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The interesting thing about the Jays' season so far is how they are winning with such a craptastic starting rotation (well, on paper, an unimpressive starting rotation).

But....Litch and Casey Janssen are going to the minors for some rehab starts. Depending on how Janssen does, i would guess that he will be back in the Jays' plans sooner as opposed to later - sooner being June versus September. It will be interesting if he takes a starter position when he comes back (assuming his arm is stretched out enough).

Marcum has started some bullpen sessions and is ahead of schedule. I would guess that he will be back as a starter for July/August, depending on his recovery rate.

So if the Jays can battle through the first half of the season and get these miracle starts (and miracle run support), the 2nd half of the season may be quite a treat with quite a starting rotation - Halladay, Romero, Litch (or Richmond, since I personally have little confidence in Litch), Marcum, Janssen.

Hows McGowan doing?!
Surely he is ahead of Marcum right?!

Marcum is suppose to be starting to throw in the bullpen today. McGowan will begin throwing from flat ground on May 1.

yesterday I think i heard Bobcat say that Mcgowan had a setback and won't be ready for this season. Did anyone else hear the same thing or did i hear incorrectly?

Hold on a second....

So Marcum is ahead of DMac?

And Janssen was actually scheduled to return prior to start of the season, and then was pushed back to May. I never heard any sort of report that stated he'd be out until September.

edit* do you have a link Yogi? Not that I don't believe you, of course.

Alex Anthopolous was on the Fan the other day. McGowan is not responding well to rehab so far.

Marcum is responding very well. But for Marcum, that means like an August of Sept return, if it's even worth risking.

chocolateSensi wrote:Hold on a second....

So Marcum is ahead of DMac?

And Janssen was actually scheduled to return prior to start of the season, and then was pushed back to May. I never heard any sort of report that stated he'd be out until September.

edit* do you have a link Yogi? Not that I don't believe you, of course.

was in today's Toronto Sun re: throwing schedules. too lazy to look online for links (too nice outside to be online).
Scheduled return? that's just a guestimation from me.
McGowan - during spring training, he had some tightness (i believe) and they slowed down/shut down his rehab for a bit. don't expect to see McG this season.

Rushing Marcum back is pointless. The recovery time for TJS is one year, and that would be September for Marcum. If the Jays are out of it by Aug/Sept, then there would be no point in bringing him back to pitch in a lost month, and if the Jays are in it then why risk having a starter who has not thrown in a year being in a pennant/wild card race? Let Marcum spend the season recovering and hope he can come back at full strength in 2010.

Janssen is more realistic, but he is coming off a more serious injury, so whether he will be able to regain his stuff is the problem. He was never a hard thrower anyway, so maybe it might be easier for him. I have no clue about McGowan, but I have been hearing he might be out the whole year, and honestly if that is what he needs then so be it.

I think the Jays have to hope for Litsch and Romero to be healthy, and maybe Cecil/Mills later in the year to produce 80-100 good innings at the MLB level. Or make a trade (Bedard if the M's are out of it?). I do not expect Marcum and McGowan to pitch in 2009.

i miss those guys. its still pretty impressive, though, what our current rotation has done. anyone think that bringing back those guys will just cause more bad than good?

I heard a rumor about McGowan's diabetes being a huge difference in his recovery. Supposedly if he wasn't diabetic he could be already back. So who really knows, i'm not a doctor.

As for Marcum, no need to rush him back at all, we're pitching ok right now, rushing him back would be totally pointless...unless were in the playoffs by mid september.

From what I've heard Marcum is ahead of schedule and McGowan is behind schedule.

Getting a healthy Marcum back would be huge. He has nasty stuff and was our second best pitcher last year behind Doc.

xAIRNESSx wrote:From what I've heard Marcum is ahead of schedule and McGowan is behind schedule.

Getting a healthy Marcum back would be huge. He has nasty stuff and was our second best pitcher last year behind Doc.

"Ahead of schedule" for Marcum means August or September. More than likely he's not being rushed into action this season unless we're out of the race.

I love Marcum atleast as much as anyone on this board and possibly more, but I don't want to see him this year. Infact in alot of cases from TJS I find it's almost 2 years before alot of guys are back to full strength. Alot of guys come back in a year or so and they just aren't quite all there. And for a guy who has as underwhelming velocity and such as marcum does, I just don't think this guy is going to come back at full strength till atleast the start of the next year and probably even longer than that... sadly unfortunetely