It’s been a while since I spoke about the Jays hasn’t it? I mean they were doing so well when I last spoke about them, but lately it hasn’t been as great. Right now the Jays are tied for third in the AL East, that’s good, but they have a 15-17 record, that’s bad.
The Jays starting pitching has been pretty good this season, that’s good, but their bullpen has been a disaster and has been a major factor in many of the games they have lost , that’s bad. Sorry for the using something you may have heard from The Simpsons, but right now this is how the Jays have looked so far, they have been good at some parts bad at others.
I know what you`re thinking, its early in the season and the Jays have plenty of time to turn it around, and you aren’t wrong, but you kind of are wrong at the same time. Slowly the Blue Jays woes have been adding up. They have been hitting the bad luck wall, first off with injuries, Jose Reyes was injured early in the season, but has come back and been healthy, but now Maicer Izturis, Brett Lawrie, Adam Lind, Brendan Morrow (again) and even Dioner Navarro have been hit with the injury bug. I know players always get hurt, it’s impossible to have everyone healthy, but again when a lot of your regulars are getting hurt it starts to get people concerned. The Blue Jays don’t have a deep bench, and so every injury hits them hard. (Blue Jays Sports Injury Alert)
Then of course there is the big problem with the Jays bullpen, the one thing that had been so dominant last season now has many fans cringewhen certain pitchers come to the mound. The Blue Jays bullpen has been responsible for 8 of the Jays 17 losses, and they have also been responsible for not holding the fort down for the starters as they have blown 6 saves already and its only early May! Sergio Santos has been a big negative factor for the bullpen, his ERA is 10.61, while blowing three save opportunities, its stuff like this that make you wish the trade had gone through. It also makes the team miss Casey Janssen, who is close to returning, but not quite there yet (Janssen sports injury alert).
It`s not just Santos that has been bad in the pen for Toronto, all of the pitchers have struggled early in the season, that includes All-Stars Brett Cecil and Steve Delabar, they have been picking it up lately, but it`s been really hard to watch the bullpen fall apart night in and night out.
Pete Walker pitching coach and Bob Stanley the bullpen coach, have a lot of explaining to do, why on earth the pen is so bad so early. Maybe Jays are really missing Pat Hentgen who had to step down as bullpen coach, because of an illness in the family. Maybe Pete Walker isn’t the right choice for a pitching coach, something has to be fixed with pitching, cause without it the season might as well be deemed over.
I won`t get into the issues with John Gibbons today, he is still making questionable moves and they are under .500 again with him as manager, but I guess fans have to give him some time, before calling for his firing. Although I still think hiring him was a big mistake and has jeopardized the Jays window of opportunity, which was last year, this year and maybe next year.
The Jays have managed to win couple of games lately and maybe by next week they will be playing with a winning record, but they need to soften the injury blows that they keep sustaining and figure out the bullpen problems, because if they don`t we could be looking at another long season of disappointment and that`s something fans don`t want to see again.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @NVincelli. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
“You like baseball? Get involved! Check out LWOS Partners Bases Loaded Eu for fantastic podcasts, news and a growing message board community of baseball fans like you!
Main Photo:
