Blue Jays must make pitching a priority this offseason

The Toronto Blue Jays have used 20 different starting pitchers this season which lends credence to why the brain trust must make pitching a priority this offseason.

The plethora of starting pitchers have tied the Blue Jays with the 1967 New York Mets, 1890 Pittsburgh Alleghenys and the 1884 Kansas City Unions for the second most starters ever used in a season. The Philadelphia Athletics sit atop the list having utilized 24 starting pitchers in the 1915 season.

The concerning issue with the 20 starters is that a large majority of them should not be in a major league rotation or have a future moving forward with the team. The likes of Ryan Feierabend, Neil Ramirez, Edwin Jackson, and Buddy Boshers have all started games at some point throughout the 2019 campaign.

Granted manager Charlie Montoyo has employed the opener of numerous occasions which does tip the starter scale. This is why Derek Law, Wilmer Font, David Phelps, and Daniel Hudson all appear on the list.

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But realistically who from this season will be in the 2020 starting rotation come April. A healthy Ryan Borucki and Matt Shoemaker should earn spots with the possibility of Anthony Kay, Trent Thornton, Thomas Pannone or Jacob Waguespack breaking camp with the team.

How many of those name would actually be in a playoff teams rotation?

The Blue Jays will undoubtedly play the service time game with future ace Nate Pearson much as they did with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. earlier this season. Pearson will debut later in the campaign next season regardless of what the fireballer does during spring training.

I am not saying to go out and sign Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg but Ross Atkins and company need to start adding to the rotation with quality, controllable arms who can remain with the core throughout the rebuild.

The current cast of characters that saw time on the bump this season will not cut it in 2020 and beyond.