Toronto Adds David Price to Starting Rotation
The American League East has the New York Yankees on top by six games over the Tampa Bay Rays and the Baltimore Orioles and seven games over the Toronto Blue Jays. The Boston Red Sox are all but out of it 13 games back and fading quickly.
Toronto is 51-52 with 59 games left on their schedule and went out and picked up just what they needed – pitching. Earlier in the week, the Blue Jays traded for shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, but they needed a strong starting pitcher. On Thursday, they got their man when they traded with the Detroit Tigers to pick up David Price, the hard throwing southpaw veteran.
The acquisition of Price fills a big hole the Blue Jays have in their rotation and gives them their bona fide No. 1 starter especially if they must play in the wildcard one-game playoff or to start the first game of a divisional series.
Price will give the Blue Jays a strong fastball and slider; a changeup that is above average; and a cutter to keep the hitters off his fastball, especially the right-handers.
He is one of the league’s stingiest starters with walks, and his ball misses many bats, even when his pitches are in the strike zone. He is also very durable with no arm trouble of any magnitude during his entire amateur and pro career.
Toronto is just two games behind Minnesota and Baltimore for the second wildcard spot in the American League.
On paper, the moves Toronto has made in just this week have improved them by more than those two games they trail in the wildcard race.
Toronto did have to give up Daniel Norris an elite left-handed prospect who is consistently rated up in the top 20 of prospects in the game.
Friday is the trade deadline and it is expected to have a frenzy of last minute activity. Yoenis Cespedes is available from Detroit and even though the Blue Jays have an explosive offensive line up, if you are going all in, then Cespedes might be the last piece of the puzzle to pick up. He would be and upgrade to the players sharing first base and outfield and give them another legitimate power hitter.
When all is said and done and the calendar moves to August, a number of teams will remain in the race for the postseason, which means the last two months of major league baseball’s regular season is about to get very interesting especially in the American League East.
