Here's part two of the Jays' report card for April 2003, in which I cover the pitchers. The young and impressionable among you may want to avert your eyes.
Doug Creek
4.00 ERA, 9 IP, 8 H, 8 BB, 8 SO
Creek has decent stuff, but is having trouble controlling it; this is a common theme for the Jays' pitchers this month. When he's on his game, his ball moves enough to scare lefthanded hitters to the point of incontinence. Works best as a LOOGY, but the Jays need a LOOGY right now about as much as Toronto needs more winter weather.
Grade: C-
Kelvim Escobar
13.06 ERA, 10.1 IP, 26 H, 4 BB, 13 SO
Escobar's stats have gone beyond bad and into a Twilight Zone of their own. Watching him pitch is like watching a road accident. The league is hitting .448 off him, which is enough to make a fan lie down and whimper for a while.
What's amazing about these numbers is his K/W ratio, which is still pretty good. This suggests that Escobar might have lost just a bit of his stuff, and may be trying to overpower hitters and not succeeding. Or perhaps he's lost his confidence, or is worrying about off-field problems, of which he has plenty. Or maybe he's just bad.
The problem, of course, is that Toronto is stuck with him. If they waive him, he'll get claimed, and will immediately pitch well for his new team. They can't send him down, as he's been here too long. They can't move him into long relief, as he'll start having those circulation problems again. And if they put him into mopup work, he'll lose even more confidence, and will mope out there and continue throwing meatballs. Major league managers are paid the big bucks to get their players out of funks and turn them back into productive citizens again: this is where Carlos Tosca earns his spurs.
Grade: F, of course, but not without pity
Roy Halladay
4.89 ERA, 38.2 IP, 49 H, 9 BB, 29 SO
I guess we have to face facts: the Doctor has lost something since last year. He's being hit harder than either Sturtze or Lidle, and he's already given up nearly as many home runs this year (8) as he did all last year (10). Opponents are hitting .304 off him, and he's given up eight unearned runs in addition to the boatload of earned runs he's surrendered. The good news is that his strikeout rate is still up, and his walks are still down, so it's not that he's lost his stuff. But I suppose we should remember 2000, when the Doctor melted down completely. Let's keep our fingers crossed.
Grade: C-
Mark Hendrickson
7.26 ERA, 31 IP, 45 H, 6 BB, 18 SO
The good news: he's a better baseball player than Danny Ainge.
Somebody obviously told Lurch to throw strikes - his walk rate is down, his hit rate is way up, and he's already allowed seven times as many home runs as he did all last year. On the telecast of the $1 game on TV, one of the talking heads pointed out that his fastball tops out at 88 or 89 mph, tops. The moral: it's hard to fight a war without weapons. At least he's better at boxing out in the paint than Chris Michalak was. I'd keep running him out there - it's not as if the Jays have anybody better right now.
Grade: F
Jason Kershner
10.80 ERA, 5 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 SO
I hate to say "I told you so" (actually, I rather enjoy saying it), but if this guy wasn't good enough to make the team in spring training, why should we think that he would be any better up here? The Padres released him, and it's not as if they don't need pitching.
Grade: F
Cory Lidle
5.75 ERA, 36 IP, 40 H, 7 BB, 35 SO
The Jays' best starting pitcher so far, which admittedly is like having the best deck chair on the Titanic. That K/W ratio is otherworldly, and he's only given up three home runs. Imagine what the Jays' starting rotation would be like if Billy Beane hadn't donated Lidle to his best bud. No, don't bother: you'd have last year's starting rotation.
Grade: C+
Doug Linton
3.00 ERA, 9 IP, 7 H, 4 BB, 7 SO
Why, exactly, did the Jays send this guy down? Was his ERA too low, and thus embarrassing the other pitchers? I don't see him as any kind of long-term solution: he doesn't really have much stuff, so he'll eventually get lit up like the rest of them. But he can at least pitch long relief, which saves us from the agony of watching Tosca bring in one bad reliever after another.
Grade: Come back. All is forgiven.
Aquilino Lopez
5.40 ERA, 11.2 IP, 12 H, 7 BB, 17 SO
The anti-Hendrickson: comes equipped with an assortment of rockets, bazookas, missiles, and grenades, but hasn't quite read all the instruction manuals yet. In other words, has exactly the same skill set as Kelvim Escobar. Like Escobar, he could wind up very good or very bad, or both, possibly in the same inning.
Grade: C-
Trever Miller
6.75 ERA, 9.1 IP, 13 H, 5 BB, 10 SO
Y'know, this guy's been here a month, and I have no memory of him whatsoever. Maybe it's because he's usually the fourth guy out of the pen: by the time he's gotten into the game, the Jays are already down 11-3, and I've turned off the radio. Maybe the lefties should all switch uniforms, and see if any of us can tell them apart. The league is hitting .325 off him - which is only fourth-worst on the staff. Eegah.
Grade: F
Cliff Politte
3.65 ERA, 12.1 IP, 13 H, 6 BB, 13 SO
The only Jays' pitcher to be consistently competent this month. Maybe he dresses in a separate room or something. Probably deserves the closer spot. Also deserves to pitch the 6th, 7th, 8th, and possibly the 4th and 5th, too. Attention, scientists: can we clone this man?
Grade: B
Tanyon Sturtze
5.57 ERA, 32.1 IP, 37 H, 17 BB, 17 SO
OK, sure he's been awful. But the only real difference between this guy and the 1992 edition of Jack Morris is that Black Jack had Henke and Ward behind him, whereas Sturtze has a gang of happy arsonists, armed with flamethrowers and matches, in support. Still, a K/W ratio of 1:1 usually means it's time to take a good, long look at the real-estate business. Only needs one more win to match his total for all of last year!
Grade: D+
Jeff Tam
6.32 ERA, 15.2 IP, 23 H, 15 BB, 11 SO
I'm not sure which is worse - Tam's numbers, which are frighteningly bad when compared to anyone except Escobar, or Tosca's insistence on running this guy out there every single freaking game. His K/IP numbers are good, so he's still got stuff, but just lacks command of it (he said, hysterically understating the case). Maybe he should try pitching blindfolded, or lefthanded. Yes, that would work! Let's have everybody in the bullpen pitch lefthanded!
Grade: F
Pete Walker
5.61 ERA, 25.2 IP, 29 H, 14 BB, 12 SO
As with Kershner, the lesson is that most of the shiny things that you find in garbage heaps that look like diamonds are merely quartz. Walker's K/IP ratio has fallen into the Brandon Lyon Zone. He can pitch long relief, so I'd keep him, and he has pitched well at times. I'd still rather see him out there than Brian Bowles or Scott Cassidy. Okay, that is damning with faint praise - but, to deserve actual praise, you need an ERA that starts with a number lower than 5.
Grade: D-
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