Good = Bad? Apparently

Josh Towers had another miracle outing on Saturday, which creates a whole lot of trouble for the Jays. I know it's really weird after last years' problems, but this year we're just swamped in good pitching-- too much if you ask me.

We all knew Towers was going to be great again someday-- he has great stuff, but who could've guessed that it would be the same year that so many other young arms pop out and start knocking down the batters in order, over and over again? Like where the hell did McGowan come from? Last year he was just another young pitcher waiting to get comfortable, and nobody knew when he'd finally mature enough to pitch in the big leagues, and it seems now is the time. It has to be the chops... maybe they make him feel more mature... or maybe it's just that he doesn't look like he's twelve anymore and hitters are taking him seriously.

Shaun Marcum, Dustin McGowan, Jesse Litsch and now Josh Towers... We don't have room for Halladay, Burnett and Chacin anymore! There's only one solution now... hit the trading block. But who can you trade? It's such a hard decision!

You can't trade Halladay, he's the face of this team.
You can't trade the young'ns, you never know what you're trading away...
You can't trade Burnett either though, nobody will give up anybody good because of his injury histories and his massive paycheck.

It's things like these that make me realize how fucked we are this season. Ironic that we were so below average in the pitching department and now we're too good. Think of all the pitchers that stepped up and now are a vital part of the pitching staff of Toronto:

• Jeremy Accardo - His ERA dropped from 5.35 in 06 to 2.72 and he's now the closer for 07.
  
• Casey Janssen - ERA dropped from 5.07 in '06 to 2.38, now the setup man effectively.
  
• Scott Downs - ERA dropped from 4.09 in '06 to 2.41, now full-time lefty specialist.
  
• Shaun Marcum - ERA dropped from 5.06 in '06 to 3.73 and he has a 3.26 ERA starting.
  
• Dustin McGowan - ERA dropped from 7.24 in '06 to 4.83.
  
• Jesse Litsch - Called up from AA on May 15th and has a 4.54 ERA since.
  
• Josh Towers - ERA dropped from 8.42 in '06 to 4.97 and it's still dropping.

Now where does that leave A.J. Burnett? He has outstanding stuff, but he gets injured so often and he has such a large bank acount he can't be traded for much in return. How 'bout Chacin? He's only been a starter since 2004, he might not be comfortable in the bullpen.

In reality, we have to trade somebody, we don't have a choice. But all we can do is trade Burnett and emaybe Zaun to get a good starting catcher under contract for a few more years.

Missing Out on an MVP Season

We all know that Alex Rios is as good at baseball as a cumquat is at being hilarious, but he still isn't reaching his full potential. Because Gibbs isn't letting Rios steal more bases this season, he's missing out on an MVP-type season.

Let's flash back to last year, where David Ortiz, Derek Jeter and Justin Morneau were all in contention for the AL MVP Trophy.

Ortiz was batting .287 with 54 HR and 137 RBI.
Jeter was battng .343 with 34 SB and 97 RBI.
Morneau was batting .321 with 34 HR and 130 RBI.
Morneau rightfully won.

This year, the two favourites are Magglio Ordonez and Alex Rodriguez, of course. A-Rod's numbers this year are comparable to Ortiz' numbers last year, and Magglio's numbers are similar to Jeters, except he has more homers and less stolen bases. But if you think about it, Rios would be comparable to Justin Morneau as a favourite, if it wasn't for the team he's on:

• Because Reed Johnson was on the DL with a back injury, Rios was forced to play leadoff, and therefore got very little RBIs, hitting behind the worst hitters on the team.
• The Jays' games are rarely watched south of the border, so Rios isn't well known at all; case in point: last year he wasn't voted onto the All-Star game by fans, even though he was batting .330 with 15 HR. This year he had the most homeruns by an AL Outfielder yet he had to be added in by Jim Leyland at the last second.
  
• John Gibbons doesn't agree with base-stealing, so while Rios could have stolen 20 bases already, he only has 9.

Since the All-Star break, Rios' confidence has obviously boosted considerably, considering his performance after the break... he's batting .400 with 2 HR since the Midsummer Classic. So it wouldn't be too surprising if Rios ended the season batting .320 with 30+ HR, but because he isn't going to have the 30 SB as well, he isn't going to be much of a contender for the MVP.

Let's just hope he gets a Silver Slugger like he deserves, it's a start at least...