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since September 2011.

In fact he hasn’t pitched much at all since September 2011 because of constantly suffering different injuries.

And before September 2011 McGowan hadn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2008! That was also because he kept suffering through injuries.

It’s because of McGowan’s complete inability to stay healthy for such a looooong time that a lot of Blue Jays fans are frustrated by the team not giving up on him by now.

Well there’s a reason the Jays haven’t given up on him yet and it’s not just for the sake of being nice because they felt bad for him.

McGowan was and is an elite pitcher.

Even after all McGowan’s multiple injuries and surgeries he STILL has the best stuff on the Blue Jays. Better than Josh Johnson. Better than Brandon Morrow. Better than Sergio Santos. Side Thought: HOW ARE ALL THE JAYS BEST PITCHERS THE MOST INJURY PRONE!!?! That can’t just be a whacky coincidence could it?

In 46 starts between 2007 and 2008 McGowan put up a 5.7 WAR pitching in the AL East. R.A. Dickey put up a 6.7 WAR between 2011 and 2012 in 65 starts!

Elite pitchers don’t grow on trees which is why the Jays have stuck with McGowan all these years despite his long injury history.

The Jays are hoping their patience will finally pay off with McGowan returning to the big leagues to help a bullpen that hasn’t needed a lot of help this season.

Unfortunately McGowan’s probably going to have spend the rest of his career in the bullpen because his arm probably can’t handle being stretched out for an extended period of time.

Even in the bullpen you’d have to imagine he won’t be pitching on back to back days to keep his arm in check.

But hey if he can finally stay healthy, finally build his arm strength up and finally become the ace starting pitcher the Jays thought they had in the late 2000’s then that would be great to. And that’s not that crazy considering he’s only 31 years old now.

You’d like to hope McGowan is back for good now even though his career history would suggest he’ll be back on the DL before your next blink. Either way it should be great to see McGowan pitching for the Jays in the big leagues again.