April Showers….and Rotations!

Month #1 of the 2012 MLB season is officially in the books and it is now time to pick apart useless details to make ourselves feel like we know a thing or two about baseball. Repeated analyses of what has transpired this month will give us all the ammo we need to hit panic buttons, or roll out the ticker-tape parade. I have a rooftop overlooking Yonge St. if anyone needs a place to celebrate the upcoming playoff victories.

I have taken the liberty of putting together a pretty informal comparison looking at how the Blue Jays starting rotation fared against some of the most highly touted rotations in the big leagues… just for fun.

The dynamic forces of Romero, Morrow, Alvarez, Drabek and Hutchison have really turned some heads, especially in the Toronto market but are they getting league-wide recognition? Not just yet. Perhaps they should if they keep up this pace. Before you look at the figures, ask yourself this question; Going into the 2012 season, which rotation would you rather have…the Jays? Or the Phillies, Rays, Angels, Giants?

Here we go:

Team	IP	ERA	H	R	K	BB	QS
Blue Jays	138.4	3.67	114	54	85	49	14
Phillies	144.1	2.48	121	43	119	29	17
Angels	146.7	3.83	137	63	128	40	15
Giants	134.4	3.30	105	50	106	39	13
Rays	143.3	3.41	130	59	109	53	11

When we look at the team totals we need to remember a few things. First, some of the 5^th starters have been inconsistent, sorry no Carreno numbers factored in. I purely took the regulars so take that as you choose.  Still, for the most part, we are looking at a pretty tidy comparison. It appears that the Blue Jays are hanging in with the big boys of BOTH the AL and the NL.  What struck me from these tables, besides how sweet the Phillies are, is that we are right there in all of these categories. Ranked 2-4 in all but strikeouts and this may be partially explained by an increased focus on ground ball outs this season.

Ranks	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
IP	Angels	Phillies	Rays	Blue Jays	Giants
ERA	Phillies	Giants	Rays	Blue Jays	Angels
H	Giants	Blue Jays	Phillies	Rays	Angels
R	Phillies	Giants	Blue Jays	Rays	Angels
K	Angels	Phillies	Rays	Giants	Blue Jays
BB	Phillies	Giants	Angels	Blue Jays	Rays
QS	Phillies	Angels	Blue Jays	Giants	Rays

What I see happening is that, to be honest, the others may start to separate themselves with the Phillies building an even bigger lead in most of these pitching categories. Does this have to happen? No. Will it? Sorry, I’m no psychic Nicky. As fans of the Jays, we should be excited that our young gunslingers are actually producing legitimate results at the big league level. Just look at Drabek’s epic performance last night against Texas, arguably (not really) the nastiest offense in all of baseball. They have the ‘stuff’ and it’s looking like their poise and approach to pitching is evolving into a force to be reckoned with. Now, ask yourself this question; Going into the month of May in the 2012 season, which rotation would you rather have…the Jays? Or the Phillies, Rays, Angels, Giants?