Toronto Blue Jays 2013 Pitching Rotation

With the addition of RA Dickey and the pieces from Marlins trade,  it is pretty much a given that the 2013 Jays rotation will feature the following 5 pitchers (not in any particular order), Morrow, Romero, Dickey, Buherle & Johnson.  The question that I'll try to figure out here is what order we will see these pitchers from opening day forward.

Let's start with the opening day starter.  This game will be at home and to be honest if you have a current CY Young award winner on your staff you pretty much have to give RA Dickey the first start.  This may actually end up being the perfect scenario as the Dome will be closed and with 50,000 + people on hand it's sure to be plenty humid and the knuckle ball should be dancing!

The 2nd spot should be open to Brandon Morrow!  He was hands down the Jays best pitcher last year and probably throws the hardest out of the starting rotation.  Brandon has come a long way as a pitcher since coming to the Jays and without the Jays adding Dickey he probably would have been the Opening day starter.  A added bonus for Morrow this year if he does follow Dickey is that Hitters all year will have a tough time adjusting between a knuckleball and a flame thrower during any series where they follow one another. 

3rd spot would go to Rickey Romero.  It would be great to have a LHP in the mix in this first series and in the quest to rebuild RR as a pitcher, it may make sense to have him avoid the Red Sox in his 1st appearance as the Jays will face them in their 2nd series.  Rickey has always had a tough time with the Red Sox over the course of his career and avoiding them may end up helping him. 

4th would be Josh Johnson.  I think Johnson is going to be in for a HUGE year!  Why wouldn't he? He's going into his final year before his FA year and we all know how guys seem to get up for their FA year.  This spot may end up doing well for him as he will be in between two soft throwing LHP and with his arsenal of pitches he may be able to keep hitters off balance. 

The 5th spot would then belong to Mark Buehrle.  To  be honest at any time you can have a Mark Buehrle as your 5ht starter you are in a good place.  Although he has had his trouble with the AL East in the past, Buehrle is a competitor who always looks to give his team a chance to win and that is all you can really ask for out of your 5th starter.

Anyway you put these 5 starters together you could end up with success, but personally I think this is what we may end up seeing Opening day.  (Buehrle and Romero may end up swapping spots, I don`t think teams worry about opposing team records when determining opening rotations)

*Side note....The best part of the Dickey Trade (Ok probably not the best, but it`s pretty good) is that we get to put JA Happ in the bullpen.  Happ is a great option as  having a reliable LHP who can thrown mid 90`s and give you 6 innings if needed is amazing!

Let me know if you think i`m out to Lunch on this one,  I`d love to hear some different options.

Go Jays Go!