Help Wanted: Pitchers, and Lots of Them
Another dubious baseball record is about to be created. In 35-year-old Edwin Jackson’s next appearance on the mound, this time for his new team, the Toronto Blue Jays, he will throw a fastball for his 14th major league team (2003-2019). This will set a record for most franchises played for by an individual in MLB history. The shingles are flapping in the breeze all over baseball: Help Wanted: Pitchers, and lots of them.
Jackson’s first appearance as a Toronto Blue Jay will break the record he holds with Octavio Dotel, who also pitched for 13 teams between 1999 and 2013.
Mike Morgan (1978‑2002), Matt Stairs (1992‑2011), and Ron Villone (1978‑2002) all played for 12 teams during their lengthy baseball careers.
Edwin Jackson is a further testament to the fragility of pitching in MLB 2019. A testament to tight forearms, elbow pains, shoulder discomfort and assorted other anatomical maladies afflicting men who throw fastballs and breaking balls for a living.
The Toronto Blue Jays traded for Edwin Jackson so someone with a sound arm (they hope) can pitch the next game since Clay Buchholz and Matt Shoemaker went down within a month of each other, leaving Toronto short of pitching. There’s that shingle: Help Wanted: Pitchers, and lots of them.
So, why not take a flyer on Edwin Jackson? Thirteen other teams had once believed in him. Perhaps this is why Toronto has already relied on 17 pitchers during the first quarter of the season.
The New York Mets recently acquired Wilmer Font from Tampa Bay (who had acquired him from Oakland in May 2018; and Oakland, in turn, had acquired Font a month earlier from the Los Angeles Dodgers) because he was a healthy body who could start a game. And that’s on a pitching staff with relatively young pitchers, several of whom are considered aces. But so many of the Mets’ depth pitchers have been incapacitated that they had to turn to a body. Steven Matz currently suffers from radial nerve discomfort while Jason Vargas has hamstring tightness. Both are currently on the IL.
So, the Mets needed someone, anyone, who could pitch a four or five inning major league shift. Just like the need for a short-term counterman at a McDonald’s becomes pressing every once in a while.
Font fit that description. He is now about to start a second time for the Mets. Font is the 21st pitcher to don a Mets uniform this short season. Many of these pitchers are more miscreant than artist or even practitioner.
No wonder the Mets, like so many other teams, move pitchers on and off their 25-man roster like vaudevillians who were once pushed on and yanked off stages with candy cane hooks. A few minutes on stage and managers sprint out to the mound with sharp hooks shimmering in their hands. You can almost hear them screaming, next.
Help Wanted: Pitchers, and lots of them.
The Seattle Mariners have sequenced 25 pitchers through their 25-man roster so far this season, while Houston has only needed 15 pitchers to date.
In the National League, the Atlanta Braves have used 23 pitchers so far, while on the other side, the Cincinnati Reds have used the fewest pitchers in MLB, only 14.
By itself, these numbers mean only so much, but the adage, you can never have enough pitching has begun to mean more and more as teams struggle to find bodies to send out to the mound. The problem is that MLB teams’ pitching inventory is inevitably in various stages of disrepair, injuries being so common, and pitching arms so susceptible to the strains of repetitive motion, the essence of pitching.
For example, Pittsburgh pitcher Chris Archer is set to imminently return from right thumb inflammation, which had set him back since April 27.
Assessing the future of the Detroit Tigers, it seems certain the team has lost two more of its starters to elbow issues, Jordan Zimmerman and Tyson Ross. MLB Trade Rumors (May 15, 2019) reports that both are headed for lengthy IL stints. Throw in Michael Fulmer and Matt Moore, already lost for the season, and there is good reason why Detroit has already used 20 pitchers, and is four games under .500, at 18-22, 7.5 games back of first place Minnesota.
MLB Trade Rumors further reports that Detroit will not promote any of its young blue-chip talent to cover their current innings shortfall. So, the question becomes, where will they find the arms to throw the innings now dangling loose?
Help Wanted: Pitchers, and lots of them.
Maybe that was why Houston destroyed the Detroit starters the last few days. They scored eight runs and nine hits in four innings off one Ryan Carpenter. Red meat. His brief MLB history reads like an arsonist at a vulnerable fire site. A 1-4 record, an 8.90 ERA, and a 1.88 WHIP. No wonder it took seven years to reach the majors, with his third organization. And given his explosive nature, he may not be long in the major leagues, even for a desperate team like Detroit.
The series continues tonight and Detroit is once again sacrificing a pitcher to the pitching gods. This time it’s one Gregory Soto. Soto is 0-1 after allowing seven runs on nine hits in four innings against Minnesota in his first start a few days ago. This is why his ERA is a hellacious 15.75. His ERA may be even higher tomorrow.
So, it may only be time before Edwin Jackson or another journeyman like him is pitching for his 15th or 16th team. And that could be Detroit.
So the adage, you can never have enough pitching, has never been so true. Listen. The shingle is flapping everywhere you look. Help Wanted: Pitchers, and lots of them.
