Saturday, October 13, 2012

Where Does Ricky Belong?

At the start of the 2013 regular season, where does Ricky Romero end up? Do the Blue Jays seem content with Ricky in the starting rotation next year? Is another team interested in swapping struggling pitchers? Could he be packaged along with others to fill needs? Or—if he maintains his poor performance throughout the spring—do the Blue Jays go back on their word, and send him to the minors, to regain confidence and work on the simple things, in an attempt to return himself to his pre-2012 form?

Try to find a reason that validates Ricky Romero starting next season in the Jays starting rotation, besides his performance prior to last year. Can’t do it? Didn’t think so. Did he start to improve as the season closed down, to show some sense of encouragement? No, in each of his last 10 starts of the year he finished the game with an ERA over 5.38. No sense of encouragement there. I really do wish that we could all just say he had an off season. But we can’t, as of now. A season with a WHIP of 1.67, and an ERA close to 6 is not just an “off season.” And if he was any other pitcher on this Toronto Bluejays team, he would’ve been in the minors without hesitation.

Whenever the conversation of “swapping struggling pitchers” comes up, people initially think of Jon Lester. This would be an outstanding idea, if he wasn’t in the same division. I mean, I love the idea—along with many others—but General Managers generally tend to shy away from trades within the division. Also, I’m not sure if Boston would entertain the idea of a straight up trade. I think they see Lester having higher value, therefore I think it would take more than just Ricky, maybe even as much as adding an arm like Matt Smoral. Tim Lincecum’s name also arises during this conversation. But, to get a deal with Timmy involved would be more like a hybrid of the possible trade opportunities, because it would take a lot more than just Ricky to land Timmy. This idea just doesn’t seem logical because I, along with others, don’t think Timmy will ever be the same, because of his work load. He could possibly even end up as a closer.

 If any teams are interested in entertaining the idea of taking Ricky along with others in exchange for a premium outfielder, they’d be Arizona and Colorado. Both have enough quality outfielders to spare one. Both have needs that Toronto could fill. Arizona could put Justin Upton (maybe along with Corbin) on the table, if Romero, Adeiny Hechavarria/ Yunel Escobar, Noah Syndergaard, Moises Sierra, and Santiago Nessy are offered in return. My guess would be Colorado would love to work a deal with the Jays for the likes of Romero, Anthony Gose, and other young Blue Jays pitchers. Colorado would probably be interested in both a long term project like Daniel Norris, and someone with less ceiling and a sooner ETA like Sean Nolin. But those four players would probably cost the Rockies Carlos Gonzalez.

This last scenario seems quite simple… to me. By the time spring training comes around, if Ricky is still a part of the Toronto Blue Jays Organization (which I suspect he will be), and he has a well below average Spring Training,does he really deserve a spot in the starting rotation? It does depend on his attitude and the severity of his struggles, but if it seems like he’s just fighting everything, I say he should be sent down. There is no sense in keeping someone incapable of pitching to a league average standard in the MLB.

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24 comments:

  1. what a terrible fucking article.

    why in the world would the jays trade ricky when his value is at an all time low?

    This makes no sense. don't quit your day job

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    1. I don't think Marshall's number one choice would be to trade Ricky, for the obvious reason that you wrote above. His day job is a high school student...

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    2. Took the words right out of my mouth.

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    3. Because we buy high and sell low.

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  2. That makes sense...not a good article at all.

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  3. You will take Francoeur and Hochevar for Romero and Lincoln AND like it!!

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  4. The garbage has to go. Romero is done.

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  5. I won't be as harsh as the previous anonymous commenter, but this really is a ridiculous and baseless blog entry. You've contrived a bizarre, unreasonable premise, and delivered it in a stunningly poor fashion. The trade scenarios you've concocted are so random and mindless that it almost hurts to read them. We are all a bit dumber for having read this blog entry.

    My honest suggestion is to work hard at honing your writing skills, and look to avoid bringing your own odd little fantasy trades into your writing.

    The truth of the matter is that Romero is at a crucial time in his career, and this could have made for an insightful blog topic. Instead, your trade scenarios and presumptuous commentary are mind-bogglingly bad.

    If you want to be a decent writer, you've got a lot of work to do. It is possible, but it won't come easy.

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  6. It's hard to harp on him if he's a high school student, but he should have done some fact-checking before posting the article.

    Romero can't be sent down to the minors. As AA has already confirmed, he (along with Morrow) has a guaranteed contract as a starter. He can't be demoted without his permission, and can't be removed from the starting rotation.

    Do you really think they would have stood behind him after so many bad starts if they had a choice about it?

