Blue Jays Negligence Prevents Them From Winning - Gary Armida's Blog

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Gary Armida's Blog

Blue Jays Negligence Prevents Them From Winning Stuck

Posted on June 26, 2012 at 10:19 AM.

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The challenge of competing in the American League East is, perhaps, the greatest challenge in Baseball. No division has the type of competition that the East teams face on a nightly basis. Every team in the division has at least 38 wins and each team has a positive run differential. No other division can boast those. It makes it even more difficult with the Yankees and the Red Sox able to spend money at will, the Rays having their own system finely tuned, and the Orioles who can spend money when they are ready. That leaves the Toronto Blue Jays trying to find their way with a core of talent that has been acquired and developed by one of the brightest General Managers in the game, Alex Anthopoulos.

Anthopoulos has made some very wise decisions during his short tenure. He was forced to trade Roy Halladay, but his trade didn�t set back the franchise. He acquired Brett Lawrie for Shaun Marcum. He chose to sign Jose Bautista to a long term deal based on one good season; the contract looks like a bargain now. He stole Yunel Escobar from the Braves and robbed Colby Rasmus from the Cardinals, taking the talents over the supposed attitude issues. He stuck with Edwin Encarnacion�s bat and is being rewarded. Anthopoulos� moves have transformed the Blue Jays into a young, powerful team that can compete in the East.

Last night, Henderson Alvarez, the Blue Jays� promising 22 year old right handed pitcher, was removed from the game with elbow soreness. He will have an MRI to see if there is real damage. With Alvarez walking off the mound, he becomes the fourth member of the Blue Jays� starting rotation to walk off with some sort of injury. Only ace Ricky Romero has remained healthy.

The Blue Jays are certainly no stranger to roster moves. Brandon Morrow, their flame throwing right hander who looked as if he was making a jump to the next level, went on the disabled list with an oblique strain on June 11th. Since then, Anthopoulos has made an incredible 24 roster moves to fill his rotation and keep his bullpen fresh. Kyle Drabek is having his second Tommy John Surgery. Morrow is dealing with an oblique injury. 21 year old Drew Hutchinson is also on the disabled list with elbow soreness. He is said to have avoided Tommy John Surgery, but he will not pick up a baseball for another six weeks. This list doesn�t even include Dustin McGowan, who was rehabbing from his own elbow injury and looked like he was making the rotation out of Spring Training. He was placed on the disabled list before the season.

On the surface, it looks like the Blue Jays have run into a severe case of bad luck. To lose four of your five starting pitchers is something almost unheard of. Teams might not be able to do that if they tried. But, pitching injuries are nothing new in Major League Baseball. Over the past four seasons, teams have paid more than one billion dollars for injured pitching salaries. Quality pitching is already in short supply, but more teams have to reach to their ninth and tenth pitchers in the organizational depth chart. The Kansas City Royals, an organization who was awarded as the best medical staff of 2011, are now sending Felipe Paulino for Tommy John Surgery. Paulino is their fourth pitcher to have the famed surgery this season.

Pitching injuries are an epidemic in baseball terms. The rate of injuries is alarming and despite being in Baseball�s information age, few teams seem to have a handle on how to prevent them. Here�s what we do know: a pitch count does not prevent injury. If that were the case, there would be no injuries as every team adheres to the artificial pitch count number of 100. Innings limits do not prevent injury. Most clubs subscribe to having their pitchers throw no more than 30 additional innings each season. Despite that program, injuries are still at an all-time high.

Yet, teams like the Blue Jays continue to be reactionary rather than using a science such as Biomechanics. A biomechanical examination can give teams data about a pitcher�s delivery that can be used to make corrections within that delivery that can actually prevent injuries. Most organizations still don�t use it because of the cost. But, a billion dollars on injured pitcher�s salaries is quite a bit. CC Sabathia has credited his biomechanical examination for keeping him healthy and durable throughout his career. Al Leiter had Tommy John Surgery after his third season in the Majors. He had an analysis while rehabbing. He became one of the most durable pitchers in the game. Cliff Lee has had one, just like Roger Clemens did. The science is available, but few teams have adopted it. The Baltimore Orioles were the only organization to give each pitcher on their 40 man roster an analysis this Spring.

In that context, the Blue Jays are no different that most teams. They are reactionary and hopeful in their pitching development program. Elbow injuries litter every team�s disabled list. But, as one National League executive said, �the Blue Jays definitely have a problem with their pitching development program. They have for a long time.�

In order for the Blue Jays to compete in the East, they have to develop their own pitching. Anthopoulos� predecessor, JP Ricciardi, knew that. A few seasons ago, the Blue Jays boasted another core of young pitchers in Shaun Marcum, Jesse Litsch, and Dustin McGowan. By the time that core was ready, Casey Jaansen, a previous young gun, was already rehabbing from labrum surgery. Each of those young pitchers had either Tommy John Surgery or labrum surgery.

The Blue Jays are one of the better organizations in terms of identifying talent. It is why they can compete with the East superpowers. But, they have to find a better way of developing healthy pitchers. Oblique injuries are one thing, but elbow and shoulder injuries are more of an organizational problem, especially given their history. Pitching is most definitely an unnatural act. Injuries will happen. But, the rate of injuries within the Baseball industry is simply unacceptable considering that there is another method available.

Pitching injuries prevented the Blue Jays from truly competing when they had Roy Halladay to build around. Ricky Romero isn�t Roy Halladay, but he is a legitimate top of the rotation starter. Brandon Morrow could be a legitimate ace. His injury is actually poor luck. But, once again, the Blue Jays find themselves moving further down the depth chart for Major League pitchers. Scott Richmond was brought up to, for the moment, fill a long relief role. Richmond, was Baseball�s Rookie Pitcher of the month in 2009, but later went on the disabled list due to shoulder tendonitis. This week, Aaron Laffey, Jesse Chavez, and Brett Cecil will make starts along with Romero. Saturday was to be Alvarez�s day. Perhaps Carlos Villanueva or Richmond take that turn. The Blue Jays just signed Jamie Moyer to a Minor League deal. Perhaps, he gets a crack.

The rate of pitching injuries is not a matter of luck. It is a systematic failure that the organization has yet to address. They have one of the brightest General Managers in sports. The organization has made some great decisions to stay competitive. But, until they can find a way to keep their pitchers from having surgeries, they are forever destined to be, at best, a fourth place team. They can�t simply spend more to compensate for injuries like the Yankees and Red Sox do.

Pitching injuries are an industry epidemic, but the Rays seem to have found a way to keep their pitchers healthy. It can be done. The Blue Jays have to make that their priority if they have want to truly compete. They can make all the great personnel decisions they want, but those decisions will continue to be undercut by their lack of pitching health. It did during Halladay�s era. It�s happening all over again.

Gary Armida is a staff writer for OS. Talk with him on twitter @garyarmida