News
Cecil to return to beleaguered rotation
Southpaw to start Saturday, is fourth rookie in current staff
By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com
06/18/09 1:37 PM ET
PHILADELPHIA -- Circumstances have forced the Blue Jays to reorganize their rotation all season long. The newest addition will be left-hander Brett Cecil, giving Toronto four rookies in its starting rotation. This is not how the Jays drew things up."It'd probably be better to leave them all down and let them pitch," Blue Jays manager Cito Gaston said with a chuckle on Thursday. "But we just can't have it that way."
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Cecil will be called up from Triple-A Las Vegas and is scheduled to start for Toronto on Saturday against the Nationals, replacing Roy Halladay after the club's ace was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right groin. The Jays also lost starter Casey Janssen this week with a right shoulder issue, and promoted rookie Brad Mills from Vegas for his big league debut on Thursday.
Other first-year starters on the staff include right-hander Scott Richmond and lefty Ricky Romero, who earned the final two rotation jobs over Cecil and Mills during Spring Training. The only non-rookie in the rotation at the moment is southpaw Brian Tallet, though he was shifted out of the bullpen after Jesse Litsch was shelved with a right elbow injury earlier this year.
Adding Cecil, who went 2-1 with a 4.38 ERA in four starts during a stint with Toronto earlier this season, also gives the Blue Jays four left-handers in the rotation (Mills, Romero and Tallet being the others). Gaston doesn't believe featuring four southpaws will be a big issue.
"Well, you can't split them up," Gaston said. "But I don't see that being much of a problem. They're all different in their own way. Sometimes, they don't even pitch against the same teams."
Halladay, whose stay on the DL is retroactive to Saturday, will be eligible to be activated on June 28, when the Blue Jays host the Phillies. If Halladay returns for that outing, Toronto will be forced to realign its rotation once again, considering that start falls to Richmond the way things currently line up. That means that, depending on who stays and who is returned to the Minors, someone's turn will be skipped.
"It's kind of going to be juggling them around," Gaston said. "It all depends on Doc. If Doc can come back on Sunday and pitch, then that's certainly going to change things."
In nine starts for Vegas this year, the 22-year-old Cecil has gone 1-5 with a 5.69 ERA, striking out 32 and walking 19 over 49 innings. Since being returned to Triple-A on May 22, Cecil had posted a 4.26 ERA over five outings. Cecil -- the 38th overall pick in the 2007 First-Year Player Draft -- made his last start on Monday, allowing five runs on eight hits over eight innings against Triple-A Reno.
Jordan Bastian is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
