Now that we have all the position players allocated it is time to look at pitchers and there are a lot of them. Today we will look at starting pitchers and tomorrow we will finish with relievers.
Pitchers get injured more than position players and miss more time. When we allocate pitchers we have to remember this and assign an extra pitcher here and there assuming one of them will end up on the disabled list.
Here are your starting pitcher candidates:
Major League: Roy Halladay; Jesse Litsch; Dustin McGowan; Shaun Marcum; David Purcey; Scott Richmond; Matt Clement; Casey Janssen
AAA: Ricky Romero; Brett Cecil; Bill Murphy; Davis Romero
AA: Marty McLeary; Brad Mills; Robert Ray; Luis Perez; Brandon Magee
A+: Randy Boone; Kyle Ginley; Marc Rzepczynski; Reidier Gonzalez; Kenny Rodriguez; AJ Wideman
A: Joel Carreno; Jimmy Dougher; Castillo Perez; Andrew Liebel; Trystan Magnuson; Josh Wells
Extended: Henderson Alvarez; Jonas Cuotto
Swing: Brian Burres; Bryan Bullington; Fabio Castro; Mike MacDonald; David Shinskie; Adrian Martin; Nate Starner; Danny Farquhar
Notes: Mike Maroth, Matt Bush and the swing pitchers above have been included with relievers. The Jays have enough starting pitcher candidates without these guys.
We all know that there are three starters who are pretty assured of a job in April, Halladay, Litsch and Purcey. With McGowan and Marcum injured there are probably five serious candidates for the two jobs. Those five candidates are Richmond, Clement, Janssen, Cecil and Ricky Romero. Brad Mills does not have the experience that the others do. It is a lot to ask of Casey Janssen to come back from shoulder surgery and move into the rotation. I think he might need more time. Similarly Matt Clement was not up to the job last season, has the off-season helped his arm? I think Scott Richmond deserves another chance, he pitched reasonably well at the end of last season and that experience should help him in 2009. He doesn't have the mileage on his arm that other pitchers do, so let's hope that 2008 wasn't his career year. That leaves the fifth spot to Ricky Romero or Brett cecil. This job will go to the guy who pitches well in the first three weeks of spring training. If it is tied Cecil doesn't have as much experience as Romero and JP has more invested in Ricky so if it is a tie I think Ricky will get the chance.
The rest of the guys will likely be in the AAA starting pitcher rotation, that is Janssen, Clement, and Cecil.
There are several candidates for the last two positons, including Bill Murphy, Davis Romero, Brad Mills, Marty McLeary and all the swing guys who have started in the last like Brian Burres, Bryan Bullington and Mike Maroth. Mills and Romero are the Jays prospects, the other guys are looking to get back to the big leagues in any way they can. In 2008 Mills jumped from Lansing to New Hampshire but Mills only threw 32 innings in AA. I believe Mills will return to AA to continue to develop before exposing a fly ball pitcher to the PCL. Davis Romero started 23 games in AAA last season with a 3.71 ERA. It is uncertain what role the Jays see for Romero who is listed at 5'10" and 155 lbs and that might be an exaggeration. Little pitchers don't get much respect in baseball and Romero will have to fight his way onto the team although the Jays might see him as a Brian Tallet type pitcher. The Jays will need to get him innings so I see him in the rotation in AAA.
Among the guys who are more "experienced" I see Bill Murphy getting the starts, the other guys, such as Burres and Bullington, future is in the bullpen.
The AA rotation will be the same one that ended the season, Brad Mills, Brandon Magee, Luis Perez, Robert Ray and Marty McLeary. Mills, Perez, and Ray came up to AA in mid-season and can use more time there. McLeary was signed as a free agent and it doesn't look like he can push his way into the AAA rotation. Finally Brandon Magee struggled through the first half of the season in 2008, as he did in 2007, and only pitched well in the last month. He will be trying to show a consistent season to make it to AAA. It also helps that there is no-one in Dunedin who is banging the door down to get up to AA.
In Dunedin we still have all the starters who finished the season there but there is one new pitcher pushing his way in. Marc Rzepczynski probably should have moved up last season but the Jays left him in Lansing for the full season. That changes now and Zep will start in Dunedin. The only two other pitchers who could force their way up would be Andrew Liebel and Trystan Magnuson. Liebel was the Jays top pitcher drafted in 2008 but he was injured and didn't play much last season so I don't think the Jays will push him there. Magnuson struggled for much of 2008 but seemed to be getting better before ending the season on the DL. If Magnuson has developed better control the Jays could also push him to Dunedin but I think he will return to Lansing.
So in addition to Rzepczynski in Dunedin we will see several of last years starters there, Randy Boone, Reidier Gonzalez, Kyle Ginley, Kenny Rodriguez and AJ Wideman. Ginley went to the AAFL to get some work and the Jays wanted Ginley to learn how to pitch with all his pitches rather than rely on the fastball.
So who joins Liebel and Magnuson in Lansing. On one hand we have the Auburn crew, Castillo Perez, Joel Carreno and Josh Wells. Each of these guys were inconsistent last season so it tough to assume they make the Lansing team but they each have potential and the Jays might favour them at the expense of guys like Jimmy Dougher. Danny Farquhar is another 2008 draftee who pitched really well in 2008, he was a reliever last season but the Jays could make him a starter to get regular work. Similarly for Tim Collins but it is more likely that the Jays will keep him in the bullpen. The Jays second pitcher drafted last season was Evan Crawford in the eighth round but he is listed on the extended spring training roster so I suspect he has been injured.
Major League: Roy Halladay; Jesse Litsch; David Purcey; Scott Richmond; Ricky Romero
AAA: Brett Cecil; Matt Clement; Casey Janssen; Bill Murphy; Davis Romero
AA: Brad Mills; Luis Perez; Robert Ray; Brandon Magee; Marty McLeary
A+: Randy Boone; Kyle Ginley; Marc Rzepczynski; Reidier Gonzalez; Kenny Rodriguez; AJ Wideman
A: Joel Carreno; Jimmy Dougher; Castillo Perez; Andrew Liebel; Trystan Magnuson; Josh Wells
Extended: Henderson Alvarez; Jonas Cuotto; Carlos Perez
We will be back on Thursday to finish with a look at the relievers.
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=2009022320331444