Jumping To Conclusions – April 2015 Edition

As the calender flips to May lets jump to some conclusions on the Blue Jays start to the season.  The Jays season has gotten off to a rocky start to the tune of a 10-12 record.  I am not about to go on a “let me tell you why we suck” rant so bear with me.   Lets take a few minutes and go over the top topics thus far for the 2015 season.

The Offense has been producing runs as advertised

As of today the Blue Jays have scored the most runs in MLB with 117.  This is mostly due to the emergence of Devon Travis and Josh Donaldson‘s stellar start.  The typical bash brothers duo in the middle of the lineup has been near dead.  Jose Bautista and Edwin Encarnacion have been off to slow starts.  Jose has been fighting some injuries and Edwin missed most of spring training action due an aggravated back.  Edwin will heat up as his timing improves and Jose will become himself in the near future I think.

Toronto Blue Jays

The lineup has also been influx due to the injuries and under performing.  Russel Martin started the year in the 2 hole which has become the Devon Travis’s spot when Reyes is healthy.  Jose Reyes has been in and out of the lineup which has opened a revolving door at the top of the lineup.  Josh Donaldson has batted anywhere in the 2-5 spots.  It has been a mess to say the least.  I agree that with the way Travis has been hitting he needs to be in one of the top 2 spots.  I am also starting to like the idea of keeping Donaldson in the 3 spot where he has been raking as of late.

Look for the Jays offense to get even better as the weather continues to warm in May.  Watch out for when Edwin and Jose start producing with an already potent lineup.  Things are going to get ugly for opposing pitching as they have no real spots to hide from this lineup.

Apr 17, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Brett Cecil (27) throws against the Atlanta Braves in the eighth inning at Rogers Centre. Atlanta defeated Toronto 8-7. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Bullpen Catastrophe

We knew going into the season that the bullpen was going to be an issue.  I did not expect it to be this bad though.  Starting the season with two youngsters in Miguel Castro and Roberto Osuna appeared to be a long shot.  Castro’s early success lead to a promotion to closer but was short lived as he got wild and allowed more hits.  He is still sporting a 3.60 ERA through 10 innings of work, but his last few outing have accounted for all of his runs scored thus far in his rookie season.  Osuna has been incredible thus far.  In 11.1 innings he has struck out 13 and only allowed 2 runs.  Osuna and Castro have been key thus far this season.

Toronto Blue Jays

Brett Cecil is once again the teams closer and has been looking better of late.  Collecting his first save the other night in his first closer appearance after getting the job back was encouraging.  Cecil had some arm fatigue that appeared to be bothering him right out of the gate from spring training.  Cecil is looking like the guy we saw as a setup man last year now.

The rest of the pen needs some help.  Marco Estrada has been the one holding down the fort thus far.  He has been performing really well and getting some key outs.  Aaron Loup appears to be really struggling.  In games I have watched he is having trouble finding the plate and just seems like there are always runners on.  this will lead to trouble and it has thus far for him.

It is looking like the Jays need to hurry and push the emergency button on free agent relievers.  This has been the single reason we have lost a few games this season.  the only thing that could be possibly hurting our pen is a little miss management and the fact that our starters have not made it far into games.  They are going to get over worked and burned out.  Lets add an arm from free agency like Rafael Soriano or go onto the trade market and kick the tires on Jonathan Papelbon.  We have a clear need in the back end let strike before it is to late. 

Apr 18, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher R.A. Dickey (43) walks back to the mound as Atlanta Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman (5) rounds the bases after hitting a two-run home run in the second inning at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

Starting Pitching Woes

The Jays have not been pitching well at all.  Whether it is as simple as our guys not hitting the strike zone or as complicated as a Dead Arm issue things have not been going our way.  Seems like our bad luck can be traced back to Marcus Stroman‘s injury and it has continued to go down hill.  Drew Hutchison has had his ups and downs thus far but hopefully he will put things together and ditch that 6+ ERA that he is hanging out with currently.  He does have a 2-0 record but the rest of his stat line looks pretty sad when he is considered our #1 starter.

R.A. Dickey has had terrible issues finding the plate so far.  When he does finally put one over it gets tagged for a big hit it seems.  He has allowed 16 free passes in 31 innings this season and has yet to show signs of improvement.  The Knuckler just is not flying like it used to at the moment.  I hope as the weather improves he will.

Toronto Blue Jays

Mark Buehrle was looking pretty good thus far until an outing the other night against the Red Sox.  He has yet to look like the typical innings eater that we know though.  He has only pitched 6 innings in each game thus far.  I hope this trend does not continue seeing we are used to him pitching 200 innings a year.  If he loses that consistency this season the Jays will have a hard time making it to the post season.

The 2 Rookie hurlers have had mixed outings thus far.  Aaron Sanchez has shown signs of slow improvement.  He needs some more confidence which should come from Russell Martin as they get more familiar with each other.  Daniel Norris has been trying to work through a dead arm period and will get the ball tonight versus Cleveland.  Norris looked better this past start where he logged 7 innings for the first time and only allowed 1 run.  During his first 3 starts he never pitched past the 6th inning and gave up at least 3 runs each outing.  That includes one start the he only pitched 2.2 innings and gave up 4 runs.

Is it time to trade the farm and go for Cole Hamels I think not.  I do think we should be looking for help where we can though.  The Blue Jays currently hold the second worst ERA in all of baseball at 4.96.  Only the Red Sox have a higher ERA at 5.04.  There has been talk of giving Marco Estrada a chance but I think that would hurt the development of Sanchez or Norris.  Right now I think we are forced to stay the course and hope our offense can handle 3-4 runs being allowed every night.  I really don’t like it but that appears to be how it is.