Our Pitching staff?

pugilistfan · Post #1 » by **pugilistfan** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 2:14 am

Is looking pretty damn good.

For the first time in awhile I actually feel comfortable rolling out our first 4 guys in the rotation. We got a legit ace in Halladay and our other 3 guys are very good and keep us in ballgames.

I actually think we got the best staff in the East. We've had good starts from all four of our starters so far.

Im not too sold on Litsch but the guy is young and is more than a serviceable 5th starter.

The great part of our staff is they keep us in ballgames.

What you guys think?

raps4life~ · Post #2 » by **raps4life~** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 2:16 am

much better than

Halladay
Burnett
Chacin
Okha
Garbage

pitching has been AMAZING so far. lets just hope it stays this way. unless we have injuries i dont see a real holes in the pitching.

kcthekid · Post #3 » by **kcthekid** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 2:27 am

raps4life~ wrote:much better than

Halladay
Burnett
Chacin
Okha
Garbage

pitching has been AMAZING so far. lets just hope it stays this way. unless we have injuries i dont see a real holes in the pitching.

LOL

our rotation is solid, litch isnt great, but servicable at the least.
He isnt great, he isnt awful, starting pitching is hard to come by nowadays
be glad hes adequate!

Post #4 » by **OldNo7** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 2:50 am

Definitely has produced 4 very quality starts in a row. But lets not get too far off in fantasyland here; our number 1 and 2 guys have very lengthy injury histories, and if one or both go down for any signifcant amount of time, its not such a nice staff anymore.

Post #5 » by **spykelee** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 2:54 am

I think Doc is a horse but I'm not sure he's a true ace anymore... he's an Ace in that he's durable and competitive and a leader but he isn't dominant when he's on the mound, not anymore. I think he's good for somewhere between 13 and 17 wins... There's only 2 guys with "ace" capabilites and that's Burnett and McGowan. I am classifying them as "aces" only because they have the ability to be dominant and overpowering... I also love Marcum. Pitchers pitcher.

I don't even think litsch is serviceable. My expectations are low... if he can get us to the 5th inning and keep us in the games I'd be happy with that. But without overpoweing stuff, being young and unproven, I think he's in for a tough year. I'd be surprised if he holds the 5th spot for the season.

Raptors90102 · Post #6 » by **Raptors90102** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 3:05 am

I love the pitching so far.. no just the starters, the bullpen is solid too.. I see acardo becoming a deadly closer down the line, if ryan gets healthy, thats a knockout one-two closing punch.. the middle guys are more than adequate as well.. Tallet, Downs, Fraser, League.. all good to solid pitchers.. if only we had Jensen healthy, thats a very solid staff right there...

asif9t9 · Post #7 » by **asif9t9** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 3:12 am

I'm also not going to get too excited. I expect Doc to win every time out. AJ.....he pitched one great game, which for him usually means he takes the next game off. We'll see. I actually expect more out of McGowan and Marcum.

And what I really like is that if we can get 6+ strong, we don't have to overwork our relievers.

pugilistfan · Post #8 » by **pugilistfan** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 3:26 am

asif9t9 wrote:I'm also not going to get too excited. I expect Doc to win every time out. AJ.....he pitched one great game, which for him usually means he takes the next game off. We'll see. I actually expect more out of McGowan and Marcum.

And what I really like is that if we can get 6+ strong, we don't have to overwork our relievers.

Yep exactly,

Thats huge to have your starters go deep into ballgames. It helps as the season progresses.

Post #9 » by **Geddy** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 4:15 am

The thing that worried me about Roy last season was how he got rattled at times, and it seemed as though he would get too emtional after giving up a run or two. I guess part of it had to do with the team messing up some nice outings by him, but he need to keep his composure.

Another positive about this year's staff is that we don't have mr guaranteed loss a.k.a Josh Towers anymore.

