Both sports bettors & bookmakers feel that the Toronto Blue Jays will be in the hunt this year for a division title as their future odds to win the World Series have dropped again down to 14 to 1.
The Toronto Blue Jays have been very busy during the off season and have assembled one of the best pitching staffs in all of major league baseball. The Blue Jays signed last year’s CY Young Award winner R A Dickey to a multi-year contract where the nasty knuckleballer can earn over $30 million with incentives!
Dickey who just turned 38 years old is at the top of his game and last year with the Mets he went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA. Dickey became the first knuckleballer to win the prestigious Cy Young Award! He was almost unhittable at times striking out a total of 230 batters in 233 innings.
The Jays also added former Marlins superstar Josh Johnson to their pitching staff. Johnson was part of a Marlins team that had so much promise but could never put things together and dismantled most all of them as well as firing their manager Ozzie Guillen. Johnson had a dismal season due in part to the overall chaos and lack of run support by the Marlins. Blue Jay fans are hoping that with a change of venue they might once again see the Josh Johnson of 2009 when he won 15 games!
In addition the Blue Jays added Mark Buehrle courtesy of the Marlins mega-trade as well. Buehrle spent most of his stellar career with the Chicago White Sox before being traded to the Miami Marlins in 2012. Even though the Marlins were a team in disarray Buehrle still managed to win 13 games. The Blue Jays are hoping for a strong season from the big left hander!
It remains to be seen as to which of the Blue Jays pitchers will step up to fill the remaining rotation spots. The best bets to do so are Rickey Romero who led the team in strikeouts with 124 & Brandon Morrow led the Jays in overall wins with 10. Regardless of who the other Jays starters are opposing teams will have their hands full with the Toronto Blue Jays stellar starting rotation!
