Blue Jays: Who has had the worst season as a Blue Jay in 2019?

Edwin Jackson

Last but not least, the title for the worst season as a Blue Jay has to go to Edwin Jackson, who was once again pummeled on Monday night in what might be (should be) his last appearance as a Blue Jay.

It’s really been too bad that things are probably going to end this way for the 17-year big league veteran, but I don’t see how the Blue Jays can keep trotting him out to the mound even if they do need arms to fill out their pitching staff. He entered last night’s game with an ERA 10.22 and a WHIP of 2.027(!) in six appearances and just 24.2 innings pitched.

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Those numbers ballooned to 12.43 and 2.290 after he was run off the mound after just 0.2 of an inning, having already surrendered seven runs, with six of them being earned. He gave up back-to-back home runs from Justin Upton and Kole Calhoun, and that wasn’t even all of the damage done in the short outing that further taxed an already tired bullpen, as Mike Trout had a two-run double, and Shohei Ohtani finished off the damage with a three-run blast.

Jackson has been a productive starter throughout his career and was solid as recently as last season when he posted a 3.33 ERA for the Oakland A’s, but it’s pretty clear that he’s just not capable of being a big league starter anymore. The Blue Jays have flat out admitted that they don’t feel they have anyone else capable of taking his spot, but they’ve since acquired Nick Kingham from the Pirates, and surely they’ve got some minor league arms that can pitch a little better than the veteran has performed in 2019.

In a season of really underwhelming individual performances, I have to say that Jackson’s stands out as the worst even though he’s only pitched in seven games. He came into last night’s game with a -1.3 bWAR rating, and it’ll take an even bigger hit when it’s updated sometime later today.

With all due respect to the veteran pitcher, it takes some work to be that bad, and for that reason, I’ll hand him the dubious distinction of the worst season as a Blue Jay in 2019 so far.