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He has a meeting with James Andrews today, and the prognosis is not good.

Ugh. If ever there was doubt that the Jays shouldn't overreact to their late season success, this is it. Re-upping Burnett to be the number two in a rotation full of holes doesn't put the team any closer to a playoff spot.

It also demonstrates why it was idiotic to bring Marcum back for the stretch run when he was ailing. Chances are the surgery was necessary anyway (frayed tendons are frayed tendons), but it was a rash decision nonetheless.

If Marcum is out for 2009, McGowan is unknown, and Burnett is opting out, then that leaves the rotation as Halladay, Litsch, and Purcey heading into next season. Yikes.

At some point, the Jays have to point the finger at their medical staff and Brad Arnsberg for the rash of pitcher injuries. It doesn't help that Ricciardi publically blasted Burnett for not being "man enough" to pitch hurt, which has probably forced some of the younger pitchers to pitch with pain to avoid getting called out. Mix all that with the arm shredding capabilities of Cito Gaston and a piss-poor offense, and this figures to be a trainwreck of a team in 2009.

In the other thread I said I was in favor of extending Burnett, but with this news about Marcum and the continued uncertainty with McGowan, I'm not so sure anymore. Paying through the nose to keep AJ without Marcum and McGowan healthy is pointless. They still won't be good enough to win and Burnett is likely to turn into a pumpkin again when he has a new contract. Now the Jays have to essentially re-sign Burnett, find a pitcher as good as Marcum (127 ERA+ in 150 innings), and find a way to not re-injure McGowan when they predictably rush him this spring or find a pitcher as good as him too.

This might be the beginning of the end. Even the treadmill doesn't figure to hold up now. The one competitive advantage this team had over everyone is gone. It's going to get ugly from here, unless Snider, Cecil, Romero, Mills, Arencibia, etc, can all pan out simulataneously at the MLB level in '09 and surprise the world. Yeah, not going to hold my breath for that.

Well that's not good......

But what's worse is I can see JP giving AJ way too much to stay because of us losing Marcum.

Our once very solid staring rotation has become a huge question mark for 09' and it will be interesting what it looks like Opening Day.

ouch, i was shocked to hear of this... this really sucks, and puts a dent into that pitching staff for next season.

Michael Bradley: I completely forgot about JP calling out burnett about his injuries.. no wonder a lot of our pitchers play injured.

Wow thats not good. With Marcum's and McGowan's health concerns I really starting to think that AJ Burnett is turning in a big catch 22 situation. We're dammed if we do resign him and we're dammed if we don't.

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This guy was arguably our best starter this year. I also didn't understand why they really brought him back this year, even if the surgery would have been inevitable anyways... Marcum was my favourite pitcher and one of my favourite players on this team... this really really sucks. Don't think I'll be renewing the old voucher pack for next year in light of this.

Now we're only going to have 1 year... 1 year to accomplish anything. We all know that doc is a FA after 2010... and he might even want a trade after a looming disastrous 09 campaign... like mentioned above. It really hurts that our biggest strength and envy of the league, is going to be become our biggest problem next year... There's no way Jannssen/Purcey/Litsch Cecil and Co. can carry the load all season long to replace a guy like marcum **sigh**

so..... can we already tank the 2009 season??

I foresee more mediocrity in our future!

damn.. seeing Marcum get emotional about it during an interview really got to me...

RapsFanInVA wrote:I foresee more mediocrity in our future!

I think we're going to worse than mediocre next year. Yay!

Relax guys.. I know its a blow.. to not have McGowan and Marcum in the rotation.. plus the given AJ Burnett no-return, I think we will still have enough in the tank. We have Doc, Litsch has been decent, Purcey will be better next year, Jensen is back and then we can bring up rumero and cecil as well. But one guy I think could become a very good pitcher for us is Richmond. I think he can be a good no.3 / no.4 starter. Lets see how does tomorrow. He has some good stuff.

We are, however, missing that one power pitcher int he rotation. AJ leaves a little too soft in terms of power pitching.

Mcgowan should by good by mid 2009 so as long as we're still in the race by then, it should be alright.

It's also pretty likely that they will sign a couple of good starters in the off season so we shouldn't be so glum just yet.

RAAAAAAAAAAGE!!!!!

rkid wrote:It's also pretty likely that they will sign a couple of good starters in the off season so we shouldn't be so glum just yet.

The Jays have $82.45 million committed to 8 players in 2010 (Halladay, Wells, Rios, Hill, Rolen, Overbay, Ryan, and Downs). If the Jays were to sign Derek Lowe for $12 million a year (for example), then the 2010 total jumps to nearly $95 million for 9 players. In other words, it doesn't look like the Jays have any leverage in attempting to sign players long-term this winter because of backloaded expensive contracts already on the team, unless Rogers agrees to up the payroll significantly or Ricciardi dumps Rolen, Overbay, and Ryan to free up cash himself.

If rebuilding is out of the question, then the Jays don't have much choice other than to take one on the chin in 2009, and build for 2010 when Marcum and McGowan figure to come back strong, and some younger talent may be ready and/or pushing the door down (Snider, Arencibia, Cecil, Campbell, Romero, Mills, Cooper, etc).

I think this off-season we are going to see more of the same. More Eckstein/Barajas types, rather than Manny types. Not very exciting....unless Ricciardi can pull a Rios/Lincecum type of deal off, which I don't think he has the capability of doing (plus, not all GM's are as clueless as Sabean).

The Jays will take the money allotted to Burnett and spend it on another free agent starter. One who will undoubtedly not have the electric stuff that Burnett has, but more than likely will be someone who is not a whiny, selfish loser who none of his team-mates enjoy playing with.

The Jays will need to spend more money to compete in the AL East - it's as simple as that. What's the point in spending $90M to finish third? You could spend $30M like the Pirates and finish out of the playoffs. The Canadian $ is strong, Rogers' profits are strong, it's time to roll the dice and play with the high rollers for 2009 and 2010.

After that, you can let Wells and Halladay go and start another cycle anew.

Now this so called "best pitching staff in baseball" looks like crap.

And the money that AJ's contract will free up, will got to Wells and Rios, since they're getting raises.