Sportsnet 590 the FAN’s Mike Wilner sat down recently to answer your burning Toronto Blue Jays questions.
Below is a selection of some of the queries Wilner fielded. Click here to check out Part 1.
SHOULD R.A. DICKEY BE SENT TO THE BULLPEN?
This has been Dickey’s worst year as a Blue Jay. In fact, it’s been his worst year since his return to the major leagues as a full-time member of a starting rotation. But he’s still the best fifth starter in the league.
Dickey has had an atypical season in that he usually struggles at the beginning, finds his form in late May or early June and is terrific the rest of the way. But this year he was awful in April, great in May and June, awful in July and great in August. His first start in September did not go well.
One false notion is that Dickey is either going to be great or terrible, which just isn’t true. It feels like he has less control because he’s a knuckleballer, but conventional pitchers get lit up all the time, too.
For the season, Dickey has posted a 4.60 ERA and 1.363 WHIP. Both totals are above the league average of 4.25 and 1.329, but having a No. 5 starter who is close enough to that is a real luxury.
For example, the fifth starter spot has been a revolving door for the Boston Red Sox, with Eduardo Rodriguez currently holding down a slot that’s been occupied by Joe Kelly, Sean O’Sullivan, Henry Owens and even Roenis Elias for one start. Rodriguez’s 4.83 ERA is the only one in that group that’s below 6.50.
In Baltimore, the No. 5 man is Wade Miley, who sports a 7.15 ERA since coming over at the trade deadline. The Orioles have used Tyler Wilson and Mike Wright at the bottom of the rotation for a combined 25 starts — they’ve put up a combined 5.61 ERA.
The Texas Rangers have the best record in the American League and their fifth starter is currently A.J. Griffin, who’s posted a 4.92 ERA over 20 starts. The club has also received 18 starts at the bottom of the rotation from Cesar Ramos, Lucas Harrell, Nick Martinez, Chi Chi Gonzalez and Kyle Lohse. The lowest ERA among those five is Harrell’s 5.60 mark.
Even the Cleveland Indians, who have the best pitching staff in the league, have a No. 5 starter in Josh Tomlin whose ERA is a quarter of a run higher than Dickey’s. And when you look at the two pitchers the Indians have used to fill the bottom of their rotation when the need has arisen, well, Cody Anderson and Mike Clevinger’s combined 7.09 ERA in nine starts stands out a bit.
In the light of the bottom of the rotation of every other playoff team in the league, Dickey’s numbers look pretty good. Add in the fact that he reliably takes the ball whenever asked, allowing the Blue Jays to avoid dipping into the minors for a far lesser pitcher, and they look even better. He’s not likely to get to 200 innings this season, but he’s still doing a great job for what he is — the fifth starter on a playoff contender, one who won’t be on the post-season roster if the rest of the rotation stays healthy (just like Mark Buehrle last year).
It’s not a choice of Dickey or Francisco Liriano in that spot, either. Though Liriano has had a bad year overall, he’s been better than Dickey since he arrived in Toronto. And the reason he’s here is because Aaron Sanchez isn’t starting every fifth day. Sending Dickey to the ‘pen means Sanchez has to become a regular member of a five-man rotation with only one day off remaining in the season. That’s not going to happen.
And of course, don’t forget some other issues with Dickey moving to the bullpen — he’s prone to the home run, the knuckleball results in a lot of passed balls, and, of course, he comes with his own catcher. Those things don’t exactly add up well to a relief option in a close game.
THIS FEELS LIKE 1987. IS THIS THE SAME AS 1987?
Former Toronto Blue Jays shortstop Tony Fernandez. (Eric Risberg/AP)
This is not the same as 1987.
In the last week of the ’87 season, the Blue Jays lost seven straight games to blow a 3.5-game lead in the AL East in one of the most heart-wrenching collapses in Toronto sports history.
The Jays lost four of those seven games to the Detroit Tigers, who passed Toronto for the division title. All those were one-run games and all were played without Tony Fernandez, who hit .322/.379/.426 before breaking his elbow when Bill Madlock slid hard into him to break up a double play in the Jays’ 153rd game of the season. Manny Lee replaced Fernandez at short, went 7-for-35 in Fernandez’s absence and made a huge error in the 12th inning of the season’s penultimate game that led to a Tigers’ walk-off win.
As well, Ernie Whitt suffered a broken rib in Game 158 (damn Paul Molitor) and his replacements behind the plate, Greg Myers and Charlie Moore, went 1-for-9 against right-handed pitching — Whitt’s specialty; he had an .820 OPS against righties that season — in his absence.
The 2016 Blue Jays are healthy, they just had a bad week. This is nothing like 1987.
ARE THE BLUE JAYS EVER GOING TO WIN AGAIN?
Yes. I promise. But they’re also likely to lose a lot of their remaining 23 games. If they go 14-9 from this point on, that’s 91 wins, and only once in the two-wild-card era has a team with more than 90 wins missed the playoffs.