Alvarez starting Friday?

[evilRyu]

Start him friday! not tomorrow please!

I actually prefer tomorrow and not Friday

[evilRyu]

here's the official release: http://toronto.bluejays.mlb.com/news/pr ... p&c_id=tor

[baulderdash77]

They want to set him up well by giving him a weak team like Oakland to go against in his first start. The Angels can put some runs in.

Also there's an off day in there so they can schedule him around the Rays if they want to. In truth if they set it up right he can have 5 relatively easy starts to begin his MLB career.

I think it's too early to bring him up, but I'm excited to see what he can do.

[Michael Bradley]

Alvarez's innings per season:

2009: 124.1 (age 19)
2010: 112.1 (age 20)
2011: 96.1 (age 21) --> still two months to go.

Even if they plan to start him in the rotation next season, it doesn't look like he will be too useful over the course of the season due to an inevitable innings restriction. He probably finishes this season with 120-130 innings, give or take. Hardly enough to make the leap next season.

Regardless, excited to see what he can do in the bigs. The team really lacks capable SP depth at the higher levels right now, so they may be pushing Alvarez to add some capable bodies in there.

[baulderdash77]

His limit is probably around 150 IP this year (125% of his 2009 season) so he can finish the season and have 9 starts this year for the Jays.

Next year he's going to be at 190 IP and that's pretty much a full season for a 5th starter (32 starts @ 6 IP per start). I don't see any reason to be concerned about his innings counts going forward.

[Michael Bradley]

My earlier guess of 130 innings might be too low, but I'm being cautious because it is no lock that he averages 5 innings per start over the next two months. That depends on his performance, and I would hope Farrell has a quicker hook with him given his age and lack of innings to this point.

Expecting Alvarez to throw 190 next season is being very optimistic, IMO, especially if all of them are going to come at the MLB level.

[hyper316]

i think the blue jays have to be careful. you dont want a young flame throwing arm to go nuts in innings or you will be asking for tommy john

[ItsDanger]

Id be cautious over using him as a starter at the MLB level without an effective breaking ball in his arsenal. He sounds more like a bullpen candidate at this pt. Should be interesting to see him in action at any rate.