SPORTS
Tuesday, October 27, 2015 17
Which Edition of the Toronto Blue Jays Is Better?
A Comparison of the 2015 Team With Its 1992 Predecessor
Part Three: Examining the Starting Pitching: Front of the Rotation
ê David Price and Marcus Stroman: The 2015 Toronto Blue Jays’ One-Two Punch in the Postseason Starting Rotation?
kenneth cheak kwan lam
› sports editor
T
her e is a n old saying in baseball: good
pitching stops good hitting. In Part One, I
compared the infield of 2015 American League
Division Series-bound Blue Jays with its 1992
predecessor, the first ever non-U.S. based team to win
a World Championship. I then followed up in Part Two
by weighing the outfield of these two teams against
each other. Having effectively dissected the starting
lineup of two of the most ever powerful teams in
Toronto from two different eras, I will now shift my
focus in Part Three from the core positional players
to pitching. Specifically, I am going to contrast the
starting rotation with a focus on the pitching staff at
the front of the rotation. So without further ado, let us
get right to it!
Number One Starter:
David Price (2015) versus Jack Morris (1992)
Analysis: Drew Hutchison began the season as
Toronto’s staff ace, but due to his horrendous road
record and struggle in the second-half of the season,
he was removed from the starting rotation on 16
August 2015 and demoted to the AAA Buffalo Bisons
for nearly half-a-month before returning on 29
August because the team elected to go with a fourman starting rotation with the available off days in
the calendar (and has since been relegated to spotstart duty). Heading into the postseason for the first
time since a long overdue twenty-two years, the Blue
Jays are now led by pending unrestricted free agent
David Price, the first true ace the team has had since
the 2009 departure of home-grown ace Roy Halladay.
A long-time nemesis of Toronto during his days as a
Tampa Bay Ray, Price has been every bit as dominant
as advertised since donning a Blue Jays jersey in late
July, as he has gone 9-1 with a no decision—which
could have resulted in another win if reliable setup
man Aaron Sanchez had not given up a game-deciding
pinch-hit three-run home run to New York Yankees
right fielder Carlos Beltran in a stunning 4-3 defeat for
Toronto back on 14 August 2015.
On the other hand, Jack Morris was the winningest
pitcher of the 1980s. After anchoring the Detroit
starting rotation from 1977 to 1990 (earning 198
wins over 14 memorable seasons and in the process
becoming a two time 20-game winner in 1983
and 1986) and leading the Tigers and Minnesota
Twins to World Championships in 1984 and 1991
respectively, he was brought to the Blue Jays to lead a
strong starting rotation once home-grown ace Dave
Stieb’s effectiveness declined due to injury. Much
like Price, Morris proved his worth as a big-time
“money pitcher” as he gave the Toronto everything
that management, teammates, and fans had hoped
for by putting together an outstanding season (going
21-6 with a 4.04 ERA in 240.2 innings over 35 starts)
which saw him became the first-ever Blue Jay to win
20 games in a season.
Verdict: Clearly, both aces are savvy veterans
that have tasted success in regular seasons and the
playoffs. From a personality stance, Price brings a
superbly calm presence while Morris has that bulldog
mentality. Still, given Price’s eye-popping .900
winning percentage since being traded to Toronto and
Morris’ less than stellar postseason record in 1992, in
which he went 0-1 with a 6.57 ERA in 12.1 innings
over 2 starts against Oakland in the 1992 American
League Championship Series (ALCS) followed by
going 0-2 with a 8.44 ERA in 10.2 innings over 2
starts against Atlanta in the 1992 World Series, I say
that Price is the better ace by a few steps, especially
since he has more “electric” stuff than Morris if we are
to compare the pure pitching arsenals of the two aces.
Number Two Starter:
Marcus Stroman (2015) versus David Cone (1992)
Analysis: Drafted in the first round (22nd overall) of
the first-year player (Rule Four) draft in 2012, the
undersized (standing 5-foot-8) yet hard-throwing
Stroman has front-of-the rotation stuff and is
projected to be a budding ace in the Blue Jays’ system.
Interestingly, Stroman was not expected to pitch this
season after suffering a freak injury during spring
training when he tore his anterior cruciate ligament
in his left knee on 10 March 2015; so getting him back
was like having acquired a quality starting pitcher in
September through trade without having to give up
any assets. This makes the comparison of Stroman
and Cone all the more appropriate since the latter
was a trade-deadline acquisition. Upon his return to
the mount, Stroman posted a perfect 4-0 record with
a 1.67 ERA over 27 innings in 4 starts. Cone, on the
other hand, was a former 20-game winner (in 1988
in which went 20-3) who contributed to the playoff
drive by going 4-3 with a 2.55 ERA over 53 innings
in 8 games (including 7 starts) after being traded by
the New York Mets to Toronto for infielder (and future
All-Star second baseman) Jeff Kent and a player to
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