Rick Osentoski USA TODAY Sports
The big names among free agent starting pitchers are signed, and among those that remain Yovani Gallardo stands out. Multiple teams have had reported interest, and Jon Heyman cited in his “Inside Baseball” column that the Toronto Blue Jays have recently checked in on the right-hander.
The Blue Jays ended a long playoff drought last season, due in part to the efforts of David Price, who went 9-1 with a 2.30 ERA over 11 regular season starts after being acquired at the trade deadline in late-July. Price’s departure in free agency was expected, since the Blue Jays were unlikely to be in the mix to sign him to a big long-term contract, but they were also left trying to replace a quintessential staff ace.
Toronto has bolstered their starting rotation depth this offseason, signing J.A. Happ and trading for Jesse Chavez, but they still seem to be seeking further reinforcements. That is the right idea, and Gallardo is someone the Blue Jays should be looking at.
After going 13-11 with a 3.42 ERA over 33 starts (184.1 innings) for the Texas Rangers in 2015, Gallardo has now made at least 30 starts and pitched at least 180 innings in each of the last seven seasons. He has also posted a sub-4.00 ERA (sub-3.90 really) in six of those seven campaigns, and his FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching) has backed up that success with a high-point of 4.00 last year.
The primary concern attached to Gallardo is a declining strikeout rate (5.9 K/9 in 2015). But ground ball (49.3 percent in 2015) and fly ball (28.7 percent in 2015) rates that are trending well, along with increased use of a changeup (5.1 percent in 2015) and his slider (29.4 percent in 2015), suggest he has changed his approach to compensate. A home run/fly ball rate that suggests some good fortune last year (8.8 percent) is a bit of a concern, but Gallardo’s BABIP allowed (.303 in 2015) basically did not fluctuate from 2011-2014 as his strikeout proficiency began to decline.
Gallardo is probably not what anyone would call a staff ace at this point, in terms of lights-out, strikeout stuff. But he is the type of a reliable front-end starter the Blue Jays need and should seek, and he’d surely get the Opening Day nod for Toronto if they sign him.
Brad Berreman is a Senior Writer at Rant Sports.com. Follow him on Twitter.
Advanced data courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball Reference.