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  7. Why would you get rid of both Hech and Escobar who i must say is terrible, for an outfielder and apitching prospect. Where does that leave the jays for 2nd base and SS. Pretty dumb if you ask me. The Jays need pitching so we should possible trade ricky ro and Escobar for Lincecum who hopefully finds his form. Sign Lohse or Jackson and trade some Prospects for Josh Johnson. Any two of those would help a lot. Throw Lind in there somewhere, pray to find a second baseman, sign a few vets who can hit and lead and there set. It seems a little far fetched but not impossible. This article is terrrible tho all in all.

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    1. For one, "Hech/Yunel" means one or the other. If you didn't know that, well that's you're issue, not mine. So don't try to harp me on that because that's your fault. Also, your Ricky and Yunel for Timmy had the same idea as me BUT I have little hope for Timmy as a starter. Think he'll be an above average reliever for the rest of his career once someone puts him there. And I like you're other ideas but that's not what the article was about. Think AA looks trade route before FA, because he's said himself that he prefers that route.

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  8. As well we should write Ricky off just yet. One more year than trade his ass if he sucks

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  9. Okay guys. For one, personally I would love too see Ricky succeed this coming year in a bluejays uniform. Second, do you honestly think that the Jays are willing to keep him in , as a starter, if these struggles continue? No. Also, the trades are just proposals that attempt to show that Ricky doesn't have the value anymore, but if the Jays gave away prospects as well, i'm sure a team would love to give Ricky a second shot for a good return.

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  10. It looked to me like Ricky was making changes to his curveball delivery during the 2012 regular season (he had a pretty big tell in 2011). I'm sure he'll figure it out before you learn how to write.

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  11. Would the Blue Jays consider trading Romero to the Yankees for Ivan Nova?

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    1. Interesting idea. I really don't know. Don't think either side would really like that trade (both probably think higher of their present pitcher). But you never know.

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  12. Ricky, Adeny/Yunel, Sydengaard, Sierra for Upton and another player?! Have you lost your mind?

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    1. This is coming from your Bluejays bias. See, Romero's value is low, Sierra is a platoon or 4th outfielder, Yunel or Hech are everyday SS with a below average stick, and Syndergaard is a top prospect. Nothing overly special, except for Syndergaard, but he may never make the majors. Also, Patrick Corbin is more then just "another player." He alone would probably cost the Bluejays one of their SS.

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  13. Marshall, I think you should hold off on trade speculation. I know you're a high school kid, and it's clear you have a passion for the Blue Jays (don't ever refer to them as the 'Bluejays', by the way).

    You remind me of myself when I was younger.

    It's fun to guess about trade packages, etc, but it discredits you as a writer. Focus on FACTS, REALITY, TRUTH. There are enough interesting REAL storylines in baseball to cover. Don't waste time with foolishness if you want a writing career.

    (I know from experience. I got over my tendency to focus on speculation and rumour-mongering to now write for some major baseball publications and appear regularly on Sirius/XM.)

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    1. Thank you for the constructive criticism, much appreciated!

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  14. Marshall, although you accuse some people of having a Blue Jays bias, I would accuse you of the opposite. The idea that he Jays would entertain a Romero for Nova trade is ridiculous. If you don't know that then your opinion is not valid. Nova can't hack it in the AL east, while Romero, despite his struggles this season, might still be able to. Not to mention the Yankees are in the same division and generally this would make Romero overvalued.

    I think the most likely outcome is that the Jays role Romero out there next year and see what they have. If he an effective number 2 or 3 then they accept that and ride out the remainder of his contract. If he isn't then AA tries to get the most value out of him on the trade market. Unless they can get something of greater value, which I would say is unlikely, on the open market in the offseason then I can't imagine there is a better course of action.

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    1. I do agree on the Nova point you make, even though RRs value is down , so is Nova's and he has yet to prove himself completely.

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  15. Seriously, though, little in this blog entry has any merit. As far as the writing goes, it is not horrible, but does include some awkward phrasing, problems that could be addressed pretty easily. In regard to responses, people need to calm down in their castigation of a high school aged writer. Relax people. And I have never, ever heard of a contract that guarantees that a player remain in a rotation. I have serious doubts that such a thing exists. I suppose it is possible, though unlikely, to have a deal that guarantees that he not be used as a reliever, but that does not guarantee that he will be in the rotation. On any MLB team that still has to be earned. I find it hard to believe that an MLB team would hamstring itself with such a limitation, especially with two players who are out of options, which means the only way the team can use them is to keep them in the rotation--which of course means if they stink, the club is sunk. That makes no sense, and every GM on the planet would know that.

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