Toronto Blue Jays Roster Preview Entering the 2017 Season
The Rotation
Once again the rotation should be the strongest component of the Blue Jays roster this season. Despite some saying that Toronto’s rotation is not among the best in baseball, it has been a while since the team can be confident with what they have from top to bottom.
Aaron Sanchez
With the additions the Boston Red Sox made this offseason, the Blue Jays will need Sanchez to be the ace this season. Hopefully there will not be talk about an innings limit and his blister issue does not force him to miss time this season. He made 30 starts, throwing 192 innings, sporting a 15-2 record with a 3.00 ERA, 161 strikeouts, and 63 walks and was the 15th most valuable starter in baseball using the WAR metric.
He has been working on his change-up this offseason, which he only used nine percent last season, and as Arden Zwelling wrote for Sportsnet, it could become a prominent pitch for him. It will help Sanchez get more ground balls, save him from always throwing high velocity pitches, and be less predictable. He would use his curveball more but decided to take a page out of Marco Estrada‘s book with the change-up. If Sanchez can provide the Blue Jays with the quality starts that he is capable of, he could be a top-five consideration for the American League CY Young.
Marcus Stroman
A player who wears his heart on his sleeve, Stroman had a dream start to his spring with Team USA at the World Baseball Classic. He led his country’s squad to a gold medal over Puerto Rico with a clutch performance. Stroman ran into some bad luck last season which was also his first full season in the majors following his return from a knee injury the year before. He has developed into an effective ground ball pitcher with many pitches in his arsenal, including his curveball and two-seamer. In his final spring outing in Montreal he threw 44 pitches, 31 for strikes for 12 outs with most coming on the ground.
Zwelling had this nice this nice observation from Stroman’s bounce back in the second half of last season.
"Over the final three months of 2016, Stroman pitched to a 3.42 ERA across 16 starts, finishing the season with an MLB-high 60.1 per cent ground ball rate. He was one of only 15 pitchers to throw more than 200 innings in the season, and he kept his HR/9 below one, a crucial stat for a shorter pitcher who made half his starts in Toronto’s hitter-friendly environment."
If Stroman can be consistent throughout the season without going through major changes to his mechanics, even half of what he is offering will be good enough for the Blue Jays this season.
Marco Estrada
The opening day starter will once again look to show what he can do in a contract year. In his first season with the Blue Jays he had a 13-8 record, pitching 181 innings, striking out 131 batters, with a 3.13 ERA and a 1.044 Whip. He had some issues with his back last season but still threw 176 innings, a career high 165 strikeouts but also allowed 65 walks and a 3.48 ERA which was not a major let down. A big part of Estrada’s success was his change-up, especially when batters were unable to get contact on it.
This spring he was focused on making sure his change-up was consistent but was trying to command his fastball more. He was able to get it up to 90 mph, which he was never able to do last season, but velocity is not his strength, he relies on being a finesse pitcher. It will be interesting to see what Estrada does in a contract year but if he is able to keep the walks down and hitters guessing with his change-up he will not have many problems.
J.A. Happ
The lefty had a strong year to start his second stint with the Blue Jays proving many skeptics wrong with 20 wins, 195 innings pitched, 163 strikeouts and a 1.169 whip. That was good enough for Happ to finish sixth in AL Cy Young, and had a 1-1 record in the playoffs to go along with nine strikeouts, two walks and three earned runs in 10 innings pitched.
It is unlikely that he will get to 20 wins again but if he can provide the Blue Jays with quality starts it will help the bullpen.
Francisco Liriano
It there is a pitcher that will be the x-factor for this rotation it is Liriano. He made eight starts with the Blue Jays after he was acquired from the Pittsburgh Pirates and was able to turn his season around. He had a 5.46 ERA with the Pirates and had a 2.92 ERA with the Blue Jays. The biggest difference was the way that he was able to reduce his walks per inning where he had 5.5 walks per inning with the Pitates and only 2.9 with the Blue Jays.
If he did not suffer a concussion in the ALDS against the Texas Rangers it would have made a big difference in the ALCS against the Cleveland Indians. He has been in great form this spring striking out seven batters in his final start against the Baltimore Orioles.
What will be important for Liriano is keeping the walks down and not getting behind in the count. If he can get to 180 innings pitched and below 60 walks he can be a big contributor for the Blue Jays staff as a left-handed starter.