A Comparison of the 2015 Team With Its 1992 Predecessor
Part Three: Examining the Starting Pitching: Front of the Rotation
Correction: This article was intended for publication in Volume 89, Issue 4.
There is an old saying in baseball: good pitching stops good hitting. In Part One, I compared the infield of the 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 four-man starting rotation with the available off days in the calendar (and has since been relegated to spot-start 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. 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 fourteen memorable seasons and in the process becoming a two time twenty-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 thirty-five starts) which saw him became the first-ever Blue Jay to win twenty 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 two 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 two 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 lik acquiring 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 twenty-seven innings in four starts. Cone, on the other hand, was a former twenty 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 fifty-three innings in eight games (including seven 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 be named later (Ryan Thompson) on 27 August 1992. Cone also went on to go 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA over twelve innings in two starts against the Athletics in the 1992 ALCS before getting two no decisions with a 3.48 ERA over 10.1 innings in two starts against the Braves in the 1992 World Series.
Verdict: While both Stroman and Cone have made notable contributions to their team’s postseason drive as effective starting pitchers, the fact that the former did not start pitching for his team until 12 September means that the 2015 Blue Jays are effectively getting a fresh power arm in their starting rotation. This luxury gives Stroman a step on Cone not to mention that the former has a better regular reason record than the latter —Stroman has a perfect 1.000 winning percentage for Toronto in 2015 while Cone’s winning percentage was .571 as a Blue Jay in 1992.
Final Words: As much as starting pitchers led by Morris and Cone were one of the key strengths of Toronto in 1992 as the team headed into the playoffs, it seems that the 2015 Blue Jays have a better front of the rotation with Price and Stroman.
On deck: Be sure to tune into Part Four for the rest of my analysis on the starting rotation for the two editions (2015 and 1992) of the Toronto Blue Jays!