Blue Jays Favorite Player: Mid-Rotation Starter (Post-2000)

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Pitcher Surveys: Ace / / # 2 Starter / / Pre-2000 Medium

After looking at the mid-rotation starters through 2000 the other day, we move on to the mid-rotation starters who joined the team for the 2000 season or later. This is a list of guys who had some pretty good seasons for the Blue Jays, and individually they might have had seasons that pushed them into # 2 territory, but overall they weren’t as good as the guys on that list.

Esteban Loaiza (2000-2002)

The Blue Jays added Loaiza before the exchange deadline in 2000, in the unfortunate exchange that sent Darwin Cubillan and future All Star Michael Young back to Texas. At the time of the trade, the Jays were 1.5 games behind first place, in possession of a very powerful offense (that was the year with 7 different players in more than 20 home runs), and they had some bright spots on the shooting team, but I just needed a little more. Loaiza came up and had a good season finale (3.62 ERA in 92 innings), but that wasn’t enough to propel the Jays to the playoffs.

His next two seasons in Toronto were not as good as he was 20-21 with a 5.33 ERA (116 ERA), though his FIP suggests he was shooting much better than the results he was getting, going 4.51 in 2001 e even better 4.19 in 2002 (98 FIP- total over the 2 seasons).

The season after Loaiza left the Jays, he easily had the best season of his career, when he was 21-9 with a 2.90 ERA, finishing second with Roy Halladay. He was the starting pitcher for the American League in the All Star game that year as well. But he was never that pitcher with the Jays. After his playing career ended, he made a name for himself by doing some not-so-good things.

Shaun Marcum (2005-2010)

The Jays pulled Marcum out of college in the third round of the 2003 draft, and he headed into the big leagues pretty quickly. He was in the bullpen as a September convocation in 2005, and then spent the next two years dividing the time between the bullpen and the rotation, earning a record of 15-10 and a 4.44 ERA.

He had a great season in 2008, making 25 starts and going 9-7 with a 3.39 ERA in 151.1 innings. However, after struggling to stay completely healthy during the second half of the season, he ended up blowing up his UCL early on September 16 and missed the entirety of the 2009 season while recovering from Tommy John Surgery.

Fully recovered, Marcum took the ball for the Jays on opening day in 2010, and had another great season. He went 13-8 with a 3.64 ERA in 195.1 innings, placing 4.1 bWAR and 3.5 fWAR. That December, the Blue Jays sent him to Milwaukee, bringing Brett Lawrie in return.

JA Happ (2012-2014, 2016-2018)

The Blue Jays sent multiple players to Houston before the 2012 trade deadline, regaining their precious catch at Happ. Happ made 50 starts and 8 other relief appearances in his first period, going 19-20 with a 4.39 ERA. The Jays traded Happ after the 2014 season, bringing back Michael Saunders from the Mariners.

The Mariners turned him over to Pittsburgh on the trade deadline in 2015, and Happ renewed his game there. His success as a pirate convinced the Jays to bring him back for a 3-year, $ 36 million contract before the 2016 season.

Happ did not disappoint in his first season, going 20-4 with a 3.18 ERA in 195.1 innings. He ranked sixth in the Cy Young vote, and he also had some success in the playoffs that year. He made just a couple of starts, allowing 3 runs in 10 innings, earning a win over the Rangers but a loss against Cleveland.

His last year and a half was almost as good as well, picking up another 20 wins for non-competitive teams and completing his second stint as Blue Jay with a 40-21 record and a 3.55 ERA. Overall, his entire career at Blue Jay amounts to a 59-41 record with a 3.88 ERA, 11.1 fWAR and 10.6 bWAR.

Mark Buehrle (2013-2015)

The Blue Jays brought in Buehrle and a host of other expensive Marlins Major League Baseball players in the ill-fated Jeff Mathis trade in November 2012. The future Hall of Fame member ended up being the best player to come to Toronto, and the only one still left the team when they secured the playoff spot in 2015. Unfortunately, Buehrle was left out of the postseason roster as his season ended and he clearly ran out of gas.

Buehrle had a pretty strong 3-year career in Toronto. Overall, he was 40-28 with a 3.78 ERA in 604.1 innings. He crossed the 200-inning threshold in the first 2 seasons (and 14 consecutive in his career), but dropped 4 outs below that mark in 2015, as one last ditch effort on 1 day off resulted in 8 runs at 0.2 game entries 162.

He pitched 5 complete games and 2 shutouts in his 3 seasons here. In the 4 years since he left, the Jays have 0 shutouts and only 3 full games: 2 by Marcus Stroman and 1 by Ryan Feierabend, a shortened 5-inning rain loss that will stun him in a future Minor Leaguer Sporcle .

Papa Buehrle was a great mentor to the younger pitchers, specifically Stroman. He brought a love of the game and a strong work ethic to the clubhouse, and was a veteran who could actually be seen providing the coveted but immeasurable presence of veterans.

RA Dickey (2013-2016)

After the Jays made the Mathis trade, the Jays realized they still had a hole at the top of their rotation, and traded for current 2012 National League winner Cy Young. However, this Cy Young winner was a little different, since the 38-year-old knuckleballer had just started playing on his own, and he was obviously not your typical overwhelming ace. Nonetheless, Alex Anthopoulos pulled the trigger in the trade to send future ace Noah Syndergaard and capture prospect Travis d’Arnaud to the Mets.

The charismatic Dickey had a solid few years in Toronto, overall with a 49-52 record with a 4.05 ERA in 130 starts. He was also the 2013 AL Gold Glover winner on the mound, proving that he also had some defensive value. That amounted to 7.1 bWAR, but that also doesn’t explain the -2.0 bWAR that his personal receiver, Josh Thole, provided to the Jays at the time as well.

When the Jays finally made the playoffs in 2015, Dickey was there making the start in ALDS Game 4 against the Rangers, pitching 4.2 innings and allowing just 1 run. However, it didn’t fare as well against the Royals in the ALCS, lasting just 1.2 innings in Game 4 while allowing 5 runs to start a 14-2 loss. Dickey was present in 2016, but was closed in September and never made the playoff list.

Marco Estrada (2015-2018)

The Jays traded first base fan / designated hitter Adam Lind to the Brewers before the 2015 season to bolster their pitching depth with Marco Estrada. Estrada was meant to go to the bullpen and provide a backup plan if there were holes in the rotation, but primarily to be a man who jumps between the bullpen and the rotation as needed. After a month in the bullpen, he made his first outing on May 5 and never pitched for the Blue Jays again.

Estrada and his incredible change had some notable starts for the Blue Jays, with their best effort in the regular season on June 24 at Tampa Bay. He was perfect for 7 innings, ultimately made 8.2 2-hit innings, neither walks nor runs, and 10 strikeouts. His ability to limit hitting was incredible, and he led the league in hits allowed for every 9 innings in both 2015 and 2016. Unfortunately, back problems affected much of his time with the Blue Jays, and he was never able to pitch more than 186 tickets. in any of its 4 seasons.

But he was certainly healthy when the playoff moment came. He pitched some of the most important games for the Jays, including avoiding gem elimination in both ALDS 2015 Game 3 and ALCS 2015 Game 5. Over 41.2 playoff innings with the Jays, Estrada allowed just 10 earned runs. On 29 hits, good enough for a 2.16 ERA. And when it was on, it made hitters look absolutely dumb on the plate. (<- you want to click on this link)