With opening day just three days away, the Toronto Blue Jays have finalized their pitching rotation and prepare for the Texas Rangers on Monday.
The Jays had a variety of options and had to finalize their pitching staff yesterday morning. Dana Eveland pitched fantastic for the Jays this spring and has earned a spot in the rotation as their fifth pitcher, leaving Brett Cecil off the big club… for now.
Cecil also pitched incredible during this years spring ball and made his last two outings phenomenal. On Wednesday Cecil faced off against the World Series runner-ups the Philadelphia Phillies. Cecil pitched six strong innings, allowing just two runs while walking nobody and striking out, all-star first baseman, Ryan Howard on two separate occasions. The week before Cecil pitched another six scoreless innings against the Boston Red Sox leaving Cecil to believe that he’d made the Jays rotation. Cecil however wasn’t on high hopes and was prepared for the demotion.
“They just said `be ready,’ and I sure will,” said Cecil, who went 7-4 with the Jays last season. “I know how things can turn around. I’m just happy I’m doing as well as I am. I just need to continue doing that and stay on the top of their list as far as being the first pitcher up if something happens.”
Toronto’s ace for the year is Shaun Marcum who will take the mound Monday when the Jays travel to Texas to face Scott Feldman and the Rangers. Marcum will be followed by Brian Tallet, Ricky Romero, Brandon Morrow and Eveland. While the Jays have room in their bullpen for the injured Marc Rzepczynski (finger) and Dustin McGowan (shoulder), both of whom will start the season on the disabled list.
Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos admits that Cecil’s performance this spring was very good. However so was the left-handed Eveland’s performance. Eveland finished the spring with a 1.23 ERA and struck out 19 batters in his 22 innings of work.
All that remains is to see if the Jays made the proper move. We will find out when the season starts in Texas on Monday. The Jays will play two more exhibition games against the Houston Astros before traveling to Texas for the season opener.
This is great for the Jays. They now have a finalized staff and if Eveland can pitch the way he has been the Jays will have a very good pitcher in their hands.
With the departure of the games best pitcher, Roy Halladay this offseason to the Philadelphia Phillies, the Jays were looking like a marginal pitching team. Now looking at the way these pitchers have performed we have some depth to work with if one pitcher fails to maintain his stature. Once McGowan and Rzepczynski return from the disabled list the Jays have some prime pitching on their mound. And their bullpen looks strong with Jeremy Accardo, Scott Downs, Kevin Gregg, Casey Janssen and Jason Fraser headlining their bullpen.
Now if the offence can provide support, like last year, than the Jays might possibly be contenders this year. Lets bring on the season!
Mike Wobschall
April 2, 2010
