Shaun Marcum Pronounced Dead at the Scene

Normally I don't immediately jump to fatalistic conclusions, but I'm going to make an exception for this update from Robert MacLeod.

Fuck this bullshit! Fuck right the fuck off, you fucking fucker:

The Jays are already convinced from their initial investigations that Marcum requires the [motherfucking Tommy John] surgery. The visit with Dr. Andrews, which is expected to happen some time today, is to confirm the diagnosis of the Jays' medical staff.

“I don't think the news is very good,” said the source. “We suspect the worst – Tommy John surgery. It's not career ending but it's not great.”

Should Marcum need surgery, he will be out at least one year which would mean he would not be available for the majority, if not all, of next season.

While the departed Reverend Jerry Falwell would probably have blamed this unpleasant development on the semi-legal status of marriage-you-wanna and general tolerance for homosexuality in Canada, this is really just rotten, shitty luck. The loss of Marcum for '09, combined with the giant question marks surrounding whether Dustin McGowan will be able to pitch effectively again and the possible?/probable?/certain? departure of AJ Burnett, does not bode well to put things mildly. We expected to see an off-season where JP or his successor tried to patch a single hole in the rotation, but now it's looking more likely that he's in for a full-on talent search to man at least 2 mid-rotation spots and/or replace lost depth when everyone else gets bumped up.

Maybe that idea of having Downs start again wasn't so crazy after all. Ricky Romero, grab the apple and take a bite. Scott Richmond, apply your stevedore's work ethic on the diamond. I'll even dust off the ol' slider of death just in case they need me...

-- Johnny Was

Sometimes you make me want to say so long...

I'm not quite yet prepared to offer my comments on the weekend series that effectively ended the Jays season, so let us make do with a MLBTR report (via Jerry Howarth at The Fan) that Brad Arnsberg figures AJ Burnett WILL re-sign with the Jays. Not resign like Richard Nixon, but re-sign.

Commence total plagarization NOW:

Arnsberg's heart says Burnett will stay in Toronto. Burnett's wife loves it there. Arnsberg had multiple heart-to-heart conversations with Burnett discussing the pitcher's future, and leans toward Burnett returning. Arnsberg speculates that it could take another year on the contract to bring him back.

If this is indeed true, it would put JP/JP's successor in a very difficult position because an offer from the AJ camp to have him stay in exchange for a third year would be rather magnanimous considering what he could get from scoundrel Hank Steinbrenner on the open market. That said, I don't necessarily think it's a good idea to reach an agreement on those terms.

Prefacing the following with this:

* AJ is a very talented pitcher who has been superb this month with the team on the fringes of a playoff race
* the Jays will be worse off without him unless they find a replacement outside the organization, and there really isn't a free agent equivilant available in his price range
* I like him as a personality on a team that's otherwise pretty square (looking at you, Lyle Overbay)

Ok, now...

Remembering the maxim that you don't pay a player for the season he just had, it's worth noting that with his next start AJ will almost certainly establish a career high for innings pitched after already posting his best single-season strikeout and win totals. As much as I hate saying it, this was after all only the second fully healthy season (both contract years) of his career. You just can't bank on getting anything like this from AJ ever again.

While his overall numbers this year are very good, but there was a considerable degree of Jeckyl and Hyde-ism: he had two horrid months (April and June), one mediocre one (August), two solid ones (May and July), and it looks like he's on his way to a superhuman September. Every time I hear someone say they saw signs of maturity in AJ this year I kind of wonder what he might've done out of the gate had he not wrecked his fingernail in his car door after what I've always assumed was an offseason temper tantrum.

I really, truly want to see the good, but can't overlook the bad.

Back in February I had a look at AJ's most similar pitchers at baseball-reference and found a depressing list of once-promising power pitchers who flamed out spectacularly in their early 30s (AJ will be 32 going into next season). I'd reckon mightily that whichever team chooses to lock him up through his ages 35/36 seasons is going to see very little--if any--return on their investment towards the end of the deal.

Could AJ help the Jays in '09? Most likely yes, but not so much that a team with limited resources should run the risk of locking him up long-term. At some point in the coming weeks we're going to do a comprehensive, omnibus look at what we think the Jays should do going forward, but I'm coming to the opinion that JP/JP's successor needs to make a big splash this off season (a la 2005/2006) or just batten down the hatches and wait for an infusion of youth (Arencibia, Campbell, Cecil most notably) in 2010.

I'm gonna have to say punt on AJ now, keep those tasty draft picks, and try to patch up the rotation next year with a a cheap one-year turd blossom. (The Oracle likes Carl Pavano, who has pitched very Scott Richmond-ily since coming back from an assortment of faked injuries in August.) But no, I won't celebrate the news if this is what ultimately ends up happening.

-- Johnny Was