AL East 2015: Ranking the Starting Pitching
By Nate Wardle
Feb 23, 2015; Dunedin, FL, USA; Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Marcus Stroman (6) warms up during morning work outs at Bobby Mattick Training Center. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports
3. Toronto Blue Jays – Mark Buehrle, Marcus Stroman, R.A. Dickey, Marco Estrada, Drew Hutchison, Daniel Norris, Johan Santana, Aaron Sanchez
The Jays have a mix of veterans and young pitching. Norris and Sanchez are 22. Stroman and Hutchison are 24. Estrada is 31. Buerhle is 36 and Dickey is 40. Buerhle and Dickey both went over 200 innings in 2014, something Buerhle has done for the last fourteen years straight. That is a lot of mileage on an arm. Dickey, as a knuckleballer, is able to still pitch at age 40 when most pitchers are out of the league. But, his advancing age is also a question mark.
There is no doubt about Stroman; his stuff is electric. His SO/BB ratio of 3.96 is very good. The Jays may still have an inning cap on Stroman in 2015, but he will certainly be on the team. Hutchison had a bit more of an uneven 2014. He had some very good outings, and several against Baltimore come to mind. But he also had several outings where he got blasted.
Estrada is the newcomer to the team, and I’m not sure he starts for the whole year. He may find himself as the long reliever in the Jays’ bullpen at some point. The numbers in the NL just were not very good, and I can’t imagine them getting better in the AL East.
Norris and Sanchez both spent some time in the majors last year and are both very highly touted. It will be interesting to see if either makes the starting rotation out of training camp, but I expect both to have a role on the team at some point during 2015.
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