Post #10 » by **SmallTownJournalist303** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 4:54 am

spykelee wrote:I think Doc is a horse but I'm not sure he's a true ace anymore... he's an Ace in that he's durable and competitive and a leader but he isn't dominant when he's on the mound, not anymore. I think he's good for somewhere between 13 and 17 wins... There's only 2 guys with "ace" capabilites and that's Burnett and McGowan. I am classifying them as "aces" only because they have the ability to be dominant and overpowering... I also love Marcum. Pitchers pitcher.

I don't even think litsch is serviceable. My expectations are low... if he can get us to the 5th inning and keep us in the games I'd be happy with that. But without overpoweing stuff, being young and unproven, I think he's in for a tough year. I'd be surprised if he holds the 5th spot for the season.

I completely agree about Litsch; his peripherals from last year came nowhere close to matching his ERA, so I'm expecting a snap back to reality. But you never know, he could turn out to be adequate. I don't see him as our fifth starter in July, though.

Post #11 » by **Schad** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 5:34 am

SmallTownJournalist303 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-

I completely agree about Litsch; his peripherals from last year came nowhere close to matching his ERA, so I'm expecting a snap back to reality. But you never know, he could turn out to be adequate. I don't see him as our fifth starter in July, though.

Me neither...I'm expecting something similar to what Chacin put up in '06: ~5.00 ERA, WHIP just under 1.50. However, our bullpen might be strong enough to salvage some of those 5 IP, 3 ER outings...if we can get some run support.

Peteros · Post #12 » by **Peteros** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 8:36 pm

I disagree. I think Litch is a solid 5th starter on this team. He won't strike out too many players, but will give you a solid 5-6 innings. Just like today. And then from there we let the bullpen take care of the rest. Also keep in mind he's very young. Give him time to develop and he should be fine.

raps4life~ · Post #13 » by **raps4life~** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 8:48 pm

none of our starters have ERAs over 4 after their first games.

Kosta · Post #14 » by **Kosta** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 8:58 pm

Litsch got the job done today vs a very powerful Sox line-up. Who would be in line to take the 5 spot if he did start to struggle? Do we have another McGowarn/Marcum type talent in the minors ready for the bigs by mid-season or so?

Post #15 » by **SmallTownJournalist303** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 9:05 pm

Kosta wrote:Litsch got the job done today vs a very powerful Sox line-up. Who would be in line to take the 5 spot if he did start to struggle? Do we have another McGowarn/Marcum type talent in the minors ready for the bigs by mid-season or so?

Someone who has more expertise on our minor league system can correct me, but off the top of my head I think the only guy we kind of have would be David Purcey, a huge lefty who's been all hype to this point in his career but could be a good one if he could ever put the entire package together.
I've also had a bit of a mancrush on Josh Banks in years past, but he's never pitched that well above AA. I'd love to see him get a chance, though.

vaff87 · Post #16 » by **vaff87** » Sat Apr 5, 2008 9:13 pm

It's pretty encouraging that one time through the rotation the most runs the Jays have allowed is 3, and this is coming against the Yankees and Red Sox, not some chump line ups.

Post #17 » by **OldNo7** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 3:08 am

Dont forget the Cologne man.

Post #18 » by **OldNo7** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 7:25 pm

I think the fact that Halladay has given up 3 home runs in 2 starts is a cause for concern.

Post #19 » by **Nolan** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 7:35 pm

Our pitching staff has looked great so far this year. McGowan and Marcum were both great in their first starts this year. If everyone can stay healthy, thats a big if we can a great pitching staff for once. Not having Josh Towers helps alot too.

Post #20 » by **Geddy** » Sun Apr 6, 2008 9:08 pm

whosthebosh? wrote:I think the fact that Halladay has given up 3 home runs in 2 starts is a cause for concern.

He doesn't seem to be too confident in his location at the moment. He's just not going after hitters aggressively going back to his last few starts last season.

I just hope he returns to his dominating form soon.