On the eve of the Toronto Blue Jays‘ opening game of the 2018 season, team president Mark Shapiro is feeling confident about the team he and general manager Ross Atkins have constructed.
After a devastating 2017 campaign failed to live up to the expectation of a second straight American League Championship Series appearance, the Blue Jays will now be looking to get back on track.
And it looks like the hope is that it will be on the backs of their pitchers.
“Most of the work has been done to put us in position to be a contending ball club,” Shapiro said Wednesday on Prime Time Sports. “We are going to go as our pitching takes us. We feel really good about our starting pitching. We know we’ve got four guys that we’re really familiar with and Jaime Garcia had one of the best springs of starters in major league spring training.”
The four arms he spoke of have been the usual suspects on the mound at first pitch over the last couple of years: J.A. Happ, Aaron Sanchez, Marco Estrada and Marcus Stroman. The core of the pitching rotation combined for 52 wins (20 from opening day starter Happ) in a particularly dominant 2016. Sanchez led the American League in ERA with 3.00 that year but was predominantly kept off the field in 2017 while dealing with blister issues.
Now, with the addition of Garcia, Shapiro feels good about the starting five heading into a fresh season.
“If you put out a starter each night that has a good chance to win, I think that’s a good start.”
Listen to the full interview with Bob McCown and Stephen Brunt below as Shapiro discusses planning a roster around Tulowitzki and Travis’ injuries, Guerrero Jr. and Bichette in the minors, current ticket sales and more.
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