“Toronto doesn’t really have a lot of rotation depth available.”
The Toronto Blue Jays have slipped to last place in the American League East. They’re 11 games behind the first-place Tampa Bay Rays. They need to get a little more out of every part of their two-hitter to mount a comeback. Most of the attention has been on the performance of Ryu Hyun-jin, who hoped to return right after the All-Star break.메이저사이트
However, on July 27 (ET), Canada’s Sportsnet gave a sobering report. The nuance is that it’s questionable how much Ryu’s return will actually add to Toronto’s bullpen. “This season, 29 teams have tried to bolster their starting rotation through the bullpen or minor leagues. The lone exception is Toronto,” he said.
Indeed, the Jays have played 52 games (27-25) to this point, with Kevin Gausman (3-3, 3.03 ERA) and Alec Manoa (1-5, 5.53 ERA) sharing 11 games and Chris Bassett (5-3, 3.03 ERA), Jose Berrios (4-4, 4.22 ERA), and Yusei Kikuchi (5-2, 4.56 ERA) sharing 10 games. There were no changes to the rotation in the first two months of the season. That’s encouraging if it means the opening 1-5 starters have been injury-free. But they’re not exactly the best in the American League.
It also means that they don’t have a Plan B on the mound or enough starting depth to try and bolster their rotation from Triple-A or the bullpen. In this situation, it’s more important for the team to rely on its existing members than it is for Ryu to come back and give them a boost, according to Sportsnet.
“In the end, Ryu may provide depth, but with Mitch White and top prospect Ricky Tiedemann still on the sidelines, Toronto doesn’t really have much available rotation depth unless you put a lot of faith in Casey Lawrence, Zach Thompson, and Drew Hutchison, all of whom have ERAs over 5.00 at Triple-A Buffalo,” Sportsnet said.
In the end, Sportsnet concluded that “Toronto desperately needs guys like Gaussman, Bassitt and Berrios to keep their starters healthy and stabilize the situation. Otherwise, their depth could be tested in unwanted ways.”
After struggling all season, Gaussman picked up his third win of the season against the Minnesota Twins. While Gaussman and transfer Bassitt have been solid, Manoa, Berrios, and Kikuchi have been disappointing. Kikuchi was the de facto ace in April, but reverted to his old shaky self in May. If Ryu is to eventually push Kikuchi into the starting rotation in the second half, Manoa and Berrios will need to rebound more than Ryu’s performance. It’s a crucial condition for a late-season comeback, given the lack of starting pitching depth.