Toronto faces problems with thin rotation
Suddenly, after Roy Halladay, Burnett and No. 2 starter/cologne impresario Gustavo Chacin, the Jays had holes. Serious holes.
The loss of Lilly didn't hurt so much from a Cy Young standpoint, but the guy did chew through 181 2/3 innings last season.
So, based on who was available and the going price of pitching, Ricciardi went to Plan B: quantity. Give us your tired, weary, hungry, poor, down-trodden ... and from there, somebody will rise up and take advantage of the opportunity.
"It makes for great competition in spring training, you know?" says Arnsberg, who was Burnett's pitching coach in Florida a few years ago. "It's not often that an AL East team that won 87 games is trying to fill the fourth and fifth holes in the rotation."
Not that it was a soup-kitchen winter for the Jays. There were some luxurious moments, such as signing free agent Frank Thomas and locking up Vernon Wells through 2014. They are the key to a lineup that will score early and often on most nights.
Which is why making sense out of this mound of pitching candidates now is so imperative.
Arnsberg is familiar with Ohka (4-5, 4.82 ERA in 18 starts for Milwaukee last season) from when the two were together in the Montreal organization. Thomson was 2-7 with a 4.82 ERA in 18 starts with Atlanta last season, a season cut short by shoulder problems and blistering on his finger. The Jays are confident he can revert back to his early 2000s form, when he threw 181 2/3 innings for Colorado and the Mets in '02, 217 for Texas in '03 and 198 1/3 for Atlanta in '04.
The Jays also scooped up Victor Zambrano, now said to be relatively healthy after going 1-2 with a 6.75 ERA in only five starts during an injury-filled year with the Mets in 2006.
From within, there's right-hander Josh Towers (2-10, 8.42 ERA over 62 innings for the Jays last year), right-hander Casey Janssen (6-10, 5.07 ERA, 98 innings), right-hander Shaun Marcum (3-4, 5.06, 78 1/3 innings), right-hander Ty Taubenheim (1-5, 4.89, 35 innings) and right-hander Dustin McGowan (1-2, 7.24, 27 1/3 innings).
Heck, the Jays may even take a look at right-hander Gerami Gonzalez, who made 24 combined appearances with the Mets and Milwaukee last summer, as a starter.
Or, Gonzalez could help fill the set-up role vacated by Speier -- as could rookie Brandon League, Jason Frasor and Jeremy Accardo, who pitched in San Francisco last year. They're all right-handed, though Frasor is tougher on lefties than righties.
One thing about strength in numbers is this: Whoever doesn't make the rotation should provide reasonable depth, and anybody who watched the Jays overcome rotation injuries to finish second last summer knows how important that is.
None of the Blue Jays' five starters made it through the entire season in one piece in '06. Halladay came closest, but with a sore elbow at season's end, Toronto shut him down early after it was eliminated. Burnett, Towers, Chacin and Lilly all missed time at some point.
"It was starting rotation-by-committee," Arnsberg says. "Doc (Halladay) was the only one who was able to ride it out until the end, but we felt like it was time for him to shut it down. He's feeling wonderful right now."
What may not be wonderful for opposing hitters is the fact that Halladay is throwing his sinker to both sides of the plate, something he hasn't done in the past. The new pitch is going down and away to right-handed hitters and, with Halladay already owning two Cy Young awards, there's no reason to believe it won't be wildly successful.
Meanwhile, questions always surround the flighty Burnett, but so far, so good with him and his tender right elbow this spring. And remember, once he finally did return from his two-month disabled list stint last season, he went 9-5 with a 3.86 ERA after the All-Star break.
"He was so in-between last year," Arnsberg recalls. "I remember sitting him down and telling him, 'You've got to find out about (the elbow). You've got the money. They can't take it back. If you blow out, you blow out, man.'
"From that point, he pitched like a No. 1."
One not-so-small thing that could make otherwise run-of-the-mill guys like Ohka and Thomson look better this year is an outfield defense that manager John Gibbons thinks is the best in the AL. Go ahead and watch Reed Johnson in left, Wells in center and Alex Rios in right, and see if you dare to argue.
Another not-so-small thing with Ohka and Thomson is this: If they can stay in one piece and open the season in the rotation and give Toronto six innings a night, the Janssens, Taubenheims, Marcums and McGowans of the Blue Jays' world can develop at their own pace without being force-fed major-league innings before they're fully ready.
"The depth is probably the most encouraging thing," Arnsberg says. "The last few years I've been here, we haven't been able to dip down into the farm and get guys with experience. Last year, Janssen and Taubenheim were barely out of Double-A. You're not affording them the chance to grow.
"With the amount of people J.P.'s brought in, and with the talent, it's going to be a real dogfight."
