By: Adamo Marinelli
June 18, 2021
As of June 18, the Toronto Blue Jays sit 33-34, fourth place in a top-heavy AL East. They sit only 8.5 games back of first place and 8 games back of second place. With only about 40 percent of the season complete, this is still anybody’s division.
The Blue Jays have now lost three consecutive games and five of the last seven games after starting the season off very well. They were first place in the AL East for a brief time in May.
The Blue Jays are better than their record suggests. They have a lot of young talent on offense and their superstar Vladimir Guerrero Jr. leads the MLB in home runs with 22 and in runs batted in with 56. He has been having an incredible season.
The Blue Jays have several young players who can hit the ball, get on base, bring runs in, and impact games like Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, Marcus Semien, Randal Grichuk, and Teoscar Hernandez among others.
They have a decent rotation of starting pitchers as well consisting of Hyun Jin Ryu, Robbie Ray, and Steven Matz who have all started 12 or more games, have pitched over 69 innings, and have all allowed fewer than 73 hits and fewer than 33 earned runs. Matz leads the team in wins with 7 - that is tied for ninth-most in the MLB, Ryu leads the team in ERA with 3.43 and Ray leads the team in strikeouts with 92. Ross Stripling has also played well but has played less than the other three.
In their last series against the New York Yankees, the Blue Jays were affected negatively by the referees in multiple ways. On June 16, a controversial call in the ninth inning which resulted in Guerrero Jr. being ruled out led to a save by Aroldis Chapman of the Yankees. The Blue Jays also had a chance for a walk-off run called back by the referees against the Yankees the night before.
However, the referees have not been the major problem this season. It has been their lack of depth in the bullpen and their lack of closing ability. That has prevented them from winning several games, from having a better record, and from being a higher seed in the AL East.
The Blue Jays have now lost seven games this season when leading after six innings, are now 5-9 in one-run games and still have yet to figure out a proper rotation of elite closers to help them win close ball games.
Granted there have been a lot of injuries to guys in their bullpen, but injuries happen to every team. The Blue Jays need to add some talent and fire-power to their bullpen to consistently win games and prevent blowing leads. They also need a group of guys who can throw strikes consistently late in games to keep games close, giving their offense a chance to build leads and win games.
Jordan Romano and Rafael Dolis have been okay this season. Dolis leads the team with 3 saves, but that is 38th among all pitchers in the MLB. If the Blue Jays want to contend for a World Series they will need to close out games more consistently and be able to shut elite offenses down.
Dolis has been questionable as of late, blowing leads late in games and failing to get saves against the RedSox and Yankees. However, with Dolis on the injured list, the depth behind Romano gets even slimmer, which makes manager Charlie Montoyo’s life even harder. Even with Dolis struggling, having him as an option to close out games is necessary.
David Phelps and Kirby Yates, another free agent signing by the Blue Jays this year are both on the long-term injured list and Trent Thorton, Tim Mayza, Tyler Chatwood, Joel Payamps have all been underwhelming in their appearances this season for the Blue Jays.
Anthony Castro has been alright as the third reliever this season and is a viable short-term solution for closing ball games.
However, the Blue Jays will likely need to acquire some more talent in the bullpen if they hope to contend for a playoff spot and a World Series title. In the long term, they can look to the draft, in the short term, they will have to look to make a deal with another team or to sign someone in free agency. General Manager Ross Atkins and manager Charlie Montoyo will have their hands full for the rest of this season and in the offseason to address their only major need.
Another issue is injuries to their star players. The Blue Jays signed World Series MVP George Springer to a six-year, $150 million deal before this season and due to injury, Springer has only played in four games this season. Springer is a guy that makes an impact on offense and on defense in every game he plays. His health is a major part of this team’s success. He is scheduled to make a return this weekend but whether or not he will be 100 percent is uncertain.
While some people blame Atkins and Montoyo for the lack of depth in the bullpen - and they have every right to - I believe it is not the end of the world that their bullpen is underwhelming this season. I believe the Blue Jays simply wanted to figure out where they were offensively this season and to see what they had with their starting rotations. Their offense is young, electric and one of the best groups in the MLB and their starting pitching is good too. Their goal was never to go all out this season in my opinion. Next season, they will get healthy, address their lackluster bullpen and their young, stellar offense will only get better.
This season is still young and anything can happen, but next season is when the Blue Jays will truly start contending for a playoff spot and a World Series win.
No comments:
Post a Comment