Coming off an appearance in the American League Championship Series, there were high expectations for the Toronto Blue Jays coming into 2016. However, the club has under-performed so far this season, limping out to a 5-6 start. This has many fans pushing the panic button already. However, looking at the three main parts of the team – the hitters, the starting pitchers, and the bullpen one see that there is no reason to be worried about the Blue Birds.
Too Early for the Blue Jays to Panic
The Hitters
The past few years, without a question, hitting has been the strength of this team. They outscored everyone last year, with more than one hundred runs separating them and the second best New York Yankees. However through the first couple weeks of the season the bats have been relatively quiet. They are outside the top ten in runs scored at the moment and are ranked twenty-first in team average (.224). With the exception of reigning MVP Josh Donaldson, no one has hit well to start the season. Fans need to remind themselves that this is a small sample size. This is the same lineup that was tearing up the American League last season and it is extremely unlikely that players like Troy Tulowitzki, Russel Martin, Jose Bautista or Edwin Encarnacion will continue to hit for such low average and be unable to find their power. Baseball is a long season and there is no need to worry about the Blue Jays offence.
Starting Rotation
So far the starting rotation has been a real bright spot for the Blue Jays. Marcus Stroman has shown why he deserves to be considered an ace. With three solid starts under his belt there is no reason to believe the he can not have a great season. Aaron Sanchez has been another bright spot. His stuff has looked very good early on, the only question with him is how many innings he will be allowed to pitch before they put him back to into the bullpen. J.A. Happ and Marco Estrada have also been good to start the season. If they can remain consistent they give this rotation a lot of depth. The wildcard of the Jays rotation is knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, with any knuckleball pitcher, the pitch either looks good or it gets smacked around. Early this year it has been knocked around for the most part. However Dickey has traditionally struggled early in the year, and his knuckler usually gets better as the weather becomes hotter and more humid. The Jays know what they are getting into with him, he will give the team 200+ innings and should get the run support to be productive. The success of the rotation has been a bit of a surprise as it was expected to be a weakness of the team.
Bullpen
There is no nice way to say this – the bullpen has cost the Jays wins this year. Coming into the season it was expected that the bullpen would not be an issue with some good late inning arms in there. However all except for twenty-one-year-old closer Roberto Osuna has disappointed so far. The Jays are going to need better innings from Drew Storen and Brett Cecil if they want to hold leads this year. Both have good stuff and should be able to find their groove. Aaron Loup should become a key piece upon his return from the disabled list, as he is tough against lefties and should be able to take pressure off the rest of the staff when facing a big left handed bat. Thus, there is hope that this bullpen will be able to turn it around.
The thing to remember when looking at early season stats is that it is in fact early season, with a small sample size – one good, or one bad game can skew the stats either way. The Blue Jays were 11-12 at the end of April in 2015. This Jays team has all the right pieces to contend for a World Series and as the season continues and everyone hits their stride fans will be laughing at any early season doubt.
DUNEDIN, FL – MARCH 07: Troy Tulowitzki #2 of the Toronto Blue Jays blows a bubble prior to a spring training game against the Atlanta Braves at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium on March 7, 2016 in Dunedin, Florida. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
