Blue Jays Owe It to Offence, Suffering Fans to Add Impact Arm

It's been a long, strange, frustrating season so far for Toronto Blue Jays starting pitchers. Tuesday was a fascinating and potentially critical day for a unit that the club hopes can continue the improvements its made since a disastrous April and May, and provide the kind of consistent quality behind the majors' best offence that can make this a truly dangerous team in the second half.

The club's starters have actually pitched to an impressive 3.63 ERA since the beginning of June—a number that would rank third in the American League if the group had done it over the course of the entire season. Thanks to a 5.20 ERA in April, and 4.75 mark in May, Toronto sits second-last in the league at 4.51 on the season.

The improvements over the last six weeks or so aren't exactly the kind the club can expect to continue. R.A. Dickey has been better, but continues to show an alarming decline in his ability to miss bats, while issuing the second highest number of walks in the AL. Marco Estrada had a great run but remains Marco Estrada. Drew Hutchison has continued to be wildly inconsistent. Aaron Sanchez had one great start in June before getting hurt. Even Mark Buehrle, who has been absolutely terrific all year, suffered a bit of a drop-off in the second half last season, posting a 4.64 ERA over his final 13 starts (though his peripherals remained strong, as he produced a better FIP (3.58) and xFIP (3.82) than in the first half when he posted a 2.64 ERA).

Then there have been the fill-ins. Scott Copeland gave the club one great start and one OK one before getting smashed by the Orioles and sent back to the minors. Matt Boyd's stint lasted only two games before his utter disembowelment, and now it's Felix Doubront's turn.

Doubront was terrific Tuesday, striking out six and walking just one batter over 6 2/3 innings in 2-1 victory over the White Sox. He generated much more swing and miss with his curveball than we'd seen in the past, using it effectively against left-handed hitters, and kept right-handers off balance with a five-pitch mix to easily earn himself another start—something manager John Gibbons immediately confirmed to reporters after the game.

Who he might find himself in a rotation with if he makes a third start—which won't happen for two weeks, thanks to the All-Star break—is an interesting question, especially in light of two starts made in the minor leagues Tuesday.

Aaron Sanchez returned to action on a rehab assignment, pitching two innings in the Gulf Coast League. The stats he produced—three hits, two earned runs, one walk, and one strikeout—are less important than the fact he reportedly felt good, with respect to the lat strain that has kept him out since June 5th, and that the club has made it clear that they're building him up so that he can rejoin the rotation.

Sanchez has always been looked to as some kind of bullpen saviour, because of the excellent job he did in that role last season, but he's clearly a starter long term, and the improvements he made throughout the season were tangible. He's a groundball machine who cut down on his walks, and surely has more strikeout ability in him, as well.

Tuesday also saw another big stride made by Daniel Norris, who opened the season in the Jays' rotation after a fantastic spring training, and is now pitching in Buffalo. Norris struck out eight and walked none over seven innings in a Bisons victory, which means he's now struck out 25 and walked just five over his last four starts—the kind of numbers the Blue Jays have been eager to see after he struggled early on after his demotion.

Of course, it's not necessarily just the Jays who are interested in Norris' progress. The trade market has no choice but to heat up over the next three weeks, and while Norris is such a good prospect with so much cheap big league service still ahead of him (if he were to get promoted today and stay in the big leagues from here on, he won't be a free agent until after 2021), he might be the cost of doing business if the Jays are to do something truly special. Something like outbidding the rest of the league to get rental pitcher Johnny Cueto of the Reds.

The impending free agent also pitched Tuesday, outdueling Max Scherzer with a two-hit, 11-strikeout shutout over the Washington Nationals.

Adding a Cueto—or Oakland's Scott Kazmir, the White Sox's Jeff Samardzija, or any other big name pitcher due to be dealt—would be a coup for the 2015 Jays, especially if the cost is someone not on their roster. But it does pose some interesting questions—especially with Sanchez coming back—about the composition of the club's shaky, but improving, rotation.

Doubront's position is hardly solid, so one would expect him to lose his spot if a big name joins the staff, but then once Sanchez returns, does he automatically go to the bullpen? Does Estrada go instead? Do we wonder if Drew Hutchison's 5.23 ERA will actually start catching up with his peripherals (3.71 FIP, 3.81 xFIP)? Do they make what might even be the best, smartest choice, and actually consider Dickey's place?

It's not a bad problem to have, which seems an awfully strange thing to say about a rotation so many fans have been so frustrated by all season. Of course, before it can be one, it means the Jays doing something on the trade market. As decently as their own three starters did Tuesday, and as well as they've cobbled together the rotation so far, Cueto's gem against Washington ought to tell them they have to. The best offence in baseball deserves better. Fans who haven't seen the playoffs for over 20 years do, too.