With the 2023 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in the books, the real postseason battle begins. All eyes will be on the Toronto Blue Jays to see if they will eventually make a trade for a starting pitcher in order to make it to autumn baseball.바카라
Toronto finished the first half of the season with a 50-41 record, good for third place in the American League East and the third wild card spot. With their current form, autumn baseball is possible, but they need to hang in there with games left to play in the second half of the season – or make a run.
Toronto’s weakness is its starting pitching. It’s clearly deteriorating. Through 91 games in the first half, Toronto used six different starters. Four of them – Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios, Chris Bassett, and Yusei Kikuchi – never missed a rotation. However, Alec Manoa struggled and was sent down to the minors, with Trevor Richards temporarily taking over as the fifth starter while he took time to rebuild.
Luckily, Manoa returned to action on the 8th, pitching six innings of one-run ball against the Detroit Tigers to earn the win. This allows Toronto to start the second half with its normal five-man rotation.
But there are still question marks.
“Bassett has been erratic lately, and Yusei is not a pitcher you can always count on,” the Toronto Jays Journal wrote on Wednesday. There are still concerns. Manoa was good in his first start since returning, but it’s hard to tell if he’ll return to last year’s form or if he’ll be as miserable as he was this season.”
Bassitt made 12 quality starts out of 19 in the first half, going 8-5 with a 4.19 ERA. However, the second half of the year was a disappointment. In six games, he went 1-1 with a 6.83 ERA. Kikuchi also gave up nine runs in 9⅓ innings in two games in July.
Against this backdrop, it’s good to see Ryu’s rehab pitching going well. On the 5th and 10th of this month, Ryu pitched in Rookie League and Single-A games respectively, giving up one run on seven hits in a combined seven innings.
Ryu is expected to make two more minor league appearances to improve his pitch count and velocity before returning to the rotation later this month.
“Ryu, who is currently on a rehab assignment in the minors, could be another option,” the outlet wrote, but also questioned “how much can you rely on a pitcher who has been a major disappointment for most of his time in a Toronto uniform?”
Since joining Toronto in 2020, Ryu has gone 21-12 with a 4.07 ERA in 49 games. While he was the ace for much of 2020 and the first half of 2021, injuries and poor form have hampered him since, and he underwent Tommy John surgery last June.
“The best option is a trade,” the outlet said. Considering a trade before the 1 August deadline would be a good option. Shane Bieber (Cleveland), Eduardo Rodriguez (Detroit) and Marcus Stroman (Chicago Cubs) are some of the potential candidates.”