Toronto Blue Jays need to make rumors a reality
Each passing day of inactivity on behalves of the front office and Alex Anthopoulos within the Toronto Blue Jays organization is a wasted opportunity. Call it the inability to add a quality bullpen arm in the offseason, the perpetually ongoing Jonathan Papelbon rumors or even what might have been a wise move by adding someone like Rafael Soriano in-season, the results have been the Jays throwing valuable wins out the window.
Brett Cecil is not a closer. I’m not even sure he is a quality setup man capable of securing holds in the eighth innings of close ball games this year. Opponents are hitting .412 and slugging .588 against him in high leverage situations this season. The 28-year-old revitalized his career in 2013 after a full-time move to relief duties. He emerged from that season and the next with sub 3.00 ERA’s and an average FIP of 2.61. Now, 2015 has brought with it the best opportunity the Jays have had in years to compete in the AL East, but Casey Janssen is gone.
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Fans were cautious to assume that Cecil could handle closer duties in 2015. With good reason. In only 10 opportunities from 2013-14, Cecil blew four saves. Manager John Gibbons tabbing the hard throwing but inexperienced Miguel Castro the closer out of spring training only further confirmed suspicions surrounding Cecil as closer.
After 26 appearances this season, the southpaw holds a horrible 5.96 ERA and a poor 4.56 FIP to match it. Cecil’s H/9 of 8.7 is also the highest it has been in the last three seasons. Though he’s made 26 appearances this year, Cecil has pitched in only seven save opportunities, having blown two of them.
His latest showing came Sunday night at home to cap a rather anti-climatic ending to a once exciting game. It was not a save opportunity, but Cecil entered in the top of the ninth in a 9-9 ball game and proceeded to walk two straight O’s hitters with one out before allowing an RBI single and an RBI triple. He exited before a third out in the frame was recorded and ended up being charged with four earned runs on two hit and two walks.
All of this came after Cecil had allowed six total earned runs in his previous five June outings. His two appearances before Sunday culminated in two earned runs apiece, and his most recent inning of work before Sunday’s disaster on June 19 was advantageous for him because he was coming off three days of rest, but still failed to produce.
It’s usually all fine and dandy when the Jays are hitting and scoring runs to their full potential. Save opportunities often don’t factor in. But the Kansas City Royals showed everyone firsthand how large a saving grace a tough bullpen can be in the postseason. Simply put, Royals relievers were the difference between their club making it to the World Series and coming up short.
Cecil’s June ERA is now 11.74. Roberto Osuna‘s is 4.26. Aaron Loup‘s is 4.50. Those three are supposed to cement the back end of the staff on most nights. Steve Delabar, a former All-Star with Cecil in 2013, has been their best bullpen arm in 2015. But not all season long, which brings about even more questions surrounding decisions made by Blue Jays management. Delabar didn’t crack the 25-man roster out of camp despite an okay showing in the spring. What has he accomplished since a May 5 call-up? Only going 2-0 with a 1.06 ERA and 19 strikeouts over 17 innings pitched.
If Anthopoulos is serious about keeping his job and getting Toronto into the postseason for the first time since 1993, he needs to produce a real move that will bring about solidarity to the Blue Jays’ pitching staff. The Jays’ bullpen might not be the worst in MLB, but they’re the fourth best in terms of ERA in the division, ahead of only the Red Sox. Outside of Papelbon, there are multiple relief arms on floundering squads that should be available. Francisco Rodriguez and Tyler Clippard are a couple great examples. Maybe exploring a Scott Kazmir deal with Clippard also attached would be in the Jays best interest.
The AL East division leading Tampa Bay Rays are showing everyone else that pitching is what wins ball games. The Toronto Blue Jays’ offense has been outstanding in 2015, but improved pitching must become a reality to not only win games in October, but by means of having a chance to play in October. Why Anthopoulos failed to package an A’s reliever in the first place when he acquired Josh Donaldson for Brett Lawrie and three top prospects is beyond many Jays fans to begin with.